January 8, 2009 - 7:43pm
Wat do you do with your discarded starter?
Since my starter is to the point where I can discard it...............I was wondering what else there was to do with it besides throw it away. Can I freeze it and thaw when I need to use it?
What other recipes can it be used in, etc. Just curious what the options are here.
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What to do with discarded starter is an oft-asked question on this board. Do a search for "discard", and you will find a bunch of threads with a recipes. Basically, you can mix discard into any of your baked goods for added flavor.
Here's a link to how I manage my starter and what I do with the leftovers. I bake all our bread, and I often use sourdough, so I like to keep active starter on the counter.
More details at the link, but basically, I keep a small amount -- 45 grams or about 1.5 ounces -- of stiff starter on the counter and feed it once or twice a day. I keep the discards in a bowl in the fridge and then use them to make sourdough English muffins and sourdough waffles.
Cara,
First I agree with both gaaarp and JMonkey's suggestions. I use the sourdough waffle recipe from King Arthur.
I also suggest the sourdough cookie recipe here, most of the way down the page, there are other recipes there too, but I haven't tried them.
Recently I made scones with sourdough starter. You can follow the link here.
My other favorite use of starter leftovers is pizza dough. Sourdoughhome.com has a very simple recipe.
I'm glad to hear your starter is working, have fun!
Marni
I just toss it.
I feed it to the porcelain throne, after having diluted it with water.
I agree with all above : waffles and pancakes are outstanding..extremely light and flavorful. Mike Avery's Sourdough Home has great recipes for whole wheat blueberry muffins and English Muffin bread. Those I can attest to. Marni's link above will take you to a chocolate cake, cookies and her scones.
Betty
Oh..just remembered..great for onion rings, and pizza dough which I freeze for future quick dinners.
I don't know if you garden, but it makes really good compost.
This is a pretty simple, but good SD pancake recipe I recently tried.
I plan to add dried buttermilk to the water the next time I mix it.
oops