Your sourdough starter is the cornerstone of delicious and healthy sourdough bread baking. But, it’s also a source for a never-ending accumulation of starter discard. The good news is you can use this excess starter in any of the following sourdough starter discard recipes. This discard gives you even more delicious things to make in the kitchen!
What is Sourdough Starter Discard?
To keep your sourdough starter healthy, you need to provide it with fresh flour and water on a schedule. Each time you refresh (feed) your starter, you must discard some of the fully fermented mixture in the jar. Discarding helps keep the acidity low in your sourdough culture, which keeps it strong and healthy. If you didn’t discard it, you’d also eventually have an unwieldy sum.
You can always use this discard by directly mixing it into a dough for baking. Your discard, as long as it’s in good shape, will leaven any bread dough just as well. The discard is just like a levain you would make for a recipe. The only difference is it’s the same makeup as your starter.
You might see sourdough starter discard as waste—after all, you probably compost or toss it more often than not. However, I see it in a different light: it’s the byproduct of keeping your beneficial bacteria and wild yeast healthy.
Think of starter discard as food that was used by your sourdough culture; it wasn’t wasted resources.
And so we refresh our starter each day (I refresh (feed) my starter twice a day since I bake often). When you frequently refresh, especially if you keep your starter at room temperature, you’re ensuring your culture is healthy and vigorous. Frequent refreshments also help avoid an overly acidic mixture, which can deteriorate its fitness over time.
But just because we refresh and discard often, doesn’t mean we can’t use the discard (like in focaccia!) or collect it and use it later. Let’s look at saving up sourdough starter discard.
Saving Up Discard
One of my favorite things to do is save my sourdough starter discard in the refrigerator throughout the week. Each day when I refresh my sourdough starter, instead of taking that starter discard and throwing it in the compost, I put it in a tall Weck jar (without the clips, but covered) in the refrigerator.
I call this my sourdough starter discard cache and it’s full by the weekend and ready to be used in many of the recipes below. Typically, I’ll use some for sourdough waffles or pancakes on Saturday and either blueberry muffins or banana bread on Sunday. Making this “starter cache” means that, I’ll have little to no sourdough starter discard going into the compost bin for a given week.
Latest Sourdough Discard Recipes
See all sourdough starter discard recipes →
And more sourdough starter discard recipes are yet to come. If you didn’t see what you were looking for, please leave a comment below and I’ll get test-baking!
125 Comments
My sourdough starter is 100% rye. It is very active always and I feed it exclusively with freshly milled (by me) rye flour. The question I have is, will these discard recipes taste good with the rye starter?
I think so, yes! I’ve had a rye starter in the past, and I love the earthy, robust flavor it brings everywhere it’s used 🙂
Hi there! I see you have another cookbook coming out for pizza etc. Any plans to get a discard baking cookbook together soon? We’ve tried some from the perfect loaf and they were great. Going to try the chocolate chip cookies recipe on your site but I always prefer a book to the internet-especially when cooking with kiddos. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Yes, my pizza book is due out this year (Nov 10th!). I like the idea of a discard book. Let me think about that a bit more. And for what it’s worth, my pizza book has several NEW discard recipes, too 🙂
Most of the starter discard recipes have egg as an ingredient. Any options for egg alternatives or substitutions?
A “flax egg” works really well!
Girl I think Taymother reads your blog 😭🥹
I'd be honored 🙂
Before becoming a member, I baked the Five Grain Sourdough using the recipe from The Perfect Loaf cookbook. It didn't turn out well. The levain was very thick, and I had trouble mixing it with the dough. I was hoping to see the recipe on the website with more detailed directions. I don't see it listed. Does anyone have suggestions on improvements to the recipe, or is it located somewhere on the website that I didn't notice?
Hey Shirlene! Sorry for the delay. If you're having trouble with that levain, add more water so it loosens up some and becomes easier to mix. Even just 10g additional water will help with the consistency.
Thanks for the reply. I am probably done with the 5-grain bread for a while. There are so many other recipes on the website to try, and not nearly enough time. I have another question. I live in Texas in the winter and spring, and spend my summer and fall near Chama, New Mexico. Since baking bread is new to me, I don’t know how altitude impacts it. I know you are at 5,000 feet in Albuquerque. We are at 7,500 feet. Do you have to make any special adjustments for the altitude?
That's awesome, I love Chama! Yes, lots of high alt baking tips here .
Hello! When you pull the starter out of the fridge, do you use it straight from the jar or do you have to feed it a few hours before?
And do you happen to have a focaccia and pita recipe?
I usually feed it, let it ferment at least overnight, then make a levain.
I have a focaccia and pita recipe in my cookbook 🙂
I had my starter stored in the fridge. I fed it two days and the third day was ready to bake, but it developed hooch. Should I stir it in and feed it? What did I do wrong?
If you're getting hooch that usually means it needs to be fed sooner. Yes, stir it in or pour it off, either way.
Hi. Do you have a discard recipe for cinnamon rolls or cherry pound cake?
Cinnamon rolls, here: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-cinnamon-rolls/
Lemon poppyseed (the closest i have!), here: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/tangy-lemon-poppyseed-loaf/
Looking for discard cookie recipes. I have lots of grandchildren and would love to make them some tasty and healthy cookies. Thanks!
Have you seen our sugar cookies? My kiddos LOVE them:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-starter-discard-sugar-cookies/
I added a little fiori di scicilia to them and they were awesome!
Love this idea, Rebecca! Floral boost 🙂
I would love to see a bagel and a baguette recipe. I love how you explain everything, specially your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks so much, Dani! I actually have both a baguette AND bagel recipe 🙂
I would love a perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe! 🙈
Oh gosh I love me a oatmeal raisin cookie. Will work on this. I trust you've seen our discard sugar cookies ??
can you please come up with the best oatmeal raisin cookie ever? 😅
Next/page two buttons not working again! 😅
I removed the pages links, should all be fixed now! Sorry 🙂
Not me falling for the fake page 2 link as well
Fixed now, sorry!!
yup, can’t get to page 2.
All fixed now. Sorry again 🙂
When clicking for PAGE 2 it doesnt take me there
Fixed now, Despina!
I make the sourdough waffles and pancakes- delicious and so easy. I pop the waffles into the freezer- they’re just as good reheated.
So glad you like them! I do the same—I double the recipe and freeze an entire batch. They really are perfect straight from freezer to toaster to plate (with butter and syrup, of course). Enjoy!