I am a member of Perfect Sourdough, a group on Facebook that is run by Teresa Greenway with lots of enthusiastic sourdough bakers.
When this article was written, the group had 54 500 members.
Let me give you a hypothesis.
Suppose that 75% of the members are active sourdough bakers who refresh their starter once a week.
How many of them are wasting the discard?
25% of them?
I hope not, but if that is the case, how much flour is then wasted?
If each one of them is wasting half a cup, 20437 cups of starter are running down the drain or wherever they are pouring out their discard.
One cup of starter weighs about 240 gram or 8.4 ounces. If the starter has a hydration of 100%, which means that there are equal amounts of flour and water, there is 2452 kg/5394 pound of flour wasted.
If we had baked bread with that flour instead, we could have got 5488 medium sized loaves.
Every week.
Now, perhaps it’s not that many that are wasting their discard. But even if we reduce it to 10% of the active members, it still results in notable figures.
2195 loaves every week, or 114150 in one year.
Food waste is sometimes a tricky thing. Many people focus on the big issues and forget the small innocent waste traps.
I know because I was one of them.
It’s such a small amount of flour. It doesn’t make much difference I used to say to myself.
But it does, and we have to start thinking differently because food waste is an enormous problem.
So let’s start thinking differently about our starter discard.
It’s not a discard, it’s an asset with a unique taste.
There are so many ways you can make use of it. Here come some suggestions.
Pancakes
Waffles
Crackers
Puff pastry
Potato pancakes
Churros
Popovers
You can also use it for deep fry batter. I got this idea when reading a basic recipe where the only ingredients were cold water, flour, and some baking soda.
Water and flour are already mixed in your starter, and if you take it from the refrigerator, all you have to do is adding some baking soda.
It can’t be much simpler than that.
As you can see, I used a banana with this batter, but you can fry whatever you prefer.
A word of caution though. Be careful when frying fruits and berries that contain lots of water, like cherries and such. You may end up with a small explosion when all that water has to boil away quickly. Oil flying around with a temperature of 360ºF / 180Cº is NOT nice.
Deep fry batter from sourdough starter discard
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter discarded
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Mix sourdough starter discard and baking soda. Dip whatever you like to deep fry in it and fry it in 360ºF / 180Cº until the batter is crisp and golden brown.
22 Comments
I bake sourdough bread for Teniqua Treetops lodge in South Africa. I always make a bit more starter than needed for the next day’s bread and leave the scrapings basically, to start the next batch of sourdough starter. Ergo I very seldom have to throw any away. I do have a problem if I unexpectedly have to make a double batch, but even a teaspoon of starter will make a new batch.
I’m the opposite – I struggle to get enough discard to keep up with the discard recipes I like to make! 😀 There is a brownie recipe that my husband gets very sad if there’s none in the house. And because of this I almost never have enough to make crackers. Thankfully I have a little left from brownie making yesterday to make this batter tonight, then I need to make more bread to generate some mor! Thanks so much for sharing.
You are most welcome, Jane.
Well, lately I have had the same problem.
There is just not enough sourdough starter.
So I have started to mix more than I need. Deliberately.
I never thought I would do that.
Hello Jane! Would you mind sharing your brownie recipe?
I have been having so much fun with my sourdough discards that I still haven’t made anything but incredible pizza dough that proofs for 5 days in the fridge. Brownies and bread are next on my list.
johntmccartney@yahoo.com.
Thank you!
John
Brownie recipe would be brilliant! Must say veen baking it less since I have been so focused on my sourdough bread! ?
can we have the brownie recipe please
Great idea. I have never done brownies, though, so I have to do some research and see how I can fit in a sourdough starter perhaps.
Oooh – can you share your brownie recipe?? What does the starter do for brownies???
I am a sourdough newbie and have plenty of sourdough starter and time on my hands. I used this simple batter on some fish fillets this evening and it was marvelous!. I seasoned the fish, left the batter neutral and I must say I love what I prepared more than any fish I’ve had out. Thanks for sharing this!
I have been thinking about trying to make fish and chips with this recipe. Now I know I have to try it. Thanks for the input, Shani.
What happens if you just use the starter without the baking soda?
You will probably have a less airy and light fried product, as baking soda creates extra gas bubbles. But I don’t know if it will affect the crispiness.
Oooh – can you share your brownie recipe?? What does the starter do for brownies???
Well, “I got this idea” is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? I mean, just do a Google and you’ll find the idea has been around for quite some time.
You are probably right. But I did get the idea there and then.
I apologize for not google every idea I get.
Well on that note, I Googled “sourdough brownie recipe” and came up with several. For those looking:
https://iambaker.net/sourdough-brownies/
There are plenty of others…
Thanks for sharing, I have some left over starter and was looking for something to do with it other than, pop-overs, crumpets, and crackers, oh my !
Yeah, there is a lot you can do with your starter, except baking bread. So, never waste it.
I fried shrimp and cauliflower using sour dough discard and my husband was immediately sold on them! They were crispy and delicious.I seasoned the batter. There is no need to add baking soda because than they will soak too much oil.
That’s what I have always said. starter discard is truly amazing. Thanks for the input.
has anyone teried this in the air fryer?!
Works amazing. I added a splash of dark lager beer as well. I have NEVER been able to get a batter to stick before, but this was effortless.