Sourdough Discard Bread (No-Knead!)

This homemade bread is made in just a few hours and perfect for same day baking! The best part is, you don't need a stand mixer or any fancy equipment. It's perfect for the beginner baker!

Making a sourdough discard recipe is one of my favorite things to do! You can make so many sourdough recipes with your starter, active or inactive!

If you are just starting your sourdough journey, there's a few essential tools for sourdough baking that will ensure every bread loaf comes out perfectly!

After you make this delicious loaf of sourdough bread, here's lots of recipes and ideas for what to serve with sourdough bread!

Can You Make Bread With Sourdough Discard?

Yes! This sourdough boule is the perfect recipe to use your sourdough discard! Instead of waiting all day or all night for your sourdough bread to rise, this bread is ready in under two hours. Even though we aren't waiting a long time for the bread to rise, we are still getting that delicious sourdough tang thanks to our sourdough discard.

You can make so many different recipes with sourdough discard! Make sure to join our Sourdough Facebook group with other Sourdough fanatics sharing their favorite sourdough and sourdough discard recipes as well as tips and tricks!

Ingredients to Gather

• Sourdough starter. It should be inactive, not an active sourdough starter. Active means that it has been recently fed. This starter should be right out of the refrigerator and not bubbly and active. You can make your own sourdough starter, buy one, or get one from a fellow sourdough friend! For this recipe, it should be discard, not active starter. Active starter and yeast would cause the bread to rise too much. The yeast is doing what the active starter would do.
• Dry Active Yeast. Instant Yeast will work too, but we need yeast since the starter is not active. Since we are using sourdough discard, the yeast is doing the hard work of helping the dough rise. The sourdough starter simply adds a little bit of tang, but it doesn't do that hard work of making the dough rise.
• All purpose flour. Bread flour will work if you have it, but since we all usually have all purpose flour on hand, that's what we are using today. When baking bread, there's a big difference when thinking of bread flour vs all purpose flour.
• Warm water. To activate the yeast.

What is Sourdough Discard?

When you first start baking sourdough bread, people often use the term "sourdough discard", but what is sourdough discard? It is the extra sourdough starter that you have left after you feed your sourdough starter.

Sourdough bread is a bread made from natural yeast, flour, water, and salt. There is no commercial yeast, only naturally occurring yeast from the environment. Sourdough bread requires a "starter" to rise the bread.

A sourdough starter is filled with good bacteria and wild yeast that gives the bread that traditional sour taste. You can make so many different recipes with sourdough discard. I've put together a fantastic list of sourdough discard recipes for you!

You can't feed your entire starter, as it doubles and sometimes triples in size, and that's a lot of discard to have on hand! Keep the excess starter in a mason jar right in your refrigerator. If you are new to sourdough, be sure to check out this post all about how to keep your sourdough starter happy.

Step 3: Mix in the sourdough discard starter. You can use a fork here to mix until it gets too stiff to mix.

Step 4: Mix the bread dough until a slightly sticky dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.

Step 5: Place the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Step 6: Shape the dough into a dough ball. How to shape a sourdough boule is an important step in ensuring the perfect oven spring during the baking process.

Step 7: Score the top of the dough with a sharp knife in whatever shape you would like.

Step 8: Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper and place it in a Dutch oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered.

Sample Sourdough Discard Bread Baker's Schedule

How Is Sourdough Discard Bread Different From Sourdough Bread?

If you are just starting off your sourdough journey, it might be a little intimidating to make a loaf of bread with just your sourdough starter. This bread is perfect to get your toes wet in the sourdough game! It still uses your sourdough starter, but it's very forgiving.

Sourdough discard bread uses commercial yeast to help the dough rise. We are also using inactive sourdough starter, meaning it does not have the active yeast ready to help the dough rise, so we are getting some help from commercial yeast.

The bread has a little more of a traditional artisan bread taste, as opposed to the classic sourdough taste. It is not as sour as a regular loaf of sourdough bread because we are not having the dough ferment and rise for hours and hours.

What Should I Bake The Sourdough Discard Bread In?

Classic bread made at home is baked in a Dutch oven. A Dutch oven is a heavy bottomed pan that is usually made with cast iron.

If you don't have a Dutch oven, use an oven safe pot with a lid. You can also bake it on a baking sheet and cover it with an oven safe pot. Halfway through the baking process remove the pot from on top of the baking sheet.

Variations

• Change the flour! You can use a mixture of whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, rye flour, spelt flour, and bread flour. If you add whole wheat flour to the dough it will add a nuttier flavor than simply using all purpose flour. Just keep in mind the liquid needed for different types of flour. Don't be nervous to add a little more flour if the bread is too stiff from the different types of flour.
• Add cheddar and jalapenos, just like this cheddar jalapeno sourdough bread.
• Cinnamon raisin is a classic breakfast bread. Just like this sourdough cinnamon raisin bread, add the cinnamon and raisins to the dough as it rises.
• Chop sundried tomatoes and white cheddar in the dough for a perfect bread that is great on a charcuterie board.
• For a dessert bread, add chocolate chips, orange zest, and chopped walnuts.
• Add chopped olives to the dough. You can use kalamata olives or your favorite green olives or a mixture of both.

Tips and Tricks

• The bread is done when the top of the bread is golden brown and has that classic oven spring, meaning it has grown in the oven.
• Let the bread cool on a wire rack before cutting into it.
• Feel free to use a mixture of different flours! You can use bread flour, all purpose flour, or whole wheat flour. A mixture of whole wheat flour and white flour would work too!
• You can make the dough up to 24 hours before you would like to bake it. Mix the dough and then place the dough in a bowl that is coated with olive oil. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for up to 24 hours. The next day, take the dough out of the refrigerator an hour before you would like to bake it. Then bake it as you would.
• Serve this bread as a side for 5 Ingredient Baked Ziti, Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs or Oven Baked Chicken Cacciatore!

Storage Tips

Store leftover sourdough bread in a plastic bag on the counter. A gallon sized Ziploc bag is great.

This is also a great recipe to freeze! Freeze the bread in a Ziploc bag once it has come to room temperature. It will stay fresh for up to 3 months. When you are ready to serve, take the bread out of the freezer and let it come to room temperature on the counter.

Once the bread goes stale, it's perfect to use in Italian Sausage stuffing too! You can make Blueberry French Toast casserole, or bread pudding! This makes delicious sourdough breadcrumbs too!