Sourdough Discard Bread – Tastes Just Like Sourdough with a Fraction of the Work!

Sourdough bread – apparently that’s THE THING to be making right now if you’re a traditional wife, staying home raising the kids and dedicating your life to homemaking.

I learned this week that the term for that is tradwife. Have you heard that before? Well apparently all good tradwives are focused on homesteading and, of course, sourdough everything. Who knew?!

I made my first loaf of sourdough bread about 2 years ago. It tasted amazing and my family loved it. A made about 3-4 loaves and then burnt out.

The problem was that it was a bit time-consuming. It’s not that it requires tons of work but it does require you to be home at certain times and to make sure you are there for it to rise, stretch and fold, rise some more, etc.

I may be a traditional wife in a homemaker role, but I am also a mom of 7 children ages 13 and under and I homeschool 5 of them. Plus I try to work on a few blog posts every month.

That means I am busy, very busy. It was so hard to find the time for sourdough.

Regular sourdough bread also meant I needed to start it in the evening before bed and, if I’m being honest with you, as much as I want to be able to do that, the last thing I wanted to do at 8-9pm was head back into the kitchen to prep bread.

I was trying to muster up the energy to get back into making regular sourdough bread again when a friend introduced me to this Sourdough Discard Bread Recipe.

It tastes just like sourdough bread (maybe even a little bit better!) and it is SO MUCH EASIER to fix. You simply mix all the ingredients together, let it rise, shape and bake. That’s it!

Ever since I have learned this recipe, I make it usually multiple times a week. My family enjoys it so much so I thought it was about time I shared the recipe with all of you.

I shared the recipe with my neighbor and now she’s making it often too.

Trust me, once you try this sourdough discard bread recipe, you’ll be making it again and again!

How To Get a Sourdough Starter

The easiest way to get yourself a starter is to find someone you know who already has one going and ask for a little bit of their discard to get you started. That’s what I did.

It’s no big deal to share some discard with a friend, so just ask her!

If no one you know is cooking with sourdough right now there are instructions online about creating your own starter or you can purchase on online.

Easy and Delicious Sourdough Discard Bread Recipe

Ingredients

• 7 grams of Rapid Yeast (Instant Yeast)
• 360 grams of warm water (around 105-115 degrees)
• 100 grams of sourdough discard (unfed sourdough starter)
• 10 grams of salt
• 450 grams of bread flour

Other Required Supplies

Because this recipe uses grams for measurement, you’ll also need to be sure you own a kitchen scale like this one. I was initially not thrilled about using a scale for measurement but now that I’ve been using one for a few months, I prefer it for all recipes.

It’s so much easier and more precise too!

You will also need a Dutch oven. There are many out there to choose from at varying price points. While it’s at the higher range of prices, I love my Smithey Dutch Oven!

You will need parchment paper and a glass or ceramic bowl as well. I’d also recommend a food thermometer but that’s not required.

Directions

1. Using a large glass or ceramic bowl and your kitchen scale, add all of the ingredients together. I prefer to put them in using this order: yeast, water (I use the food thermometer to make sure it’s not too cold or too hot), sourdough discard, flour, then salt.
2. Mix everything together until all the flour is wet and it’s well incorporated. I used a rubber spatula. You don’t need to try to make the dough smooth.
3. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rise for 1-2 hours. It should double in size.
4. You’ll need to preheat your oven AND Dutch oven before you use them. Put your Dutch oven inside of the oven and preheat it to 430 degrees for at least 45 minutes before you plan to put the bread in to bake.
5. When you’re ready to bake your bread, tear a piece of parchment paper large enough to fit inside of your Dutch oven with the sides sticking out on both sides (you’ll want those sides to grasp and pull the bread out when it’s done).
6. In the center of the parchment paper, turn the bowl upside down and let the dough fall out. Use the rubber spatula to scrap out any dough that remains.
7. Use your fingers to pull the dough into a round shape. Pick a starting point on the dough and just work your way around clockwise until you’ve pulled it in all the way around. (See photos below.) It’s okay if there is dough that sticks to the parchment paper. Just do your best to get as much as possible.
8. If you’d like you can score the dough at this point. I have done it both ways and it doesn’t seem to affect the taste or texture either way. To be honest, I am a busy mom so I usually skip that. It’s just one less thing to do before I can get it into the oven.
9. Using the sides of the parchment paper, transfer the dough to your Dutch oven.
10. Put the lid on your Dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes at 430 degrees.
11. After 30 minutes, lower the temperature of your oven to 380 degrees, remove the lid from the Dutch oven, and bake for another 10 minutes.
12. Carefully remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
13. If there are little hard pieces of baked bread stuck to the sides you can easily brush those off for a more polished look.

I hope your family loves this easy bread just as much as ours does!

Sourdough Discard Bread Recipe

This super easy Sourdough Discard Bread has the great taste of sourdough but it is SO MUCH EASIER to prepare. I love it and fix it multiple times a week. We seldom have any left beyond 24 hours.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Recipes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: homemade bread, sourdough, sourdough discard

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 slices

Calories: 174kcal

Author: Janessa Solem

Ingredients

• 7 grams Rapid Yeast Instant Yeast would be fine
• 360 grams Warm water around 105-115 degrees
• 100 grams Sourdough discard unfed sourdough starter
• 10 grams Salt
• 450 grams Bread flour

Instructions

• Using a large glass or ceramic bowl and your kitchen scale, add all of the ingredients together. I prefer to put them in using this order: yeast, water (I use the food thermometer to make sure it’s not too cold or too hot), sourdough discard, flour, then salt.
• Mix everything together until all the flour is wet and it’s well incorporated. I use a rubber spatula. You don’t need to try to make the dough smooth.
• Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rise for 1-2 hours in a warm location if you have one available to you. It should double in size.
• You’ll need to preheat your oven AND Dutch oven before you use them. Put your Dutch oven inside of the oven and preheat it to 430 degrees for at least 45 minutes before you plan to put the bread in to bake.
• When you’re ready to bake your bread, tear a piece of parchment paper large enough to fit inside of your Dutch oven with the sides sticking out on both sides (you’ll want those sides to grasp and pull the bread out when it’s done).
• In the center of the parchment paper, turn the bowl upside down and let the dough fall out. Use the rubber spatula to scrap out any dough that remains.
• Use your fingers to pull the dough into a round shape. Pick a starting point on the dough and just work your way around clockwise until you’ve pulled it in all the way around. It’s okay if there is dough that sticks to the parchment paper. Just do your best to get as much as possible.
• If you’d like you can score the dough at this point. I have done it both ways and it doesn’t seem to affect the taste or texture either way.
• Using the sides of the parchment paper, transfer the dough to your Dutch oven.
• Put the lid on your Dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes at 430 degrees.
• After 30 minutes, lower the temperature of your oven to 380 degrees, remove the lid from the Dutch oven, and bake for another 10 minutes.
• Carefully remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
• If there are little hard pieces of baked bread stuck to the sides you can easily brush those off for a more polished look.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 174kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 391mg | Potassium: 52mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 0.002mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.4mg