Sourdough Discard Scones

Makes: 18 scones

Total time: 2 hrs

Measuring	Weight (g)	Weight (oz)	Ingredient
4½ cups	630 g	22.5 oz	AP flour
2 tbsp			Baking powder
½ cup	112 g	4 oz	Granulated sugar (¼ cup for less sweet)
1 tsp			Salt
1½ sticks	168 g	6 oz	Butter (cold, unsalted, cut to 1” chunks)
1 cup		8 oz	Buttermilk (240ml) Note: 2.65 oz greek yogurt + ⅔ cups of milk = 1 cup buttermilk
1 cup		8 oz	Sourdough discard (100% hydration)
2			Eggs

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.

2. Toss in butter chunks. Mix in the butter until the bits are the size of a pea.

3. Whisk buttermilk, sourdough discard, eggs.

4. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients until just barely combined. DON'T OVER MIX.

5. Dump the dough onto a floured surface & finish kneading by hand just until all the loose flour is absorbed

6. Pat dough to 3/4" thick. Use a 2.5"-3" biscuit cutter to cut scones. Re-roll the scraps and continue cutting until all the dough is used.

7. Line the scones on prepared baking sheet (parchment or silicon mat), leaving 1" space between. Brush the tops of the scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with Demerara or granulated sugar.

8. Bake on the middle racks of the oven at 375°F, flipping the trays after 10 minutes (see note).

9. The scones are ready when they are golden brown and sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. Total baking time 15-20 minutes.

Sourdough Cracker Recipe

Adapted From: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-crackers-recipe

Makes: 100 crackers

Total time: 2 hrs

Measuring	Weight (g)	Weight (oz)	Ingredient
1 cup	113 g	4    oz	Whole wheat or AP flour
½ tsp	3     g	0.1 oz	Salt
1 cup	227 g	8    oz	Sourdough discard, unfed
4 tbsp	57   g	2    oz	Unsalted butter, room temp
2 tbsp			Garlic salt, optional
			Oil, brushing
			Spices, optional

1. Mix flour, salt, starter, butter, herbs to make smooth dough (not sticky)

2. Divide dough in half. Shape each in to rectangular slab

3. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 min (or few hours) until dough firm.

4. Preheat oven to 350F

5. Lightly flour silicon baking mat, rolling pin, & top of dough

6. Roll dough to 1/16”. Transfer mat + dough to baking sheet

7. Brush with oil & sprinkle garlic salt

8. Cut in to 1.25” squares. Prick with fork tines

9. Bake 20-25 min. Squares start browning at edges. Halfway through reverse baking sheets (top/bottom & front/back).

10. Store airtight at room temp for 1 week or freeze

How do I feed my starter?

I get a lot of questions about how I feed Arnold. Some people treat it like an exact science. I don’t. Which is ironic given I’m a perfectionist/engineer. Not everything in life can be an exact science. This is where I get balance.

I’ve read a lot about discarding half and feeding with equal parts water and flour by weight. I kind of do that. The main difference being that I use the term “discard” and "half" loosely.

I’ll always feed Arnold equal weights of water and flour so his hydration stays consistent at 100% (and to reduce unnecessary cognitive overhead). But I’ll frequently feed him without removing any existing starter.

And I never straight up throw anything away. I always bake it in to something else. Food waste isn’t my thing. (Maybe it’s because I’m an environmental engineer. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a family that said every rice left in the bowl was a pimple on your face. But I digress.)

Here’s my schedule-ish:

Thursday, Friday, or Saturday

1. Assess how much Arnold I have.
• I usually try to maintain Arnold at 2-8oz. Based on how much starter I currently have, I'll choose a recipe where I'll end up in that comfortable range, once I remove what I need to for my recipe.
2. Choose a recipe (either using discard or requiring peak starter). Based on that, feed Arnold. For example:
• If I want to make a discard-based recipe, I'll remove what I need, prep, bake, and sometime in there feed non-recipe Arnold.
• If I want to make a peak-starter-based recipe, I'll feed first then remove what I need once Arnold has peaked.
• Note: The exact amount I feed varies (but is always equal parts water & flour by weight). Generally I'll feed him 1-2oz of water & flour each week.
3. Fridge Arnold after he's peaked & fallen. Timing here is based on starter type used in my recipe for the week. For example:
• If I am doing a discard-based recipe, I likely just fed Arnold. So I'll leave him for ~12-18 hrs on the kitchen counter before sticking him in the fridge.
• If I am doing a peak-starter-based recipe, I'll stick him in the fridge soon (~immediately-1hr) after removing what I'm using for my recipe.

That's it! Not an exact science 🤷. Hope it's helpful.

Sourdough Banana Muffin Recipe

 

Arnold's very first bake was a clean-out-the-freezer bake. I had these really, really old bananas in the freezer. Like I-hope-I-don't-get-sick bananas because these are I-don't-know-how-long-these-have-been-in-here bananas. But they turned out great!

⅓ cup veg oil
¾ cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3 bananas
1 cup sourdough discard
1.5 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda


Combine veg oil, sugar.
Combine vanilla, egg. Combine with above.
Combine with mashed bananas, sourdough discard.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Add to wet ingredients above.
Heat oven to 350°F.
Fill muffin tins almost to top. Bake for 25-30min.