What is sourdough discard?

Discard is the starter you remove so the jar you are feeding does not outgrow the counter. It is the same culture as the part you keep. It is simply the part that did not get fresh flour and water this time. People talk about it as if it were a spoiled leftover. It is not spoiled. It is unfed.

When you should throw it out

The first several days of a brand-new starter are the exception. That jar can smell like old cheese or nail polish while the culture sorts itself out. Compost those early scrapings. Do not bake with them. Once the jar smells clean and tangy, like yogurt, the extra is worth keeping. Pink, orange, or fuzzy growth is never discard to bake with. That is a spoiled jar. Wash it and begin again.

A jar that has lived in the refrigerator for a week or two, with a gray liquid on top and a flat surface, is still discard. Stir it or pour the liquid off. Smell it. Tangy is fine. Rotten is not.

What it will and will not do

An active starter has just been fed and has doubled. It is full of gas. The country loaf on this site asks for that. Discard has already eaten most of what it was given. It will not lift a lean loaf. If you put only discard into that recipe, you get a pale brick and you blame the oven.

Discard still has acid and a little life. In pancakes, crackers, waffles, and cookies, baking powder or the heat does the lifting, and the discard adds flavor and keeps the crumb soft. That is why a discard recipe and a bread recipe are not interchangeable. Read which one the card asks for.

• Bread, pizza dough, and cinnamon rolls want starter that has doubled since the last feeding.
• Pancakes, crackers, and most cookies want the unfed jar.
• If a recipe says discard and you only have a very bubbly, just-fed starter, it will still work. The rise may be a little wilder.
• If a recipe says active and the jar in your hand is flat, feed it and wait. Do not hope.

Keep a covered jar of discard in the refrigerator and use it within a couple of weeks. Stir it before you measure. It separates, and the clear part is not a reason to panic. The way to need less of it is to keep a small starter. Feed only what you will bake. The scrapings get smaller when the jar does.