Should we take a break from baking bread for a bit? How about just one entry… Trust me, it will be worth it when you try one of my top 3 leftover sourdough starter recipes below. Plus, it’s still considered baking if we’re using a starter in a roundabout way, right? This post presents a few ways to utilize our excess sourdough starter discarded at each feeding (refreshment).
Since I feed my sourdough starter twice daily, I usually have an excess of starter in the morning and evening. Many see this excess as “waste,” but it can be used for many things besides going into your compost bin. After all, this waste can be seen as food for our starter so it can continue living.
The following recipes are tried and true here in my kitchen. I’ve made the waffles and pancakes so many weekends the process has become ritualistic: mix the batter the night before to ferment overnight, wake and finish mixing, and then get cooking.
My previously outlined schedule for creating a sourdough starter and my guide on maintaining a sourdough starter will work well with any of the following recipes, ensuring you have enough starter each day to meet the requirements. Note that you might have to adjust the hydration of the recipes below to suit your sourdough starter. If you maintain a stiffer starter (60-75% hydration), you might have to add more liquid until the consistency of the batter is typical for what you’re making.
My Best Sourdough Waffles
Lengthy fermentation time makes my best sourdough waffles impossibly light, crunchy, and slightly tangy. In addition to the wonderful flavor, because the flour is fermented for several hours, the entire batter becomes aerated, resulting in a waffle that will surprise you on your first bite. They have just the right ratio of sweet to savory, with a slight but noticeable tang at the end.
I made these recently on a snowy day here in Albuquerque, which fits perfectly with warm waffles. Arya, our German shepherd, wanted to go outside to do some hiking and investigating in the snow. It’s funny to watch shepherds outside when it snows: they run around eating the snow, digging here and there, and generally creating a little storm of their own.
As adults (maybe it’s just me?), we’re hesitant to get dirty and make a mess; sometimes, it’s great to see kids or your pets throw all that aside and care only about the moment. Thankfully, a batch of sourdough starter waffle batter was fermented and ready to hit the iron.
If you have sourdough starter discard ready, try these waffles, you’ll love them!
Sourdough Starter Pancakes
Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast indulgences. I have memories as a child waking up to the upstairs kitchen (yes, strangely, our kitchen was upstairs, and all the bedrooms were downstairs—that’s the 50s for you) smelling like batter and butter. Fresh fruit to the top was always a staple, as was good maple syrup. I’m not a diehard maple syrup, but really, anything less than 100% maple syrup is kind of a letdown for these beautiful sourdough pancakes.
These can be made quickly and easily on a whim; you need very little pre-planning to make these happen (isn’t that usually the case on late Sunday mornings?). I’ve used this core recipe a dozen different ways based on the season: pureed pumpkin mixed in during November, fresh blueberries tossed into the batter during the summer, and ricotta added in at, well, any time of the year. If you’ve made pancakes before, you know just how versatile they can be.
I like to use a smoking hot griddle to cook pancakes; it makes a huge difference in the quality of your pancakes. If you don’t have one, you can pick up a cast iron griddle for relatively cheap, and it’ll last a lifetime.
Baker’s Banana Bread
Banana bread is something I had at least once a month growing up. A family of four always seems to have excess bananas on hand, you know, those in the kitchen that are so black and mushy no one ever touches them. Well, these are the bananas you want to use for this banana bread!
This banana bread could easily become zucchini bread by swapping out the bananas (or you can keep them) with grated and pressed zucchini (after you grate the zucchini into fine little strands, press them between two paper towels to extract some of the moisture out).
What I love most about this banana bread is that the ingredients are flexible and include items I always have on hand—a baker’s banana bread, if you will.
What’s Next?
So there you have it, my top 3 leftover sourdough starter recipes. If you get into a good rhythm, and with little extra planning, you can make a superb breakfast each weekend (or weekday if you go late).
Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day, and with the recipes above, it’s just that much better. While not technically a breakfast food, banana bread is perfect in the morning with a cappuccino or pour-over.
For more, see my roundup of sourdough starter discard recipes.
716 Comments
What about discard blini recipe, would that be easy ? How would you adapt a pancake recipe to work ?
I haven't made one but I think it should work just the same!
Hi Maurizio! I have a question, i try to understand the science behind the discard as i found some German bakers and American bakers who just don t use this laborious method. Any idea? Thank you
I talk about it on my guide to sourdough starters:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/sourdough-starter/
You don’t really need to discard and re-feed your sour dough starter all the time like people tell you.
For a better way: Look for Ben Starr, How to feed and care for your sour dough starter.
Hi Maurizio!
Would it be OK to do the overnight ferment with the Banana Bread recipe?
Thanks!
Hmm. You know, I’ve never tried that. If you do let me know how it goes, it should be okay, though it might be more sour!
It’s really good and I like the fact that I don’t have to throw levain away anymore. Thank you for the good recipe. I used peanut instead of walnut and it was also good.
Love the idea of using peanut!
When I took the first bite it was like every other waffle I had ever eaten was a lie lol! These were the best waffles of my life! The crunch and flavor… We have eaten them every day for a week now lol! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
Ha ha, amazing. That's perhaps the best compliment I've received to date. Thank you 🙂
OUTSTANDING!
Just made the banana bread (with the discard from my latest brand new recovery starter built in the Sourdough Home cuz its cold here)!
I did add a little bit of cardamom and a pinch of nutmeg and pecans instead of walnuts and the bake took more like 90 minutes but that’s ok. My new go-to banana bread recipe!
So glad you liked it! Love the idea of cardamom, too. I've been sneaking that into a lot lately…
Have you baked the banana bred as muffins before? What would the bake time be?
When I bake cakes in muffin pans, baking time is generally about 20 minutes. Check early, maybe 18 minutes total for darker pans, and up to 22 minutes for light-coloured pans. Oven temp as per recipe. I know this is a 4 month old question but hopefully it helps.
Yup, have done this many times. I have the variant in my cookbook! https://www.theperfectloaf.com/cookbooks/
How do I know when my starter is ready to make something ?
Hey Maurizio,
I used to make this banana bread frequently and it was great, my go-to recipe. I’ve just got back into baking sourdough after a long break and made this twice – both times it looked great taking out of oven and then it sank. Hmm… I’m in UK so using plain flour and baking powder. Should I switch to self-raising? I’m leaving out the nuts but apart from that following it closely. Oh but I don’t have a thermometer. Maybe that’s what I need?
Your bread recipes are working so well though! Best bread I’ve ever made. Only problem is how fast it disappears….
Any advice much appreciated. Thanks, Jo.
It might need less liquid if you're leaving out the nuts!
Yes, I would drop the liquid in that recipe, Tom!
Hi Maurizio,
thanks for the great sourdough discard recipes 🙂
Question:
1) regarding the 365g of bananas (in the banana bread recipe). Is that the weight of the bananas before peeling or is that the weight of the mashed insides?
2) You write we can use any flour but wouldn’t the type of flour determine the level of moistness/dryness considering how different flours soak up liquid?
3) You wrote “stirred down” starter. So I’m taking it your discard is on the runny side…is that right? If mine is on the very thick side, should I increase my liquid somewhere else?
– I have a feeling all the answers will be something like “whatever you like” as banana bread is probably a super flexible recipe but in any case, thanks in advance! 😀
You’re welcome, Bobby! Answers:
1) That’s the weight after peeling, though it’s very flexible. Use what you have.
2) Yes, I mention this, and as always, add more liquid (or hold back) as necessary. For example, using a whole grain flour will usually require adding more liquid to the recipe.
3) If you’re using a stiff starter, you will likely need to add water to the batter to compensate, yes.
Dear Maurizio, I have a question. I never put baking powder in my pancakes anyway and I’ve been successfully making them for decades now. If you put sourdough starter they will rise more than usual, and that’s great, why not, they’ll be even more fluffy. But in your recipe you put both sourdough starter AND baking power AND baking soda? Why oh why? Isn’t that overkill? The whole idea of sourdough starter was to avoid chemicals.
You can leave out the chemical leaveners if you’d like!
Thank you for replying. I was just curious to know why you thought they need it.
I find they do help bring more rise, kind of an insurance policy. The sourdough starter is less for leavening and more for flavor. Though, if you’re doing the overnight fermentation option with these, you’ll likely get plenty of rise 🙂
Should I have used baking powder in the banana bread recipe? My bread turned out gummy on the bottom. I baked to over 200°F in the middle for about 80 min
Strange! It really only needs baking soda…
Hello! So we’ve made the pancakes yesterday, the savoury waffles this morning and the banana bread last week, all delicious. I was wondering if we can replace at least part of the flour used with oat flour and how that would change the recipe? This weekend we’ll make the everyday sandwich bread (again) 😉 Thanks!
Yes, you can do that, just know that oat flour does not have gluten so it may result in a denser product. Will be delicious though! I’d use around 10% of the total flour as oat flour, and increase through testing.
Maurizio, is all the recipes using fresh discard from a mature starter or can I use discards that I have been collecting over weeks and kept in the freezer? Thanks in advance for response.
You can use either!
I just made the banana bread with starter that had been stored in the fridge for a couple weeks.
Hi Maurizio – how long can I keep the discard in the fridge for these recipes without feeding it? Would it be better kept in the freezer?
I like to keep it only for a week, but 2 would work! I’d keep it in the fridge.
Hello Maurizio,
I love your posts and insight, so first — thank you!! I love sourdough pancakes and am so excited to try your recipe and love how much discard I am able to use. I did about half the sugar and the rest honey (wanted to use maple but was running low).. it is now on the counter.
Now, my question is: Do I leave the batter on the counter overnight or in the fridge?
Thank you so much! I know I might not get a response in time but I couldn’t find the answer in any questions I read. I think I will leave it out as I saw you mention leaving the yogurt out until the morning.
Thank you, Arlo! As long as you don’t put any ingredients into the batter that could spoil left out overnight (e.g., eggs) you can leave it out on the counter. Otherwise, fridge!
I ended up putting the batter in the fridge to be safe and then combined the Fage 5% greek yogurt and duck eggs into it in the morning…. BEST sourdough pancakes I’ve ever made. I will be making this for my whole family around the holidays.
Duck eggs, yummm. So glad these worked out for ya, Arlo!
Hey Maurizio,
Your banana bread recipe is a staple in my house. My kid makes sure we always have bananas ripening in the corner so that we can make it! With it being pumpkin season and I just made some pumpkin puree, I am curious if you think that the banana’s could be replaced in this recipe for pumpkin, or if any other changes might be good to make a delicious pumpkin sourdough bread.
Thanks!
So awesome to hear that, Esther! I love this BB, but I have to say, I did improve on the formula just a bit in my new cookbook 🙂 They’re both great in different ways!
Yes, you can absolutely swap the banana for puree!
Hi Maurizio. Love the banana bread recipe, do we not need to wait for sourdough started to work in the bread before we bake it? Will the bread rise without baking powder and just with sourdough which has not had time to work on bread? Thanks
No, because the baking pow acts as the primary leavener with this recipe. I would not try to use sourdough to leaven this bread, it will change it!
Hi Maurizio, I love all your recipes 🙂 thank you so much for sharing them with us!! I’m getting better with my loafs and I regularly make waffles, pancakes and the banana bread!
I have one problem, I wanted to make your banana bread for a friend, but I don’t have discard at hand. Do you have an idea how I could substitute it? (your banana bread recipe is the best I’ve ever used!)
Thank you! If you dont have discard, mix up equal parts flour and water for the amount of discard 🙂
Here is another kind of pancake to make. They come out round shaped and are just wonderful. Eat them with raspberry jam or strawberry jam
Delicious 🙂
Do you ever use the spice Cardamom in your bread(probably not sourdough though) or other baking of some kind? It’s pretty good. Adds a interesting flavor..
Not exactly bread, but check out my sourdough cardamom rolls—they’re amazing!
Hi Maurizio, I made the pancakes this morning and they were a bust 🙁 They came out very sour, almost like as if I had put cheese in them. Afterwards, I found out that the brand of buttermilk I used (Kate’s Real Buttermilk) has live yogurt culture in it. My guess is that it spoiled while I left it o/n @ RT. I don’t use buttermilk often (ever) so I thought they were all the same when I got it from our local grocery store. Such a shame because they smelled amazing while baking! Lesson learned 🙂
Whoa! First time I’ve heard of this, Ivan. I’ve never used live culture buttermilk, so this definitely explains this. Sorry to hear about this!
How much zucchini do I use to substitute the bananas?
I usually do about 2-3 medium-sized zucchini. There’s no wrong answer here, really, just so you don’t use too much 🙂
Hi! Thank you SO MUCH for this site! Quick question: Do you know how the pancakes hold up to freezing?
Yes, they do very, very well, I do this all the time!
Yay! Thank you!
I’ve served your sourdough waffles three times now in a week and they are truly some of the best waffles I’ve ever had! Thank you!
So glad to hear that, Chris!