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Are you ready for the easiest sourdough discard bread recipe you’ll ever make? Baking true sourdough bread is certainly rewarding, but with our busy lives, we don’t always have time for a 2 to 3 day process, right? So I’ve created the easiest sourdough discard bread you’ll ever make – seriously it’s so so simple with very minimal prep! This recipe is perfect if you’re still building your sourdough starter, but you really want to bake sourdough bread. This is why this recipe has become one of the most popular sourdough discard recipes on The Pantry Mama site!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Super Quick Discard Recipe – You can make this easy sourdough discard bread in under 2 hours if your house warm enough. It does use a little commercial yeast – but you will still get some of the sourdough tang from your discard.
No Kneading, No Stretch and Folds – this recipe is completely hands off and requires no fancy equipment!
An Easy Way To Use An Immature Sourdough Starter – This easy sourdough discard bread will also work for you if your starter is not quite ready to start baking true sourdough bread, just like this sourdough discard sandwich bread. The commercial yeast will create the rise that is lacking in your sourdough starter. If you’re having trouble with your sourdough starter, check out these tips to boost your sourdough starter.
Ingredients
- Bread Flour – I recommend using bread flour for this recipe as it makes the dough less sticky. If you want to use all purpose flour, I recommend using a little less water, or you’ll end up with a big, sticky mess! You could supplement some of the 450g of flour with rye, spelt or even whole wheat flour for a more complex flavor profile.
- Water
- Salt
- Instant Yeast – I prefer to use instant yeast because it doesn’t need to be bloomed in water, but you can use active dry yeast if you prefer. Just add it when you add the water to this recipe.
- Sourdough Discard – This recipe uses sourdough discard, which is basically unfed sourdough starter. As always, you can use active sourdough starter if you prefer. You can then choose whether you add the yeast to speed things up or not.
Make This Sourdough Discard Bread In Under 2 Hours!
To make this easy crusty sourdough discard bread, start by adding the flour, warm water, instant yeast, salt, and sourdough discard to a large mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to gently mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms. You don’t need to knead it or make it perfectly smooth, just make sure all the flour is moistened.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours and let the dough rise until it’s doubled. The exact time will depend on the room temperature of your kitchen. While the dough is rising, place a Dutch oven into your oven and preheat it to 220°C/430°F about 45 minutes before you plan to bake.
Kate’s RECIPE Tip
Bake It Later
If you don’t want to bake your bread immediately once it’s risen, you can pop it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Just put the whole bowl in the fridge, covered with some plastic wrap to stop it drying out. This is a great idea if you want to have it freshly baked for dinner for example or when you first wake up.
When you want to bake it, let it sit out on the kitchen counter for around 30 minutes before you shape it and bake it (so preheat the oven when you take it out of the fridge).
Once the dough has doubled, lay a sheet of parchment paper on your counter and sprinkle it with a little rice flour or fine semolina to prevent sticking. Gently scoop or pour the dough onto the paper. If the dough is manageable, lightly shape it into a rough round by folding the edges over themselves. If it’s very wet, simply guide it into a loose shape without worrying too much, rustic works perfectly here. Score the top if you like, or leave it to naturally split in the oven.
Carefully lift the dough using the parchment paper and place it into the hot Dutch oven (we don’t actually need any further proofing once the dough is shaped).
Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes at 220°C/430°F, then remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes at 200°C/390°F until golden brown. Allow the bread to cool on a cooling rack for at least an hour before slicing for the best texture. And now, just add butter!
I’ve included step-by-step instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Kate’s Pro Tip
Bake in a Dutch Oven
To get the best results for your sourdough discard bread, bake it in a Dutch Oven. It keeps the steam inside the pot and enables your bread to get the rise before the crust starts to harden. Keep the lid on your Dutch Oven for the first 30 minutes of your bake, then take it off for the last 10 minutes to give it some crunch and colour. Just like baking true sourdough, the Dutch Oven really is a game changer.
Want To Give Your Sourdough Discard Loaf A Flavor Boost?
You can add lots of different flavor combinations to this sourdough discard loaf. It’s up to you whether you go sweet or savory. It’s best to add the inclusions to the dough when you first mix it, that way you can leave it alone to rise rather than have to disturb it to add in the flavors. Some of my favorite inclusions for this sourdough discard loaf are:
- Jalapeño Cheddar
- Bacon & Cheddar Cheese
- Olives (you can use whatever olives you love)
- Chocolate chips and orange zest
- Cranberries and walnuts
- Cinnamon and Raisins
How To Store and Freeze
This loaf is is designed to be a quick bake and made to eat the same day you bake it. It can be stored in a ziplock bag at room temperature for up to 3 days after baking, however it’s definitely better eaten the day of baking. Storing it in a ziplock bag will keep the loaf interior soft, but it will also give you a soft crust (which you can refresh in the oven). Otherwise, it’s perfect for making toast with!
This loaf can be frozen. I recommend freezing as a whole loaf in a large zipock bag for up to 3 months. When you want to use it, remove it from the freezer and allow it to thaw at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend using a Dutch oven for this loaf because it traps the steam around the loaf, giving it time to bloom in the oven, giving it maximum oven spring and a gorgeous, crusty exterior – without it being rock hard. You can open bake, however, I recommend spraying the loaf with water before placing into the oven.
No you don’t need to. Because this bread has instant yeast added you can place the shaped dough straight into a hot oven. If you really can’t bake it straight away, you can place it into a well floured banneton if you want to, but I recommend keeping it in the fridge and baking it within 12 hours.
I don’t recommend making this loaf in a stand mixer. The dough is really sticky and can be really hard to clean from the dough hook attachment. Plus, there’s such minimal mixing and kneading for this recipe, it’s really not worth messing up your stand mixer for!
Easy Sourdough Discard Bread
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Digital Scales
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 450 g Bread Flour
- 360 g Water, (warm)
- 10 g Salt
- 7 g Instant Yeast
- 100 g Sourdough Discard, (unfed sourdough starter)
Instructions
- Take a clean ceramic or glass bowl and add your flour, warm water, instant yeast, salt and sourdough discard.
- Use a wooden chopstick or end of a wooden spoon to gently bring all the ingredients together into a shaggy dough. You don't need to it be fully smooth, just ensure that all of the flour is wet.
- Cover the bowl in cling film and set it somewhere warm for 1 – 2 hours. It really depends on the temperature of your house with this one. If your house is warm, 1 hour will be plenty. In the depths of winter or with air con, you may need more than 2 hours. You just want it to double in size, no more or it won't rise in the oven.
- Around 45 minutes before you want to put your bread into the oven, you'll need to put a dutch oven into the oven and preheat it to around 220ºC/430ºF.
- Once your dough has doubled in size, grab a piece of parchment paper and lay it out on your counter. Sprinkle on a few tablespoons of rice flour or fine semolina flour (this is just so that the dough doesn't stick to your hands).NOTE – If you are wanting to put your bread in the refrigerator to bake another time (usually within 24 hours) then just pop the cling film over the bowl of doubled dough and put in the fridge. You don't need to do anything to the dough before it goes in.
- Scoop your dough out with your hands – if it's particularly wet it's perfectly fine to pour it onto the paper.If it's not too wet, use the flour and your finger tips to gently bring it into a round shape – you will need to pull each side over each other to do this. If your dough is too wet – don't fret, just try and bring it into some kind of shape without getting too messy.
- Score your dough if you're able to – otherwise just leave it and it will open up naturally in the oven.
- Carefully take your dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid. Use the parchment or baking paper as a handle to gently place your discard bread inside the pot and put the lid back on.
- Bake in the oven, with the lid on for 30 minutes at 220ºC/430ºF. Then remove the lid of the pot and bake for a further 10 minutes at 200ºC/390ºF. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Try to let it cool for at least an hour before cutting it. It will still taste great if you cut it hot, but it's so much easier to cut if you let it cool!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Rate and comment below!
Boo! I should have read the comments. I don’t have a dutch oven. I guess I’m goint to try loaf pans unless you have another suggestion.
I’m excited to try this. TWO questions 1. What size Dutch oven is required? (My Dutch oven holds a little over 8 US quarts of liquid, 64 to 72 ounces) 2. Do you have
measurements for this recipe in Standard Measurements, not metric? Would save me time trying to convert them if you already have them converted. Thanks much, can’t wait to use my discarded sourdough starter!
recipe worked out great! great for a quick artisan loaf! i used 300 g white bread flour and 150 g of whole wheat flour.
This was so easy that I wasn’t sure it would be good. So glad I was wrong! Yes, it was a very wet dough, and not real easy to score, but it rose incredibly and tasted amazing. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
I doubled the recipe how long should I bake the bread?
I was wondering if the similar time and method could be used as per your thermomix method?
Turned out better than expected. Taste was spot on! Texture and crumb were open and light. Really impressed with the bread considering the dough was super wet. I did my best not to over handle. Just did a few small blobs for loaves. Was too wet to score but no worries, they looked great. Thank you for the recipe! I’ll be making again
I am very frustrated with the wetness and stickiness of this dough. I had a horrible time shaping and there was no way to even attempt scoring it. I put it in the oven. Will wait and see if I use this recipe again.
What’s the best way to make this recipe when my starter comes straight out refrigerator? Do I feed it first or just start the recipe out of refrigerator? It’s been in refrigerator for 4 weeks.
Is it ok to use all purpose flour for this recipe?
I made this a while back and didn’t love it. It was SUPER sour (which I like a sour sourdough but it was too much even for me!) probably because my discard is usually pretty old by the time I get around to using it. I also think I overproved it – be warned this dough grows A LOT, even in the fridge (I did a cold proof because I wanted to retard the process a bit and make the dough easier to handle). I think this recipe is likely better if you’re using fresh discard and I might even suggest pulling back on the commercial yeast a bit. It think it’d also taste better with some other flours besides white bread flour – I think rye, spelt, etc. match well with super sour bread.
I want to try this with whole wheat/grain flour. Do I need to adjust any ingredient quantities (more liquid? Less flour?)?
I’m wondering if you can give me a hint as to how much to cut back on the yeast if I’m using ripe starter? I want to experiment a bit. Thanks! I’m thinking maybe just adding about 1/4 tsp. ?
This was a very tasty pancake. It really wants some folds to help with the structure. There was plenty of time to do a few folds. One more try! This time with a few different flours to enhance flavor. It is nice to sometimes speed the process. Thanks for the experience.
I love this recipe and usually make it to give to people. I always use fed starter though. Also, I increase the flour to 460g and reduce the water to 340g. It’s not nearly as sticky and turns out great. I use a mix of bread flour and Eikorn flour. Wonderfully delicious!
Is it possible to use regular Active Dry Yeast with this recipe instead of Instant Yeast?
So glad to have found this recipe! The discards we really bugging me, and there is only just so much composting I wanted to be doing. I added one set of stretch and folds but that was the only change I made. It’s the first time I’ve gotten a crust to blister up !
So, you don’t need to let it rise a second time? It can go right in oven from fridge?
Thank you so much. Just don’t have the time for traditional sourdough. Mixed in the bread machine on dough. Baked in old cast iron Dutch oven on the grill. Fantastic. Burned the bottom a bit but will adjust the grill and add baking stone under pot next time. Scraped the burn off. Delicious. Making again this weekend. Decreased water just a bit.
I heard using a cookie sheet under the Dutch oven helps prevent the bottom burning. I’m going to try this recipe and this recommendation today.
This recipe is fast and easy and I will be keeping it. However – it will not come out right for me. I am building a starter, and it’s very nearly strong enough for making sourdough, so I don’t think that’s the problem, but my loaves just will not spring! I have let it rise for one hour, and then, the next try, for two hours. But the results are the same; dense, doughy, no additional rising in the oven at all. Any suggestions?
I am wanting to use discard, should it be at room temp, or can I use it right out of the fridge?
I tried this recipe the other day and the bread came out wonderful! I baked mine 20 minutes with the lid on and 30 minutes without the lid in the dutch oven at 450 degrees F. I am planning on making again tomorrow. Thank you for the recipe!
This turned out great! made the first two slices into garlic toast. Thanks for the recipe and detailed instructions!
Excellent recipe, very tasty bread and extremely easy to make. Had a lot of discard from my starter, so I doubled it in the recipe, decreasing the amount of water and flour accordingly. Absolute keeper, thank you!!!
Can I use this recipe without adding dry yeast, just using my discard??
Thank you for all the great information. For the discard bread recipe, can I make it in the Zojirushi bread maker?
My family of 6 eagerly waited around the table as I pulled this bread out. Everyone heartily approved and first loaf is mostly gone. Good thing I had enough discard for a second loaf!
I love the speed of this bread. My house was a bit warm (and maybe my discard was in good shape.) Only took 45 minutes to rise. This one’s a keeper!
Can you swap out active fry test for the instant yeast?
Just wondering what the oven time would be if I halved my dough to make two smaller loaves, baked separately. Thank you so much for this recipe, I love it.
Can you use whole wheat flour Instead of bread flour
I doubled the recipe and I have half in the oven and the other half in the fridge. Once I remove the other half off the fridge do I need to let it rise again? I was planning on baking it tomorrow.
Thanks!