Biscuits Made From Sourdough Starter Discard

Trying to figure out what to do with your sourdough starter discard? This biscuit recipe is just as easy as it is delicious and just the tip of what you can make with discarded sourdough starter!

If you haven’t heard by now, there is a nationwide shortage of yeast. And truth be told – I only found that out when I decided to use my time at home to make homemade bread. My cousin Emily has been making bread for awhile now, so when she announced she was hosting a workshop on making it start to finish on her Instagram stories, I was so excited! As it turns out, making sourdough bread is an easy process, you just need patience.

What To Do With Discarded Sourdough Bread Starter

Part of the bread-making process is first making a starter. From that starter, you do what is called “feeding” it and then discarding some. I always felt really bad about just throwing some away, so my cousin suggested making butter biscuits from sourdough discard!

Biscuits Made From Sourdough Starter Discard

I was really nervous, because all of this is so new to me, but it turns out – all of it is pretty easy. She reminded me that people have been making sourdough starters for YEARS (before fancy scales and measuring cups) and that it’s kind of hard to mess it up completely.

So, on my third day of feeding my starter, it was time to discard a big chunk of it, which proved to be enough for making six biscuits.

I followed The Kitchn’s Sourdough Biscuit Recipe with a couple modifications based on what I had already in my house.

I subbed in bread flour and used the zester that I have to shred the butter. I wasn’t going to make any unnecessary trips to the store, and they both worked great!

After adding in the butter to the dry mixture, I mixed and got an almost-perfectly shaggy dough. I made a little well, so that I could add in my discarded sourdough starter.

And, in went the cup of discarded starter! If you’ve never made bread before, I’ll warn you that the smell is a little funky. Not bad, just different.

Once I had everything mixed pretty well, it was time to knead the dough, making sure not to knead too much to overwork the gluten. Overworked gluten in bread makes the end result tough, so pro-knead with caution. Okay that was an awful joke – can you tell I’ve been in the house too long?!

I chose to use star shaped cookie cutters for my biscuits, but you can just use your hands to make circles honestly. You’ll notice I have a “plop biscuit” amongst the stars and that was because I didn’t want to overwork my dough, so I just rounded up my remaining pieces and made my last biscuit.

And into the oven at 425 degrees! Now, I’ve done a lot of baking in my life, but I have never had my house smell this good! The end result (I took mine out at 15 minutes and that was PLENTY, maybe even too much), was delicious homemade sourdough biscuits!

I was FaceTiming with my friend Ariel when I did my first taste test and she goes “Whoa, look at all that perfect steam coming out!” I ate my first one with honey and butter — 10/10 recommend!

Easy Sourdough Biscuits

I made them in the afternoon, so I put them in an airtight container on my counter overnight. The next day, I sliced two open, put a little bit of cheese, garlic powder, and horseradish on them, and put them into the broiler. When I pulled them out, I put scrambled eggs inside. Dane said it was one of the best breakfast sandwiches he’s over had (WHOA!).

And there you have it – my first foray into recipes made from sourdough starter. Let me know if you have any questions and if you’re getting into bread making yourself, I highly recommend following my cousin Emily or Chelsea of Making Home Base who frequently shares her bread-making on stories!