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If you are alone learning to bake sourdough breadyou may be confused by all the terms that bakers casually bandy around. Mature beginner, autolyse, hydration, banneton … it's like a whole other language. One of the most common – and confusing – terms is discard. What exactly IS throw away the sourdough? And what the hell are you supposed to do with it?
We're here to answer all that and more.
What is leavening?
When you eat the beginning of sourdough, you need to remove some of the starter to make room for the flour and water you are adding to the mixture. Leavening is the part of the starter that is removed as part of it routine maintenance.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Why do you throw away the sourdough starter?
Bakers often ask us: “A really should I throw away my motorbike?” And the answer is yes. Regularly tossing some of your starter and refreshing it with flour and water keeps the microorganisms in it healthy, happy and thriving – and healthy starter translates into better bread. And if you don't remove some of the starter when you add the flour and water, you'd quickly have your way, ORDER many starters.
But just because you skip the sourdough toss, that doesn't mean you have to throw it away. You can bake with it, either right away or at a later date, and make everything from bread to cookies to granola and more.
What to do with throw away sourdough
If you can't bear the thought of throwing it in the trash or trash (psst: never down the drain!), you can use it in other ways. We have a whole collection of Recipe for throwing sourdough that you can bake with your sourdough; in these recipes, the hops add flavor but don't do much in the leavening department. Some of our favorite sourdough toss recipes include:
You can also prepare sourdough bread. We have some recipes that can be made with sourdough, instead of type mature starter. Just note that it is best if your starter has been fed at least once in the past week; a neglected starter will not make good bread. Try adding sourdough to these bread recipes:
Discarding sourdough can also be used to start a new sourdough starter. You can gift the toss to a friend looking to start their sourdough journey; all they have to do is feed it water and flour to have a thriving starter. See more here: You finally got a sourdough starter. Now what?
How to add sourdough tossing to any recipe
You can use sourdough leavening in any recipe that calls for an “unleavened” or “flak” sourdough starter, but it can also be used in recipes that not calling for it.
Because sourdough starter is made from flour and water, think of it as a substitute for some of the flour and water (or milk) in your recipe. The key is that the recipe should include enough liquid and flour for you to substitute for sourdough. A cookie recipe, for example, probably wouldn't be a good choice, since cookies usually don't have a significant amount of liquid. But muffins, snack cakes, quick breads and pancakes usually contain enough liquid for the substitution to work. These are also generally forgiving recipes that lend themselves well to some tinkering; this is important because adding sourdough toss will affect a recipe and can change the final result.
Remember, you're substituting the starter for some of the flour and liquid in the recipe, not just adding: When you throw in the starter, an equivalent amount of flour and water must come out to maintain the balance of the recipe's ingredients.
How to add sourdough tossing to a recipe: Because sourdough starter is usually equal parts flour and water by weight, take the amount of starter and divide by two; this is how much flour and water you are subbing for. For example, if you have 100g of starter, this is equal to 50g of flour and 50g of water. Subtract those amounts from the flour and liquid listed in the recipe. Add the starter to the recipe as a substitute.
How many sourdough starters can you substitute? We recommend replacing the starter with no more than 1/3 of the flour in the recipe. If you like the result, you can try increasing the percentage next time. And remember that this process often involves a lot of trial and error; you won't always get great (or even good) results! But if you're willing to experiment, try incorporating some leftovers into your recipes and monitor the results.
Learn more here: Adding sourdough to a recipeas well as these posts on adding sourdough to the cake AND the addition of sourdough is thrown into the dinner rolls.
Photography by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily
How to save sourdough leavening
You can save the sourdough toss in a separate container, then bake with it when you want—for example, maybe you fed your starter on Tuesday, leaving you with leftovers that you want to use to bake pancakes. on Saturday.
To preserve the release of sourdough, keep it in a container with a lid – a jar, sour dish, or other vessel you will use to store the engine will work. You can combine several days' cast into a single jar, adding it each time you feed your starter until you're ready to bake with your cast. If you plan to use it that day, discard the starter and keep it out at room temperature. Otherwise, store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
One note: Don't start using your wipe until your engine is really running. In other words, if you just launched the launcher and it hasn't been created yet, then you shouldn't save that removal. Wait until you have a healthy and active sourdough starter, then keep any deletions from routine feedings.
How long is sourdough good for?
Kept in the refrigerator, the sourdough toss will last several weeks. Similar principles apply to putting sourdough as to starting; black liquid above is perfectly fine, but pink or orange streaks mean it is likely contaminated and should be discarded.
Just learning how to bake with sourdough? Check out our beginner's guide to sourdoughthen dive into our full resource for learning sourdough baking.
Cover photo by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily.
