National Sourdough Day :: 5 Unique Recipes Using Sourdough Starter

Remember when Covid-19 lock down happened, and it seemed like everyone and their sister were making sourdough? Yeah, me too. At the time, I thought that it was just a fad. I was pregnant with my son and working full-time as an essential worker in my local water utility. I didn’t have time to get into sourdough.

Well, all these years later, stay-at-home-mom me is wishing I had picked up the hobby sooner! Sourdough is one of the oldest forms of bread-making. According to The Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology, you can date sourdough bread back to 3700 BCE in Switzerland. However, the origin of sourdough fermentation likely goes back to the origin of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt several thousand years earlier. One thing we can all agree on is that sourdough is delicious in all its forms!

April 1 is National Sourdough Day! To celebrate, I collaborated with some of the other contributors here at ABQMom to bring you five recipes you can make with your sourdough starter.

🍺 🍺 🍺  Check out our recipe for beer bread, too. It’s delicious and easy to make!  🍺 🍺 🍺

1. Classic Sourdough Loaf

Recipe by Bianca Fragua

Serving size: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

2 cups active starter
2 1/2 cups warm water
6 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

1. Mix starter and water into milky consistency.
2. Add flour. Mix well. Let sit 30 min covered.
3. Pinch in salt. Let sit 30 min covered.
4. Start stretch and folds, 4 sets every 30 min.
5. After last stretch and fold, cover for bulk fermentation on counter.
6. Once dough has doubled in size, gently ease dough out of bowl onto floured counter. Split dough into two equal loaves, laminate, and shape. (Add-ins will be placed in dough during shaping.)
7. Place loaves upside down into floured bennetons. Cover and put into fridge.
8. Cold ferment overnight.
9. When ready to bake, set oven to 500ºF with Dutch oven heating inside.
10. Once preheated, drop temp to 450ºF.
11. Score bread, add three ice cubes to Dutch oven and bake covered for 25 min.
12. Remove lid and drop temperature to 425ºF. Bake additional 20 min.
13. Let cool at least an hour and enjoy.

2. Pasta

Recipe by Sarah Luckie

Serving size: about 6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
140 grams sourdough starter or discard
2 large eggs + 6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt

Instructions:

1. Process flour, eggs and egg yolks, oil, and salt together in a food processor for about 45 seconds. Dough should be tacky but not sticky and cohesive. If dough is sticky, add flour a little bit at a time until desired consistency. If the dough is too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
2. Turn out dough ball onto a lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth. About 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Shape dough into a 6-inch-long cylinder, cover, and let sit at room temperature for 1 to 4 hours.
4. Cut the cylinder into 6 equal pieces. Note: the next steps can be done with either a pasta machine or by hand. Instructions to follow are for handmade pasta.
5. Using one piece at a time, on a floured surface, roll out dough into a long rectangular shape, approximately 20 inches by 6 inches. Continue to move dough so it doesn’t stick to the counter. Dough should be thin but not translucent, and you should be able to see the outline of your fingers through the dough.
6. Transfer all 6 pasta sheets to a dry dish towel and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to dry out.
7. Starting at the short end of the rectangle, gently fold the dried pasta sheet at 2-inch intervals to create a flat rectangular roll.
8. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut pasta into approximately half centimeter wide noodles.
9. Gently use your fingers to unfurl the cut dough and transfer to a cookie sheet.
10. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt to taste. Add noodles to boiling water, stirring frequently until al dente, approximately 3 minutes.
11. Drain pasta and serve immediately with your favorite sauce.

Serving note: I made a homemade green chile cream sauce to go with the homemade noodles, but the sourdough noodles can be the star here. A simple red sauce, garlic butter, or pesto would all go really well with this!

3. Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe by Stephanie Luna

Serving size: 24 cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter
380 grams all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
200 grams brown sugar
200 grams white sugar
3 egg yolks
240 grams sourdough discard
1 tsp vanilla extract

300 grams chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat.
2. Let butter cool down.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Mix butter and sugars together.
5. Add yolks to butter sugar mix.
6. Add starter and vanilla to the mix until fully combined. Should be smooth like cake batter.
7. In a mixer, add wet mix and half dry ingredients. Then add remaining dry ingredients.
8. Add chocolate chips.
9. Cover dough and put in refrigerator for 24 hours
10. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
11. Roll dough into tablespoon sized balls and place on a cookie sheet.
12. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are slightly brown.
13. Let cool and enjoy.

4. Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe by Stephanie Luna

Serving size: 12 large rolls

Ingredients:

Dough:
100 grams warm milk
Half a stick of butter
200 grams sourdough discard
7 grams yeast
60 grams sugar
1 egg
7 grams salt
375 grams all-purpose flour

Filling:

Half stick of butter
100 grams brown sugar
4 grams cinnamon
Pinch of flour

Instructions:

1. Warm milk and melted butter. Add discard and mix lightly.
2. Sprinkle yeast and let sit for 30 seconds.
3. Add sugar, egg, salt, and most of the flour.
4. Add remaining flour as needed. Kneed for 10 minutes.
5. Cover dough and let rise for an hour or double in size.
6. While dough rises, make filling: Mix soft butter with brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour.
7. Roll out your dough and spread the cinnamon filling on top.
8. Cut strips about 1 inch in size.
9. Roll strips and add them to baking pan.
10. Let rolls proof for an hour or doubled in size.
11. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
12. Once rolls are proofed, add them to the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the middle of rolls are no longer doughy.
13. Let rolls cool and cover with your favorite frosting and enjoy!

5. Granola

Recipe by Marybeth Lobato

Serving size: about 16 servings

Ingredients:

¾ cup discard sourdough starter or active starter
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups raw nuts (I use pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, but any nut will do!)
1 cup coconut chips (or any coconut, I do shredded)
½ cup maple syrup or raw honey
½ cup coconut oil, melted
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit (to mix in after)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sourdough discard starter, maple syrup (or honey), cinnamon, salt, and vanilla extract. Stir until well combined.
3. To the sourdough mixture, add the rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and shredded coconut. Stir everything together until the oats and nuts are evenly coated with the liquid mixture.
4. Pour the melted coconut oil over the granola mixture, and stir until everything is coated.
5. Do not add the dried fruit until after the granola has baked, otherwise the fruit will become dry and tough.
6. Spread the mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Use a spatula to press it down a little, which helps it bake into clumps (if you prefer chunkier granola).
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes for even baking. The granola is done when it is golden brown and fragrant.
8. Remove the granola from the oven and let it cool on the baking sheet. As it cools, it will crisp up. Once granola cools, mix in your dried fruit if you’re using it.

Storage:

Store your granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks. For longer storage, you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Happy National Sourdough Day. Tell us in the comments what you plan on making today!