Sourdough Discard: How to Reduce, Use, and Dry
Hey guys, it's, Bettie from BakerBettie.com and welcome back to another video. Now, today we are continuing on with our sourdough series and we are addressing the topic of sourdough discard now, if you are brand new to this series, there is a link down in the description box, where you can watch all of the rest of the videos and Get caught up to us now in this video today we are going to be talking about what sourdough discard is how you can reduce your discards, so you don't have a ton of it and what you can do with the discard.
You do have now I'm, also going to show you how I modify my muffin base recipe to use some of my discard at the end of this video so make sure you keep watching so first, let's. Talk about what discard is now our sourdough discard is the part of our sourdough starter that we get rid of every time we feed our starter now.
The reason we do this is because, if we were to feed the starter enough, flour and water to keep it healthy without ever getting rid of any of it, our starter is just going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
Now I like to keep a jar in my refrigerator, where, every time I go to feed my starter, I just keep adding my discard to it. I like to put a date on it and I start a new jar about every month it's likely is going to remain good for longer than a month, but remember your sourdough discard is an unfed starter, so it does not stay alive indefinitely.
The way you're fed sourdough starter does now. There are a few different things that you can do with the sourdough discard that you do have. But first I want to talk about how you can reduce your discard and the main ways you can do.
That is by adjusting how often you feed your starter and how much you feed your starter. So if you are not going to be baking really frequently with your sourdough starter, I would definitely suggest keeping it in the refrigerator and feeding it once every 7 to 10 days now, when you do go to feed your starter, if it is a day that you Are not going to be baking bread with it? You can do what I like to call a micro feeding, so, instead of keeping a larger portion of your starter and feeding it enough, flour in water that you would have enough to bake a loaf of bread with, you can keep a very small portion and feed It the same ratios, the 1 3 3 ratios, like we learned in previous videos, so that you only have a very small amount to discard next time.
You need to feed it, so I will often keep only 5 grams of my starter and feed. It 15 grams of flour and 15 grams of water. Now I do this on days. I'm, not going to bake with it and next time I go to feed my starter.
I only have 35 grams total starter to work with, so if it is a baking day, I have a very small amount to discard and if it's not a baking day, it's, still a very small amount to discard, but Even with this method of reducing your discard, you are always going to have some to deal with, so there are a few different ways that you can use it.
If you are somebody who composts, you can actually add it into your compost and that's, a great way to get rid of it without just throwing it in the trash. Can you can also put some in a jar and gift it to friends? So that they have their own sourdough starter to bake with or you can actually dry your sourdough starter out so that you have a backup if you ever do accidentally kill your active sourdough starter.
Now I'm, going to link a really helpful article down in the description box for how you can dry out your sourdough starter, but it's, a very easy process. Essentially you're just going to spread it out.
Really thin on some parchment paper and let it dry and then you can take that dried starter and put it in an airtight container in your freezer or refrigerator for about a year. And then you always have a backup on hand.
If something ever happens to your live, sourdough starter, so the other thing you can do with your discard - and this is my favorite thing to do with your discard - is to add it into some of your baking recipes.
It works really well to add sourdough discard into things like muffins pancakes, waffles, quick breads like banana bread or zucchini bread, and you can actually also add it into a yeast bread that is made with dried yeast, to give it some of that sourdough flavor.
But without all of the really long fermentation time now there are a lot of recipes out there that are written specifically to be made with sourdough discard. So a little googling is going to find you a lot of sourdough discard recipes.
But if you have a favorite recipe that you would really like to use your discard in you can actually pretty easily modify the recipe to use some of your discard. So our sourdough discard is equal parts, flour and water, and you need to account for that.
When you are adding it into your recipe, there really isn't a general rule of thumb, of how much you put into your recipe, but I typically start with about a hundred and twenty grams of my discard now.
That means I need to remove 60 grams of flour from my original recipe, which is about a 1/2 cup of flour, and then I also need to remove 60 grams of liquid from the recipe to account for the water in my discard and that'S about 1/4 cup of liquid, so this does mean that this only really works for recipes that call for liquid ingredients, things like milk or water.
If you were trying to make something like a chocolate chip cookie or a recipe that doesn't have one of those ingredients in it. It would be best to look for a sourdough discard recipe, specifically written for something like that.
So let's. Do this with my basic muffin recipe as an example, the dry ingredients in my muffins calls for two cups of flour, so I'm, going to reduce that to one and a half cups to account for the amount in my discard and 2/3 cup Of granulated sugar and I'm, adding one tablespoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and I'm just going to whisk all of that together now for our wet ingredients.
My original recipe calls for 2/3 of a cup of milk, so I'm, going to go ahead and remove a fourth cup of that to account for the liquid. That is in my discard, and I'm. Adding one egg, along with one teaspoon of vanilla, extract and a half cup of oil.
Now I'm, also adding in 120 grams of my discard here, and you do want to treat this as part of your wet ingredients now just mix. All of that, together until well, combined and now I'm just going to mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until fully combined.
Now you can add any mix-ins you like into this batter it's, a really great blueberry muffin, batter chocolate chips, nuts or really anything you like or it's actually really delicious plain as well. You can find the full written recipe and printable instructions for these muffins linked in the description box.
I'll, see you guys next time, [ Applause, ], [, Music, ], hey guys! It's, Betty from Baker, Betty calm and welcome back to another video. Now, today we are continuing on with our sourdough series and we are addressing the topic of sourdough discard now, if you are brand new to this series, there is a link down in the description box, where you can watch all of the rest of the videos and Get caught up to us now in this video today we are going to be talking about what sourdough discard is how you can reduce your discards, so you don't have a ton of it and what you can do with the discard.
You do have now I'm, also going to show you how I modify my muffin base recipe to use some of my discard at the end of this video so make sure you keep watching so first, let's. Talk about what discard is now our sourdough discard is the part of our sourdough starter that we get rid of every time we feed our starter now.
The reason we do this is because, if we were to feed the starter enough, flour and water to keep it healthy without ever getting rid of any of it, our starter is just going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
Now I like to keep a jar in my refrigerator, where, every time I go to feed my starter, I just keep adding my discard to it. I like to put a date on it and I start a new jar about every month it's likely is going to remain good for longer than a month, but remember your sourdough discard is an unfed starter, so it does not stay alive indefinitely.
The way you're fed sourdough starter does now. There are a few different things that you can do with the sourdough discard that you do have. But first I want to talk about how you can reduce your discard and the main ways you can do.
That is by adjusting how often you feed your starter and how much you feed your starter. So if you are not going to be baking really frequently with your sourdough starter, I would definitely suggest keeping it in the refrigerator and feeding it once every 7 to 10 days now, when you do go to feed your starter, if it is a day that you Are not going to be baking bread with it? You can do what I like to call a micro feeding, so, instead of keeping a larger portion of your starter and feeding it enough, flour in water that you would have enough to bake a loaf of bread with, you can keep a very small portion and feed It the same ratios, the 1 3 3 ratios, like we learned in previous videos, so that you only have a very small amount to discard next time.
You need to feed it, so I will often keep only 5 grams of my starter and feed. It 15 grams of flour and 15 grams of water. Now I do this on days. I'm, not going to bake with it and next time I go to feed my starter.
I only have 35 grams total starter to work with, so if it is a baking day, I have a very small amount to discard and if it's not a baking day, it's, still a very small amount to discard, but Even with this method of reducing your discard, you are always going to have some to deal with, so there are a few different ways that you can use it.
If you are somebody who composts, you can actually add it into your compost and that's, a great way to get rid of it without just throwing it in the trash. Can you can also put some in a jar and gift it to friends? So that they have their own sourdough starter to bake with or you can actually dry your sourdough starter out so that you have a backup if you ever do accidentally kill your active sourdough starter.
Now I'm, going to link a really helpful article down in the description box for how you can dry out your sourdough starter, but it's, a very easy process. Essentially you're just going to spread it out.
Really thin on some parchment paper and let it dry and then you can take that dried starter and put it in an airtight container in your freezer or refrigerator for about a year. And then you always have a backup on hand.
If something ever happens to your live, sourdough starter, so the other thing you can do with your discard - and this is my favorite thing to do with your discard - is to add it into some of your baking recipes.
It works really well to add sourdough discard into things like muffins pancakes, waffles, quick breads like banana bread or zucchini bread, and you can actually also add it into a yeast bread that is made with dried yeast, to give it some of that sourdough flavor.
But without all of the really long fermentation time now there are a lot of recipes out there that are written specifically to be made with sourdough discard. So a little googling is going to find you a lot of sourdough discard recipes.
But if you have a favorite recipe that you would really like to use your discard in you can actually pretty easily modify the recipe to use some of your discard. So our sourdough discard is equal parts, flour and water, and you need to account for that.
When you are adding it into your recipe, there really isn't a general rule of thumb, of how much you put into your recipe, but I typically start with about a hundred and twenty grams of my discard now.
That means I need to remove 60 grams of flour from my original recipe, which is about a 1/2 cup of flour, and then I also need to remove 60 grams of liquid from the recipe to account for the water in my discard and that'S about 1/4 cup of liquid, so this does mean that this only really works for recipes that call for liquid ingredients, things like milk or water.
If you were trying to make something like a chocolate chip cookie or a recipe that doesn't have one of those ingredients in it. It would be best to look for a sourdough discard recipe, specifically written for something like that.
So let's. Do this with my basic muffin recipe as an example, the dry ingredients in my muffins calls for two cups of flour, so I'm, going to reduce that to one and a half cups to account for the amount in my discard and 2/3 cup Of granulated sugar and I'm, adding one tablespoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and I'm just going to whisk all of that together now for our wet ingredients.
My original recipe calls for 2/3 of a cup of milk, so I'm, going to go ahead and remove a fourth cup of that to account for the liquid. That is in my discard, and I'm. Adding one egg, along with one teaspoon of vanilla, extract and a half cup of oil.
Now I'm, also adding in 120 grams of my discard here, and you do want to treat this as part of your wet ingredients now just mix. All of that, together until well, combined and now I'm just going to mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until fully combined.
Now you can add any mix-ins you like into this batter it's, a really great blueberry muffin, batter chocolate chips, nuts or really anything you like or it's actually really delicious plain as well. You can find the full written recipe and printable instructions for these muffins linked in the description box.
I'll, see you guys next time, [ Music, ]
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