Like everyone else, I couldn’t get any yeast from the store during Covid. I learned how to make a dry sourdough starter instead and the rest is history. I hate throwing food away so I looked for ways to use the stuff that is supposed to make it to the compost. Welcome to your next favorite way to use your sourdough discard!
Starting a sourdough starter requires “feeding” by adding flour and water. It is necessary to toss some of the previous day’s starter to keep the ratio of starter-flour-water correct. A dry starter takes up much less space in your fridge; I store mine in a pint jar. Visit Jovial for the instructions on making dry starter (it says einkorn flour, but all purpose works in the recipe just fine).
I “feed” my dry sourdough starter once a week, leave it on the counter for a couple of hours, then throw it back in the fridge. You’ll need roughly a cup of discard for these delicious, tender biscuits; don’t worry if it’s more, you just don’t want more than 1 cup of discard. I’ve made this with a couple of tablespoons of starter, it just took a bit longer than overnight to get to that bubbly consistency before adding the “morning” ingredients.
These biscuits are fantastic with just butter and jam, but are savory enough for gravy.
The night before you’re going to make your biscuits, mix your discard starter, 2 1/4 cups plant-based milk, 1/2 cup of grated frozen buttery sticks, 1 Tbsp organic sugar, and 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar. Mix it with a whisk until the starter breaks up (some small chunks are okay). Then add 2 cups all purpose flour and whisk to remove any lumps. Cover your bowl and let it sit out overnight. In the morning, it should look like this:
Preheat your oven to 400F. Mix together 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, and 2 tsp kosher salt together in a separate bowl. Add all at once to the sourdough mixture, stirring with a spatula until a very soft dough comes together. Sprinkle your counter with flour and scrape the dough onto the floured counter. Gently roll or pat dough to about 1 inch thickness.
Using a floured biscuit cutter or glass, cut out biscuits and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Gently roll the scraps out and cut more biscuits, using all you can but do not roll them out a third time as they will be too tough. You can also simply cut the dough into squares instead of using a cutter, which is my favorite way to do it. Easy peasy.
Bake for about 22 minutes until golden then brush the still warm biscuits with melted butter as they cool on a wire rack.
Vegan Overnight Sourdough Discard Biscuits
Tender biscuits made with discarded sourdough starter
- baking sheets
- whisk
- spatula
- sheets parchment paper
- box grater
Overnight Mixture
- ¾-1 cup sourdough discard
- 2¼ cups soy milk (or other plant milk)
- ¼ tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp organic granulated sugar, agave, or maple syrup
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup vegan buttery stick, frozen then grated on the large holes of a box grater
Morning Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour (plus about 1/3 cup for rolling)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp vegan buttery stick, melted (for brushing on warm biscuits)
Overnight Mix
Place your sourdough discard in a bowl and whisk with the milk until the sourdough no longer is a large chunk. Small chunks of starter remaining in the milk mixture is perfectly okay.
Add the vinegar, sugar, and grated butter, whisk until incorporated.
Add 2 cups of flour and using the whisk, stir until a batter forms and no lumps of dry flour remain.
Cover bowl and leave to sit on the counter overnight.
Morning Instructions (or after 8-10 hours of the batter resting)
Check the sourdough batter. It should smell pleasantly yeasty and appear bubbly.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the morning dry ingredients.
Using a spatula, gently stir the dry ingredients into the sourdough batter until a very soft dough forms, without any dry flour remaining.
Flour the countertop.
Scrape the dough onto the countertop and pat or roll to 3/4 inch thickness.
Using a biscuit cutter or knife, cut biscuits and place on a well greased or parchment lined baking sheet.
Gather scraps together and gently roll them out to 1 inch thickness. Cut remaining biscuits.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
Remove baking sheet to a wire rack and brush biscuits with additional melted butter.
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