16 Ways To Use Your Sourdough Starter This Year
Sourdough starter is just flour and water that harbors the cultures when its wheat grew in the soil & that are on and around us.
It creates an environment that offers yeast to the rising of bread and bacterial colonies to the taste and balancing of it.
I learned in the book ‘Gut Feelings’ that we are more microbes than we are cells. Say what? I guess I’d have to re-read the book or further research to get the just on what he actually means, but our bodies are cool! That’s all.
My hope is that by adopting nature into our home, albeit sourdough, we are inoculating our guts & encouraging diversity in our biomes.
When I think about my sourdough starter, I can’t help but think that keeping it healthy is like keeping my own body healthy, with the one major thing we have in common — we need food.
When food was around in my home, as a child, it meant my mom and dad were earning money & so I associate food with a happy home. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I’ll never know.
For now, I’ll rejoice in the fact that I still have my babies at home, my husband is our main chef & that the smell of baked goods & the sound of story are a motherhood delight of mine.
We try and eat in as much as possible which means we get to get creative with sourdough! Which also means we are consistently feeding and using our sourdough starter. It’s good for (& in!) so many things!
In my latest YouTube video I talk about how to feed a sourdough starter. I also talk about how I don’t keep discard. But we are cooking & baking nearly every.single.day. So, if you want to keep a discard stash, or 2! 3! Or 4! By all means, do it!
My suggestion would be that if you’re saving this discard and want to make bread with it, feed a few times prior to baking bread with it. I suggest only feeding a small amount of sourdough starter, with heavy flour and water. An example would be 30g starter, 134g water, 146g flour. This would give you plenty for 2 loaves of bread.
If you have a stash of sourdough discard you need to use, here are 16 recipes and ideas my family has loved, or plans to use, with sourdough discard (I use active & discard interchangeably when following recipes, depending on what I have available) |
A roux in soup.
Sourdough cornbread | https://amybakesbread.com/fluffy-sourdough-cornbread/
Chicken & dumplings | https://youtu.be/eVuInKVRT2U?si=_t1y7B5pKvaaJo8c
A thickener in gravy.
Sourdough pizza crust | https://youtu.be/Xr01kVnkW3I
Tortillas | https://simplicityandastarter.com/sourdough-tortillas-recipe/
Sourdough dough, but you can make ciabatta, baguettes & other bread varieties! You would need steam.
Sandwich bread | https://simplicityandastarter.com/can-you-bake-sourdough-in-a-loaf-pan/
By itself (dumped out onto a skillet, like a pancake) with a Zhatar seasoning dipped in olive oil & vinegar.
Graham crackers (a household fav!) | https://livingbreadbaker.com/best-sourdough-discard-graham-crackers-recipe/
Chocolate chip scones | https://littlespoonfarm.com/chocolate-chip-sourdough-scones-recipe/
English muffins | https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-english-muffins-recipe/
Granola | https://simplicityandastarter.com/easy-sourdough-granola-recipe-with-nutty-flavor/
Pancakes | https://www.theperfectloaf.com/my-best-sourdough-pancakes/
Banana bread | https://www.theperfectloaf.com/bakers-sourdough-discard-banana-bread/
Brownies | https://www.theperfectloaf.com/fudgy-sourdough-discard-brownies/
