From crackers to crepes to chocolate cake, there are plenty of uses for excess starter
I’ve had a sourdough starter for years, but I’ve only baked a loaf a handful of times. Making bread well takes a balance of meticulousness and artistry. You need a deep understanding of your starter’s quirks, and a scrupulous handle on the ratios, time tables, and measurements needed to make a beautiful loaf. But as someone who’s really in the sourdough game for the flavor, I don’t have the patience to develop an intimate soul connection with a globby microbiome in a Weck jar, and sourdough recipes with time stamps give me hives. Instead, I have become far more fixated on the sourdough discard recipes I stumble across, and now have a roster of things I do when my partner and I revive our starter.
I love to adapt this King Arthur recipe for sourdough crackers, which calls for “2 tablespoons [of] dried herbs of your choice.” Those “herbs” have on various occasions included herbes de provence, ras el hanout, baharat, everything bagel seasoning, urfa biber, piri piri, Old Bay, Tony Chachere’s, and rose harissa; I have also been known to add grated hard cheeses to my mix, which gives the crackers a flavor not unlike a Cheez-It. The sourdough alone adds a really satisfying cheesiness, which makes the crackers fun for standalone snacking or as an accompaniment to a cheese board.
In general, I’ve enjoyed breaking out the sourdough starter when I’m entertaining. I love the airiness that sourdough discard adds to chocolate cake, while also bringing out the fruitier notes of the chocolate. I’ve served that cake as a follow up to cast-iron skillet sourdough pizzas, which I’ve topped with endless combinations of farmers market produce; this time of year, a classic combo of mine is melted leeks, asparagus, and whatever mushrooms I can scrounge together, plus some sort of mild, creamy cheese.
And the sheer number of sourdough-reliant brunches I’ve served is jarring: sourdough crumpets with blackberry basil jam; sourdough crepes with rhubarb and fennel compote. I remember driving two hours into the Mount Hood wilderness with overnight sourdough pancake sponge in a very precarious mixing bowl; on the morning of the Fourth of July, we ate tangy, fluffy pancakes doused in strawberry-top syrup with whipped cream and berries.
I think that’s the main thing I like about sourdough discard recipes, as opposed to bread: bread takes so much precision, whereas discard is more about playing in the kitchen, something I have always enjoyed. Discard recipes can be a relatively blank slate for countless dishes, and as you experiment, you’ll discover when they work best. Early in the feeding process, focus on foods that shouldn’t get much rise, and as the sourdough starter gets more active, you can add it to things like pizza dough. Even without going through all the labor of making bread, you can still get to know the yeasty resident in your fridge — just as an acquaintance, not as a member of your inner circle.
Dilek Baykara is a Turkish-American illustrator, print designer, and adventurous gastronome living in Brooklyn, New York.
