Perfect Way To Use Your Sourdough Discards
When it comes to sourdough baking, one question I get asked most often is “what do you do with the discards?” 🤔 If you are new to sourdough baking and wondering how to consume the discards, this Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is for you! Even if you don’t have a sourdough starter, you can easily make it without one by substituting equal parts of flour and water. By doing so, you may lose the unique tang from the starter, which goes amazingly well with the chocolates, as well as providing a new depth of flavor to the recipe.
Not Your Usual Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sourdough Starter In Cookies
This recipe has been one of my staple baking recipes for years ever since I started baking sourdough bread. I was looking for a way to consume all the discards, so I throw them into my cookie dough and see how it goes. I was a bit skeptical at first. However, the slight tanginess from the starter compliments the sweetness from the chocolates perfectly, giving you a unique tasting experience.
Brown Butter
Apart from the sourdough starter, another “secret” ingredient of this recipe is the brown “butter”. Here I used my favorite vegan butter from Miyoko of course. In order to brown the butter, you first need to melt the butter. Place the butter in a light-colored pan and cook over low heat until the butter is melted. Then, when the melted butter starts to sizzle, stir the mixture constantly and carefully observe the color change. Once the mixture turned slightly brown, remove the pan from heat immediately. And pour the mixture into a heat proof bowl. Set aside for later use.
Using a light-colored pan is crucial here as you need to observe the color change of the butter. If you heat it for too long, you will risk burning the butter. By browning the butter, the moisture in the butter evaporates, leaving only fat solids behind. Also, brown butter gives a deeper, caramel-like and nutty flavor to these sourdough chocolate chip cookies.
Recipe adapted from The Boy Who Bakes.
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan)
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy24
servings30
minutes40
minutesThe slight tanginess from the starter compliments the sweetness from the chocolates perfectly, giving you a unique tasting experience.
Ingredients
- Wet Ingredients
227g vegan butter
440g brown sugar
240g sourdough starter discard (100% hydration)*
1 tsp vanilla extract
- Dry Ingredients
380g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
- Add-ins
Handful of flaked sea salt
Directions
- Browning the butter
- Place the butter in a light-colored pan and cook over low heat until the butter is melted.
- When the melted butter starts to sizzle, stir the mixture constantly and carefully observe the color change.
- Once the mixture turned slightly brown, remove the pan from heat immediately. And pour the mixture into a heat proof bowl. Set aside for later use.
- Dry Ingredients
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
- Wet Ingredients
- Place brown butter, sugar and vegan eggs into the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix until everything is incorporated.
- Now, add sourdough discard and vanilla extract. Mix well.
- Add in the dry ingredients and mix until it forms a cookie dough with no dry lumps.
- Change to paddle attachment. Add the chocolate chips and mix until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed.
- Cover the cookie dough and transfer it to the refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight) before baking**
- Baking the Cookies! 🍪
- Preheat oven to 320°F (160°C) and line a 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper.
- Roll the cookies into balls of around 70g each. Place 6 dough balls on each baking tray, while reserving plenty of space between each ball as these cookies will spread a lot.
- Finally, sprinkle the cookies with a little flaked sea salt.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
- If the cookies come out a little puffier or thicker than you would like, simply tap the baking tray aon the counter a few times. It will help flatten them a little.
- The cookies will be soft when they came out of the oven, but they will harden after cooling down. So, allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- * If you don’t have a sourdough starter, you can easily make it without one by substituting equal parts of flour and water. So you may need to use 120g flour and 120g water here.
- ** You can also freeze the dough for up to a month.
