Those Sourdough Brownies

As I mentioned in summing up our April food expenses, I now house sourdough starter. Starter needs fed on a regular basis to keep it alive and healthy. My routine is to pull it out of the refrigerator on the weekend, feed it, let it rest (usually overnight), then put a small portion of it back in the fridge. What does not go back in is called discard.

Discard is just extra starter. When you feed the starter, it grows. Only a small amount goes back in the fridge for next time, so now there is all this extra sourdough goop, the discard.

Some people actually toss the discard. They don't want to use it at the time, they have already given starter portions to their friends so the friends can get into sourdough baking (that's what happened to me: a neighbor gave me some)(yes, she asked first), and, guess what, there'll be more discard next week!

I don't like throwing the discard away, even though there truly is more where that came from. So with the advent of sourdough baking in this household, I started looking up discard recipes. (Another phrase for "discard recipes" is "sourdough recipes," because they really are one and the same thing.

As you can imagine, many sourdough recipes feature breads and crackers, and yes, I have made some of those. I have seen recipes for pancakes, coffee cakes, and such. On a whim, I searched "sourdough brownie recipe."

Holy moly!

Apparently, sourdough enthusiasts have been baking sourdough brownies for years! Who knew? Many recipes commented on the "tang" that sourdough brought to the brownie. I was intrigued and went searching for a recipe I could get into easily. Some of them were labor intensive. Others required huge amounts of this or that (one called for four eggs, which I have never seen in any homemade brownie recipe). And then I stumbled across this one from Bob's Red Mill and never looked back: https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/sourdough-brownies/

What's not to like about a recipe that starts with 9 ounces of bittersweet chocolate (I used dark chocolate) and 1 cup of butter?

The brownies were delicious. We shared them with neighbors on either sides, as well as the friend who got me started down this sourdough road. Everyone gave them rave reviews.

Here are some of my photos of that first batch. When I make them again, I may add a little (very little) more flour to provide a bit more body. The recipe requires the baker to "sprinkle" the flour, so perhaps I will add one more sprinkle.

The starter after being fed and resting overnight

The bubbles show the starter is healthy 

9 ounces of dark chocolate and 1 cup of butter, melted over slow heat

Adding the discard to the chocolate and other ingredients

Stirring the starter in

About to fold in the sprinkles of flour

The recipe calls for a 9x9 baking pan, a size I do not own. This oval pan holds the same volume.

Out of the pan. 

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."