Every time you feed a sourdough starter, you remove some before adding fresh flour and water. That removed portion is "discard" — and tipping it in the bin is a waste of perfectly good, flavour-packed fermented flour. Here are 10 easy ways to use it instead.
First, what is sourdough discard?
Discard is simply the unfed portion of your starter. It still has all the tangy flavour of sourdough; it just doesn't have enough rising power on its own for a big airy loaf. That makes it ideal for recipes where flavour matters more than lift.
Tip: keep a "discard jar" in the fridge and add to it over the week until you have enough for a recipe. Want exact quantities scaled to how much discard you have? Try our Discard Reincarnation Engine.
10 easy sourdough discard recipes
- Sourdough crackers — mix discard with flour, oil, herbs and salt, roll thin, and bake until crisp. The easiest, most reliable discard bake.
- Discard pancakes — stir discard into your batter for a light tang and extra-fluffy texture.
- Sourdough waffles — make the batter the night before; the overnight rest deepens the flavour.
- Pizza base — discard adds flavour to a quick weeknight dough.
- Flatbreads & naan — pan-fried in minutes, perfect alongside curry or soup.
- Banana bread — swap some flour for discard to add moisture and a subtle tang.
- Sourdough muffins — savoury (cheese and chive) or sweet, discard works in both.
- Crumpets — discard's bubbles give you those classic holes.
- Cornbread — a spoonful of discard adds depth to the crumb.
- Quick cinnamon rolls — use discard in the dough for a tangy twist on a classic.
How much discard does a recipe need?
Most discard recipes call for somewhere between 100g and 250g. If you bake regularly, you'll have plenty; if not, store discard in the fridge for up to a week (or freeze it). Our discard tool auto-scales four zero-waste recipes to whatever amount you have on hand.
Discard vs. active starter — don't mix them up
If a recipe needs rise (like bread), use active, fed starter at its peak, not discard. For everything else — crackers, pancakes, flatbreads — discard is perfect. New to the difference? Our Starter Care Guide walks through feeding, timing and the float test.
No starter yet?
You'll need an active starter before you have discard to play with. Our Organic Sourdough Starter activates in about 2 hours, so you can be baking — and saving discard — the same day.
Find more free baking calculators on our sourdough tools page.
