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Leftover Sourdough Starter Recipes: The Ultimate List

If you have a sourdough starter, you understand the need (and desire!) to use it in creative ways.

When we first started making sourdough bread, we tried putting sourdough in all sorts of things without a recipe to use up the excess starter.  While it was frugal, it didn’t necessarily always taste good! 

Since then, we’ve gotten a little better at it. It takes some practice, and trying out different recipes that were made for sourdough is a great way to learn how to incorporate it into your own creations.

While cooking is an art, baking tends to be more science based. By this, I mean that ingredients have to be added in specific proportions, otherwise the recipe doesn’t turn out correctly. Trying your hand at several of these excess sourdough recipes will begin to help you understand the formula for adding sourdough to your eats so you can try it out on your own sometime if you like.

I have put together the ultimate list of leftover sourdough starter recipes, which is full of amazing recipes to use up that starter!  It includes everything from sweet to savory, so try out some of your favorite treats with a sourdough twist!

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First and foremost, check out my favorite sourdough bread recipe! 

It is the BEST bread – all of our friends beg us to make it for them!  The recipe also has a link to how to make a sourdough bread starter!  

This recipe tends to make a super crunchy, hard crust.

It is cooked in a dutch oven, with the lid on, at a very high temperature. While it tastes amazing, it can tend to be too hard for some to bite through. Plus, we often use an electric knife to cut through it!

But don’t let that stop you. If you try it out and it is too hard, try baking the loaf at a lower temp (such as 375) and in a regular bread pan for a softer crust.

Here is how we make it!

(If you don’t have a sourdough starter, click here for an easy, no yeast, recipe.)

This dutch oven is essential for making an amazing sourdough loaf with this recipe. The crust gets hard – just like a bakery loaf. If you don’t have one, pick one up!

And… how great is this set of bread making accessories?!? It comes with a proofing basket, a bowl scraper, a linen liner, and 10 adorable bread stencils. LOVE it!

If you’re totally set in the bread department, here is my ultimate list of leftover sourdough starter recipes!

There are so many amazing ways to use up that excess sourdough starter!

Adding sourdough starter gives your favorite recipes a rich complexity that you may not find in normal, white flour based recipes.

Morning Recipes

Blueberry Sourdough Muffins – Turnips 2 Tangerines

Morning Glory Sourdough Muffins – A Better Way To Thrive

Whole Wheat Sourdough Apple Cinnamon Muffins – Tasty Kitchen

Quick Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Sourdough Muffins – Cooking with Carlee

  • This is one of my favorite muffin recipes!!

Sourdough Spice Cake – Traditional Cooking School

Dangerously Addicting Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls – A Chick and Her Garden

Sourdough (raised) Doughnuts – cdkitchen

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns – Nourishing Joy

Sourdough Bagels – Full of Days

Sourdough English Muffins – A Chick and Her Garden

Perfect Sourdough Pancakes – Joy To My Heart

Sourdough Banana Pancakes – The Dutch Baker’s Daughter

Whole Grain Sourdough Waffles – Traditional Cooking School

Sourdough Coffee Cake – Turnips 2 Tangerines

Sourdough Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake – Cultures For Health

Blueberry Sourdough Scones – Wild Yeast

Sourdough (cake) Donuts – Baking Sense

Sweet Bread Recipes

Stollen (German Sweet Bread) – Pizza Rossa

Sourdough Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread – What’s Cooking America

Sourdough Banana Bread – Pinch My Salt

Cranberry Orange White Chocolate Loaf – Korena In The Kitchen

French Chocolate Bread – Chocolate & Zucchini

Chocolate Cherry Sourdough Bread – NY Times Cooking

Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread – Butter For All

Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon and Cardamon Buns – Milk and Honey

Dessert Recipes

Sourdough Brownies – Common Sense Home

Sourdough Sugar Cookies – What’s Cooking America

Sourdough Cookies (can add chocolate chips!) – Common Sense Home

Sourdough Snickerdoodle Cookies – Cultured Food Life

Chocolate Sourdough Cake – The Nourishing Gourmet

Sourdough Crepes – Homesteading on Grace

Sourdough Carrot Cake – Nourishing Joy

Pick up this huge glass flour canister to store your flour in!

Savory and Bread Recipes

Sourdough Crackers – Sourdough and Olives

Spelty Sourdough Crackers – The Bojon Gourmet

Sourdough Focaccia – Flour On My Face

Oatmeal Honey Sourdough Bread – Home Joys

Sourdough Tortillas – Reformation Homestead

Sourdough Cornbread – Tasty Kitchen

Sourdough Pasta – Korena in the Kitchen

Sourdough Pie Crust – Cultures for Health

Sourdough Pizza Crust – Butter For All

Sourdough Irish Soda Bread – Turnips 2 Tangerines

Sourdough Ciabatta Bread – What’s Cooking America

Sourdough Naan Bread – Grow Forage Cook Ferment

Russian Rye Bread – Mother Earth News

Buttery Sourdough Biscuits – Joy To My Heart

Einkorn Sourdough Sandwich Bread – Beets and Bones

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread – Joybilee Farm

Final Thoughts on Excess Sourdough Recipes

One of the reasons that sourdough bread is so great is that it is more nutritious than normal white bread. This nutritional benefit can extend to these recipes too.

For example, while chocolate chip muffins taste great, adding oatmeal and sourdough starter to the recipe gives it a little nutritional boost (and that makes me feel better about eating them for breakfast!).

Some of sourdough’s amazing health benefits are:

  1. Sourdough is full of vitamins and minerals that regular bread doesn’t have (unless it is enriched). Sourdough contains iron, selenium, zinc, magnesium, folic acid and B vitamins!
  2. Sourdough has prebiotics and probiotics – meaning it increases your gut health. There is a big push in dietetics for foods that are good for your gut, such as yogurts, keifer and sauerkraut. This is because they increase the good bacteria in your digestive system. Check out how to make your own yogurt, how to make greek yogurt, and how to make sauerkraut for more gut healthy recipes!
  3. Sourdough has protein in it.

So, if you haven’t started making sourdough yet, get started! And if you are well versed in making sourdough bread, give some of these recipes a try!

What recipes did I miss in my ultimate list of leftover sourdough starter recipes?  Share your favorites in the comments below!

Remember to pin this post for later!

The Ultimate List of Leftover Sourdough Starter Recipes

Leftover Sourdough Starter Recipes: The Ultimate List

Thanks for sharing!

Shirley

Saturday 9th of April 2022

I’ve been saving my small amounts of starter by dumping them together in a bowl and storing it in the fridge. My question is…. Do I need to leave it out and let it warm back up before I can use it in these recipes? Also, would it need to be fed again before using? Thx!

Lauren

Wednesday 20th of April 2022

Hi Shirley! A lot of times recipes will specify whether you can use discard starter or fed starter. And, you don't need to warm it up :). Have fun with your baking!!

Barbara

Sunday 29th of August 2021

Those pinwheels in the photo looked very tasty, but which recipe is it?

Mel

Friday 28th of January 2022

That's what I came for too 😕 I guess you can make them with the pizza crust recipe and just roll it out and make them

Lauren

Wednesday 1st of September 2021

Hi Barbara! Unfortunately, it is a stock photo - so sorry to disappoint you!

Margaret small

Saturday 18th of July 2020

I don’t believe your assertion that sourdough contains iron, selenium, etc which isn’t present in ordinary bread. Sourdough is based on the same flour which is used in fresh yeast breads and unless these minerals are added, there is no way they would arise as a result of making sourdough. Surely it’s enough that sourdough is delicious and fun to make.

Lauren

Monday 20th of July 2020

Hi Margaret! It sounds crazy, I agree! Here is an article from Healthline that discusses the nutritional benefits. But I agree, sourdough is delicious and fun to make!

John Champagne

Sunday 24th of May 2020

Thanks! That French Chocolate Bread recipe is amazing! I've now made it twice. On the other hand, for the first time in literally decades, I baked something inedible: the Sourdough Chocolate cake. Dry. I knew something was up when the initial sourdough sponge looked dead. And it's not my starter, as I have used it repeatedly and had much success.

Lauren

Monday 25th of May 2020

Thanks for the comment John! I'll have to try that french chocolate bread (and maybe remove the sourdough chocolate cake recipe - sounds like it was pretty bad)!

Julie

Tuesday 12th of May 2020

King Arthur Flour has a delicious recipe for sourdough discard crumpets! They are kind of a cross between a pancake and an English muffin. So good!

Lauren

Thursday 14th of May 2020

Thanks for sharing Julie!! I'll check it out!