Ways To Use Your Extra Sourdough Starter (2024)

FAQs

What can I do with my extra sourdough starter? ›

Sourdough discard works well in many baked goods that don't require lively yeast—flat foods like crackers, tortillas and pancakes. Or you can use it to flavor recipes that rely on leavening from other sources, such as active dry yeast, baking soda and baking powder.

You'll always have left-over sourdough starter if you feed your starter once a week and don't bake with it. Here are a few of the things you can do with extra sourdough starter, like pancakes, waffles cookies, brownies, and more.

When the starter has close to doubled, refrigerate it and relax until the next time you want to bake. Try not to let the starter double and sit unfed for more than a few hours at room temp. Either feed it or hibernate it in the refrigerator.

The more starter you use, the faster your dough will ferment - resulting in a less sour loaf. Of course the amount of starter is actually a ratio in relation to the flour - so 50g of starter to 500g of flour will ferment at a much slower rate than 200g of starter to 500g of flour.

Do I have to discard my sourdough starter? It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.

Storing Your Sourdough Starter In The Refrigerator

Take out a new, clean jar with a lid. To the jar add the 20g ripe starter and 100g flour (whatever flour you usually use for feedings). Then, add 80g room temperature water and stir until all dry bits are hydrated. Place a lid on top, and secure.

If you don't discard your sourdough starter, it will grow too big and be unmanageable. Not to mention you will go through an unmentionable amount of flour.

You can use the 1:1:1 ratio in many situations when scaling your sourdough starter. Even if you only had 10g of starter and you wanted 200g of starter, you'd just have to feed it at 1:10:10 which would mean adding 100g of flour and 100g of water to that 10g of sourdough starter.

No you do not have to stir sourdough starter before you use it. You measure the sourdough starter by weight, not volume, so stirring it or not makes absolutely no difference. What does "fed" sourdough starter mean? Fed sourdough starter refers to a starter that has been fed flour and water (preferably by weight).

Technically, yes you can start another sourdough starter with your sourdough discard - however you don't need two sourdough starters! So as long as your starter is at least 7 days old, why not bake something yummy with the discard?

Can you mix old and new sourdough starter? ›

But if it doesn't respond at all (no growth, no bubbles) after three or four days of twice-a-day feedings, you might as well start over. Just be sure to stir some of your old starter into the new — so you can continue to brag about how long you've kept your starter going!

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.

However, this cost does not include feeding your sourdough starter, your time or labor or the cost of electricity of equipment. So if you look solely at the ingredients, it is cheaper to make your own sourdough. But if you bring other factors into it - it might not be as cheap.

Active starter and discard both come from the same sourdough starter. However, they are in different phases. Active starter has been fed flour and water within the last 12 hours or so and is growing until it hits its peak. Once it begins to fall it is considered discard.

Fortunately, you can chill or even freeze your sourdough starter to slow down the yeast's activity and preserve it until you're ready to bake. Sourdough starter stored in the fridge will stay in good shape for the occasional baker who might be making a loaf or two every couple of weeks.

I have kept my inactive starter or “discard” in the fridge for six months and brought her back to life in three feedings. Make sure you store it in a locking lid jar, that is essential! This keeps mold spores out and other fridge bacteria you don't want in your starter.