Use Up Your Discard Loaf

This sourdough bread is amazing! Not only is it delicious, beautifully airy yet robust and simple to make but it uses up sourdough discard, so you don’t have to throw it out. The one thing about maintaining a sourdough starter is that you accumulate a lot of discard that if it isn’t used goes to waste. When I feed my starter I collect the discard in a clean jar, and keep it in my fridge and then I use it later to make a number of delicious treats, including this bread!

Prep Time: 2 hours

Rising Time: 22-24 hours

Cook Time: 45-50 minutes

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

• 625g bread flour

• 75g whole wheat flour

• 300g sourdough discard

• 625g water warmed to 95°F or 35°C

• 22g kosher salt

• 1g active dry yeast

Directions:

1. Weigh out the flour, water, sourdough discard, and yeast and add them to a bowl.

2. Stir ingredients until just combined.

3. Cover the bowl and let the dough fermentolyse for an hour.

4. Add the salt and pinch it into the dough.

5. Cover again and let rest for 15-30 minutes.

6. After the dough has rested begin the stretching process to help strengthen and aerate the dough.

7. Complete 2 sets of stretch and folds every 45 minutes.

8. Then complete 4 sets of coil folds every 30 minutes.

9. Cover the bowl again and allow the dough to bulk ferment for 3-5 hours. You will know the dough is ready to be shaped when it has about tripled in size, is very bubbly, and jiggles when the bowl is shaken.

10. Divide the dough into 2 even pieces both weighing approximately 824g.

11. Gently preshape both pieces of dough and let rest for 15 minutes.

12. Once the pre-shaped dough has rested, shape both dough balls into either a boule or a batard shape.

13. Put the shaped dough into bannetons and cover with a clean shower cap or a lid, then put them in the fridge to proof overnight.

14. After the second proof, preheat the oven and a dutch oven with a lid or a cast iron combo cooker to 485°F or 250°C for at least half an hour, but ideally an hour. You want the oven and the dutch oven to be really, really hot so that your loaves can achieve a nice oven spring.

15. Remove the first loaf from the fridge (you can leave the second loaf in the fridge until the first one is baked), and score the dough using a bread lame or a very sharp knife.

16. Bake each loaf for 30 minutes with the lid on and then 15-20 minutes with the lid off, until the bread has developed a lovely golden-brown color.

17. Allow the loaves to cool on a cooling rack before cutting into them.

18. Enjoy!

Sample Schedule

10 AM: Combine ingredients and fermtolyse 11 AM: Add salt to the dough 11:15 AM: First stretch and fold 12 PM: Second stretch and fold 12:30 PM: First coil fold 1 PM: Second coil fold 1:30 PM: Third coil fold 2 PM: Fourth coil fold, then allow to bulk ferment for a few hours 6 PM: Divide and pre-shape dough 6:15 PM: Shape the dough and refrigerate overnight 8 AM: Preheat oven and dutch oven 9 AM: Bake!