What is Discard?

Discard sounds more complicated than it is…

Discard is simply the extra that you have left over after you feed your sourdough starter. It is the portion that you have left after pouring the amount you want to save back into the jar. That’s it.

So what do you do with discard?

Well, that depends completely on you and your plans for the day. If you are having a lazy day at home and want to spend the day baking then I suggest you look up some amazing recipes for discard cookies or muffins and you bake away!

If you have bread baking coming up then you can use your discard in that.

You can always dry your discard, but be careful to watch for outside contaminants as the drying process can be lengthy.

It is always a good idea to have a backup starter in your refrigerator in case something were to happen to your working starter. I have often used a portion of discard to serve as “new” mother in the fridge so that I had a strong base that continued to evolve with my working starters.

The possibilities are endless, but one thing is certain. After reading many comments on social media and hearing the question even more, it became very clear that folks were confused about discard.