Needing a quick and easy recipe to use with your sourdough discard? These drop biscuits are low maintenance and delicious saving you time, money, and the effort other homemade biscuits can cause.
In this blog post, I will show you how to make drop biscuits using your sourdough discard, benefits of baking with sourdough, and fun varieties you can make with your biscuits! Let’s get started.
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Sourdough is something I have grown to love. We started off with a love hate relationship. I wanted to love it, but I could not get the hang of it! I watched SO many videos, read SO many blog posts, and tried SO many times to bake one good loaf. My poor husband had to be guinea pig for all my horrible loaves… he’s such a trooper 🙂
Finally, I found a video that taught me how to take the pressure away from sourdough and taught me how low maintenance sourdough really can be. Once you have a good starter, the possibilities are endless. I am now experimenting with new recipes all the time to find ways to incorporate my sourdough starter and discard!
Health Benefits of Sourdough
The main reason I wanted to get the hang of sourdough is for the health benefits. The health benefits of gut health and being able to make recipes with clean, simple ingredients rather than buying products that have hundreds of ingredients that you cannot even pronounce.
Sourdough is often celebrated for its unique health benefits, primarily due to the fermentation process. The natural fermentation by wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria breaks down gluten and phytic acid, making sourdough easier to digest and allowing for better absorption of nutrients. It can help maintain steady blood sugar levels due to the lower glycemic index, making it a better option for those managing blood sugar concerns. Additionally, the probiotics formed during fermentation can support gut health.
The Reward of Making Food at Home
I know what you are thinking, why would I take the time to make biscuits when I can easily pop them out of the can/ freezer bag?! Trust me, I love a good store bought biscuit. But the impact of the ingredients those have on your body is not worth it.
Making your own food at home (i.e., these delicious drop biscuits!) is a healthier and more rewarding choice than relying on processed store-bought options. Homemade meals allow you to control the quality of ingredients, ensuring they are fresh, nutritious, and free from unnecessary additives like preservatives, artificial flavors, and excessive sugar or salt.
For example, a popular biscuit brand has 24 ingredients in it… over half of them are ingredients I cannot even pronounce or would be able to buy at the grocery store!!
In comparison, my recipe for biscuits only has 8 ingredients and you can find these all at your local grocery store… or even in your pantry right now!
Beyond health, homemade meals are often more cost-effective. Even though store bought biscuits are usually cheap in price, these homemade drop biscuits are definitely more cost- effective saving you money in the long run!
Materials Needed to Make Sourdough Discard Drop Biscuits
- Dough wisk
- A dough wisk is used for pastry and bread making. The shape and cut of the wisk allows even folding and easy clean up!
- Pan
- Due to the fact these are drop biscuits, you will want to have a deep dish to allow the biscuits to crowd in order for them to rise.
- Food scale
- When working with sourdough, it is mush easier to use a food scale and measure in grams!
- Weck Tulip Jar
- These are the jars I use to store my starter and discard. I LOVE them. They are easy to clean thanks to the limited grooves unlike mason jars.
- Other sourdough materials
- Here is the complete list of my sourdough materials in case you are wanting to go beyond biscuits in your sourdough journey!
What Ingredients are Needed for Sourdough Discard Drop Biscuits
Like stated above, there are only 8 ingredients needed for this recipe! I am sure you already have many of them in your pantry right now! Here is the list of items you need for easy, homemade sourdough discard drop biscuits:
- 180 g. Unbleached all purpose flour
- 5 g. Salt
- 12 g. Sugar
- 115 g. Cold butter cut in cubes
- 5 g. Baking powder
- 2 g. Baking soda
- 120 g. Milk
- 240 g. Sourdough Discard aka unfed sourdough starter
- Sourdough discard is the portion of starter that is removed during the feeding process (adding flour and filtered water to the starter). It’s not active enough for bread baking making it the perfect addition to most recipes!
How to Make Sourdough Discard Drop Biscuits
Now to the fun stuff finally! Follow along step by step with pictures to help you know exactly what to do!
- Preheat oven
- Preheat the oven to 450°F
- Mix dry ingredients
- While the oven is preheating, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl.
- Add butter
- Add the cube cut butter to the dry ingredients. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients. This should look like course crumbs with pea sized chunks of butter.
- Add discard
- Add the discard to the bowl and stir. This will look like a shaggy dough consistency.
- Fold in milk
- Pour the milk into the bowl and fold in being careful not to over mix.
- Drop biscuits
- In a parchment lined pan, ‘drop’ the biscuits. Take a spoon full of dough and plop it on the pan! Make sure to place the dough drops close together. Crowding the biscuits will help them rise better.
- *If you prefer cut out biscuits, add more flour to your mixture to get a more solid dough. Then place dough on a floured counter, roll out to 2.5cm thickness, and cut circles using a dough cutter/ mason jar lid/ cup.
- Bake
- Bake at 450°F for 12-15 minutes until golden on top.
- Add toppings of choice
- Here’s where we can get creative. Add jam, honey, butter, etc. to your biscuits for a sweet variation. Add bacon, sausage, ham, and egg for a savory variation.
- My favorite variation is adding homemade strawberry or raspberry preserves with some whipped cream on top for a strawberry/ raspberry shortcake! So delicious.
I hope you liked this recipe and enjoy your sourdough discard drop biscuits! Comment below if you make them to let me know how they turned out!
Sourdough Discard Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- 240 g Sourdough discard
- 180 g Unbleached all purpose flour
- 12 g Sugar
- 5 g Baking powder
- 2 g Baking soda
- 5 g Salt
- 115 g Cold butter cut in cubes
- 120 g Buttermilk add 15ml of vinegar to regular milk to create a buttermilk flavor
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F
- Mix the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the cube- cut butter to the dry ingredients and work into the mixture with a fork or pastry cutter until a coarse crumb consistency is formed with pea sized chunks of butter.
- Add sourdough discard and stir until a shaggy consistency is formed.
- Pour in the milk and fold in being cautious not to over mix.
- Drop the biscuit dough into a parchment lined cake pan/ casserole dish by taking spoonfuls of the dough and plopping them in the pan. Make sure to crowd the dough by placing the drops close together to help them rise. *see notes below for alternative
- Bake at 450°F for 12-15 minutes.
- Add toppings of choice and enjoy!
Notes
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