How to Use Discarded Sourdough Starter

One of the things you’ll be left to deal with on your sourdough journey is your discarded starter. I am going to show you how to use diuscarded sourdough starter in the simplest ways.

sourdough starter in a glass jar with wooden spatula

The Beauty in Sourdough

Sourdough is all about wild yeast fermentation. You mix flour and water at room temperature, letting the wild yeast in the air catalyze fermentation. It’s a way to naturally leaven bread without using chemical leaveners like commercial yeast, baking soda, or baking powder.

Sourdough Starter

The sourdough starter is a flour/water mixture that is cultivated through feedings. There is a process of feeding fresh and discarding the old that supports fermentation. This little mixture is the culture that ends up in “starting” the rise in your bread.

Why Discard?

A portion of the starters is discarded during feedings due to volume. If you constantly feed your culture without discarding, you’d end up with way more starter than you’d know what to do with. Far more than you’d need.

Feeding a Sourdough Starter

Feeding a sourdough starter is crucial to maintaining its activity and health. Here’s the easiest way to do it:

Remove a Portion: Discard everything except for 50 grams of starter.
Add Fresh Flour and Water: Mix equal parts flour and water into the remaining starter. For example, if you have 50 grams of starter, add 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water.
Stir and Store: Stir the mixture until well combined. Leave it at room temperature, covered loosely, until it bubbles and rises, indicating it’s active.

sourdough starter being poured out of a jar

Storing Sourdough Discard

I store my discarded sourdough starter in the refrigerator. I make a lot of recipes with sourdough discard, so I try to keep a decent-sized tash.

Easy Sourdough Discard Recipes

These recipes do not require an active sourdough starter. Sourdough discard typically doesn’t rise unless you use another leavening agent, such as baking soda or instant yeast. I don’t use either of those in my baking, so none of the recipes listed here include additional leavening.

Here are some of my favorite sourdough discard recipes: