Discard
Discard is the portion of sourdough starter that is “thrown away” (thus, the name discard) OR starter that is not fed. It can be used in recipes or thrown away.
The concept of “discard” is a really important one for any aspiring sourdough baker to understand.
You see, when you’re maintaining and feeding your sourdough starter, you can’t just keep adding more and more flour and water to it indefinitely. That would cause the starter to grow exponentially and become unmanageable – trust me, I’ve been there!
So in order to keep your starter at a nice, workable size, you have to remove and “discard” a portion of it before feeding it.
But do I really need to discard?
Yes.
Why?
If you don’t, you’ll end up having an insane amount of starter
Because you need to feed the starter its body weight in flour –at least this much. If you don’t, it wont have enough food and never be happy
So if you never take away, then you’ll end up with too much starter than you’ll ever need. It’ll be too much to handle and too soon
Many bakers still wonder why we even do this because it seems like such a waste, but we have to do this or else we end up with an insane amount of starter.
Now, I know it can feel counterintuitive to just throw away what seems like perfectly good sourdough. But the discard is necessary for a few key reasons:
- It prevents your starter from growing too large and becoming difficult to maintain.
- It ensures that your starter maintains the ideal ratio of flour, water, and active cultures.
- It allows you to refresh your starter with new food (flour and water) regularly, keeping it healthy and strong.
The good news is that discard doesn’t have to go to waste! There are tons of delicious recipes you can use it in, like pancakes, waffles, crackers, and even breads. So instead of just tossing it, you can get creative and make something tasty.
How to use up sourdough starter discard
We use up Discard in many recipes (usually non-sourdough recipes because we are not meaning to leaven anything. Doing this accomplishes two things:
We’re getting rid of discard, and
We’re improving or enhancing that recipe in some way, for example:
As a thickener –use to thicken soups, sauces and gravies
As a binder –use to bind meatballs, burgers, etc.
As fry batter –use to batter vegetables, chicken, fish, etc.
As dough conditioner –use in cookies to impart a soft and chewy texture
Discard is basically sourdough starter that isn’t fed
When you feed a starter, it will ferment and rise until it reaches it’s peak point. Then, it will fall from peak state and slide back down to its starting point.
Where it will go hungry until the next time it is given flour and water.
When you don’t feed a starter, it’s always a day or two away from dying if you’re leaving it on the counter.
Where to keep your sourdough starter discard
You can buy time by putting the discard in your fridge, where it’ll be fine for weeks without a feeding…
But! The longer it sits without a feeding, the more undesirable it gets in flavor. So just be cognizant of that when using in sourdough discard recipes.
How to save discard from going bad
On the counter, if left unfed for a days, your starter will produce hooch
That’s when the water separates from the flour and the water gets more and more alcoholic over time.
By this point, if you don’t put your discard in the fridge, it will eventually get a pinkish, orange-ish film on top of the starter which means the starter’s gone bad and moldy.
The starter can still be saved if you discard heavily
Take away as much of the bad and moldy starter and feed at drastic ratio of something like 1:40:40 (ie. 5g discard + 200g water + 200g water) to refresh and replenish your supply
How to not have any sourdough starter discard
Does this help explain the purpose and importance of discard in sourdough baking? Let me know if you have any other questions – I’m always happy to share my sourdough expertise with fellow bakers!