This fried sourdough starter (discard) recipe is the quickest and easiest way to use your sourdough starter/ discard. These bite-sized sweet sourdough discard fry bread balls are delightful treats and full of sourdough starter flavor.
Pan-deep-fried in avocado oil or any lightly flavoured oil, they have crispy cinnamon and coconut sugar coating and are fluffy and soft inside- ready in about 2 minutes! They make full use of any remaining sourdough starter that you have.
What makes these fried bread balls so tasty and flavorful is that they are made with sourdough starter, which is also used to make the Best sourdough starter breakfast recipe, and these Quick & easy sourdough discard flatbreads. Sourdough starter adds a unique flavor to these bites that make them so irresistibly good!
These pan-deep-fried sourdough starter bread balls are easy to make without much effort and always available to make in no time whenever you crave them. There is no need to roll or shape the dough; just grab and drop the batter in any lightly flavoured hot oil.
What is a Sourdough Starter?
Sourdough starter is naturally colonized yeast and acidic bacteria from your kitchen. You simply used sourdough starter instead of package yeast to make all kinds of baked goods such as this White Pullman Bread using strong white flour and dried yeast.
Sourdough adds a delicious tangy flavor to all baking. It takes only flour and water to make a sourdough starter from scratch in about two weeks. Here is a great blog post on how to make a sourdough starter from scratch.
Ingredients
- Active sourdough starter. Feed your sourdough starter with a cup of all-purpose flour beforehand, so it is bubbly, nice, and ready to go. You may use sourdough discard, too. If you are using sourdough discard, mix ¼ tsp. baking soda per cup of sourdough discards to make it extra fluffy. The leftover sourdough starter is called sourdough discard, which is flat and not active/bubbly.
- Honey. You may use sugar instead. Use agave to make it vegan.
- Salt. It just takes a pinch to bring out the flavor.
- Oil. Use a high-smoke point avocado oil or similar and heat it slowly. Use the leftover oil to make homemade popcorn!
- Sugar. Use coconut sugar. Use any sugar you have on hand.
- Cinnamon. Use more of any other sweet spices like anise seeds or cardamom.
You will find a full list of ingredients and quantities on the recipe card below. Or click the 'Jump To Recipe' button at the top of this post.
How to Make Fried Sourdough Starter
Step 1. Mix the coconut sugar or plain sugar and cinnamon on a plate and set aside.
Step 2. Place the active sourdough starter, honey, and salt in a bowl and mix well.
Step 3. Pour avocado oil or your favourite oil, into a saucepan and heat it on medium-low heat.
Step 4: When the oil looks heated and shiny, take one small spoonful of active sourdough starter mixture and drop it inside the saucepan. No more than two at a time is best. Do not overcrowd the saucepan. Be patient and let them fry on each side until golden brown.
Step 5. When they are cooked through with a golden brown colour, take the fried ones out of the pan.
Step 6. Roll them in the cinnamon and coconut sugar mixture while they are hot. Ensure they are coated all over.
Continue frying the rest of the sourdough starter and coat each fried Sourdough Starter ball in the flavoured sugar. Serve with tea or coffee for adults and as a warm sweet treat with milk for children.
Tips for the Best Sourdough Fried Bread
- Use high smoke point oil. High-smoking point oils such as avocado oil, is perfect for frying, so it does not leave any burning flavour or taste.
- Heat up the oil well. Ensure the oil is hot and shiny before adding the batter; otherwise, it will stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle with some sugar. Do not skip coating for extra sweetness. Or use any other glaze you like the best.
- Get creative with coatings. You may add other herbs (thyme, basil), spices, or seeds to the sugar coating.
- Make them fluffier. If you are using sourdough discard, add ¼ tsp. baking soda per cup of sourdough discard and mix them.
- Make the Fried Sourdough balls small. This way, the interior of the sourdough balls cooks evenly.
- Use medium-low heat. Fry them on medium-low heat so the inside cooks through and the oil does not get burned.
- Make popcorn. Use leftover oil and make popcorn.
- Adjust the sweetness. But feel free to adjust the sweetness to your taste.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use other toppings ideas. You may use other toppings such as chocolate or vanilla glaze, powdered sugar, coconut flake, a drizzle of honey, pumpkin, cardamom, or nutmeg sugar.
- Make a glaze. To make a glaze, mix powdered sugar with milk and cocoa powder or vanilla.
- Make it vegan. Replace honey with other sweeteners.
- Make it gluten-free. Use gluten-free sourdough starter and gluten-free flour to feed it.
- Make apple cider flavor. You can make these bread bites into apple cider bites by feeding the sourdough starter with flour + apple cider instead of flour + water.
- Make them savory. Skip the sweeteners completely and make them savory. Add into the batter spices and herbs you like.
- Skillet-fried it. You may use a cast-iron skillet and pan-fried it flat instead. Sprinkle on top of sourdough starter any finely chopped caramelized veggies (onion, mushroom, olives) before flipping it over. Or you can saute the veggies and add sourdough discard over the sauteed veggies. Cut it into pieces and serve.
Storage and reheat
Fridge - Store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Reheat - Heat them in a microwave for a few seconds or air fryer for a few minutes.
What to Serve with Fried Sourdough Starter Balls
Serve them as a sweet treat or snack after breakfast, lunch, or dinner with tea, coffee, hot cocoa, or milk.
These homemade fried sourdough starter bread balls are deliciously comforting and so easy, quick, and fun to make from scratch! This is how to use a sourdough discard to make delicious fried sourdough discard bread. It is extremely satisfying to see the sourdough starter batter puff up in the hot oil.
FAQ's
The leftover sourdough starter is called sourdough discard, which is flat and not active/bubbly.
You can eat cooked sourdough starter/discard in the form of baked goods or this simple fried sourdough starter. I would not recommend eating sourdough starter raw.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Find more delicious sourdough starter recipes
- Sourdough bread pizza
- Sourdough breakfast recipe
- Easy sourdough discard naans
- Easy old fashioned salmon patties
- Sourdough starter hamburger patty
- Sourdough starter fried chicken
- Sourdough discard flatbread
- Apple dessert with tortillas
If you tried making this recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how you go in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Recipe
Fried sourdough starter (Discard)
Ingredients
- 1 cup of active sourdough starter. You may use sourdough discard too. If you are using sourdough discard (inactive sourdough starter) add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of sourdough discard and mix it in.
- 1 tsp. of honey
- A pinch of salt
- 1 cup of avocado oil or any lightly flavoured oil
- ¼ cup coconut sugar or plain sugar.
- 1 tsp. ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Prepare the dry and wet ingredients. Mix the coconut sugar and cinnamon and put them aside. Place active sourdough starter, honey, and salt in a bowl and mix.1 cup of active sourdough starter., 1 tsp. of honey, ¼ cup coconut sugar, 1 tsp. ground Cinnamon, A pinch of salt
- Heat up the oil. Pour avocado oil into a saucepan and heat it on medium-low heat.1 cup of avocado oil
- Deep pan-fry them. When the oil looks heated and shiny, take one spoonful of sourdough starter mix and drop it inside the saucepan. I drop two at a time. Do not overcrowd the saucepan. Be patient and let them fry on each side until golden brown.
- Coat them. Then take the fried ones out and coat them with the coconut sugar and cinnamon mixture while they are hot. And continue with the rest.
- Serve and enjoy! Served them hot and fresh as a sweet treat. I served them with tea or coffee for adults and with milk for kids.
Your Private Notes
Notes
- Use high smoke point oil. High-smoking point oils such as avocado oil or similar, is perfect for frying, so it does not leave any burning flavor or taste.
- Heat up the oil well. Ensure the oil is hot and shiny before adding the batter; otherwise, it will stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle with some sugar. Do not skip coating for extra sweetness. Or use any other glaze you like the best.
- Get creative with coatings. You may add other herbs, spices, or seeds to the sugar coating.
- Make them fluffier. If you are using sourdough discard, add ¼ tsp. baking soda per cup of sourdough discard and mix them.
- Make the balls small. This way, the interior of the sourdough balls cooks evenly.
- Use medium-low heat. Fry them on medium-low heat so the inside cooks through and the oil does not get burned.
- Make popcorn. Use leftover oil and make popcorn.
- Adjust the sweetness. Feel free to adjust the sweetness to your taste.
- Use other toppings ideas. You may use other toppings such as chocolate or vanilla glaze, powdered sugar, coconut flake, a drizzle of honey, pumpkin, cardamom, or nutmeg sugar.
- Make a glaze. To make a glaze, mix powdered sugar with milk and cocoa powder or vanilla.
- Make it vegan. Replace honey with other sweeteners.
- Make it gluten-free. Use gluten-free sourdough starter and gluten-free flour to feed it.
- Make apple cider flavor. You can make these bread bites into apple cider bites by feeding the sourdough starter with flour + apple cider instead of flour+ water.
- Make them savory. Skip the sweeteners completely and make them savory. Add into the batter spices and herbs you like.
- Skillet-fried it. You may use a cast-iron skillet and pan-fried it flat instead. Sprinkle on top of sourdough starter any finely chopped veggies (onion, mushroom, olives) before flipping it over. Or you can saute the veggies and add sourdough discard over the sauteed veggies. Cut it into pieces and serve.
Nutrition
Note: The provided nutrition information is an estimate for the entire recipe, the calorie accuracy nutritional facts, unit and portion conversion are calculated by a third party app. and are not guaranteed.
baron
yum yum
Sam
Oh wow! Just made these and they are amazing!! Soooo easy and delicious. My first couple of batches were too big, and my oil wasn't hot enough so they weren't a good round shape, but still tasty. Got the hang of it and will definitely be making these again, great way to use discard. Would sprinkle cinnamon sugar over next time as mine clumped a bit after a couple of batches. Thanks for your amazing recipe, love it!
Deliciousnutritiousfood
Hi Sam, I am so glad you enjoying the recipe!
Selena
I tried it. It was perfect, soft and full of flavor! Thanks for sharing this amazing simple recipe!
Deliciousnutritiousfood
I am glad you liked it!
Soni
Delish
Mino
Wowww