Sourdough Discard Bread

Baked with old spelt bread

Baked with old rye bread

Field of Rye

In the spirit of "ZERO Food Waste", this bread uses old bread and no longer needed sourdough starter, which results in a sensational, aromatic and crispy bread. A fantastic sourdough bread that is also known as "Discard Bread". It is very tasty and versatile. This discard bread has very pleasant sour note because of sourdough starter. Make sure that the proportion of sourdough discard does not exceed 40% of total soaker, otherwise the bread might be too sour. You can easily add 10% of this sourdough / old bread powder mixture to any other soakers without adjusting the recipe. This will add a little more flavour to your bread and you won't have to dispose of the leftover starter.

Dried Sourdough Discard and Old Bread Soaker	Dough
40 g Sourdough discard 110 g Old bread, measured after roasted 150 g Boiling water	All of the soaker 50 g Whole-grain spelt flour 500 g Bread flour #1050 380-460 g Water, cold 15 g Fresh yeast 13 g Sea salt

Spread the sourdough starter evenly thin on a sheet of baking paper and leave it to dry completely, for about 24 hours.
Cut the stale bread into cubes and place on a baking tray. Dry the bread slices in the oven at 80C / 175F for 2-3 hours. Then put the dried sourdough and the dry bread into a food processor or blender and pulverise finely.
Bring the water to the boil, then pour it directly over the sourdough-powder mixture and mix everything without lumps. Cover the mixture with a piece of cling film and leave to cool in the refrigerator for max. 48 hours.
Put all the ingredients - starting with the water - into the bowl of your mixer and knead for 8-10 minutes. Then increase the speed and knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes at medium speed. Check the dough with the "window test". If the dough is still sticky and cracks, continue kneading until it passes the window test. (Important: first start with 380-400 g water and then gradually add more water as needed. The water absorption depends strongly on the recipe of the stale bread.)
Cover the dough in the mixing bowl with a tea towel and let it ferment and rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes. Halfway through the proofing time, stretch and fold the dough as follows: pull up one side of the dough slightly and fold over the dough on the opposite side. This works best if you wet your hands in a little water beforehand. Repeat this process from all sides. Then cover the dough again and let it rise for the remaining time.
After the proofing time, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and shape into a round as follows: drag the dough across the work surface 2-3 times to get a smooth surface. While doing this, pull the dough with your fingers from one side to the center and press lightly. Repeat this process all around, folding the dough into the center again and again.
Place the dough with the seam side up on a floured kitchen towel. In the meantime preheat the oven with a baking stone and a tray in the lower half of the oven, to 230C/450F.
Turn the dough onto a floured wooden shovel and score the bread. Transfer the bread directly onto the hot baking stone in the oven. Pour a cup of water for the steam into the tray and close the oven door immediately.
After 20 minutes remove the water from the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 210C/410F and bake the bread for another 20-25 minutes until crispy. Cool the bread completely on a wire rack before slicing.

33 comments:

Brian's Home Blog 23/7/22 01:57: That sure is pretty bread!
Christine 23/7/22 02:02: It looks good.
J.P. Alexander 23/7/22 02:19: Se ve muy rico, anoto la receta. Te mando un beso.
Tom 23/7/22 02:46: ...recycling at its best!
kathyinozarks 23/7/22 03:24: Beautiful loaf of bread, sounds like an old pioneer type recipe Happy weekend
Happy Retiree's Kitchen 23/7/22 04:39: I bake sourdough bread, but I am amazed at the whole concept and science behind this bread. There is always some sourdough discard waste and some stale bread so it is great idea to minimize waste. When I have plenty of time I'll investigate this. The finished product of yours looks so professional Angie.
Margaret D 23/7/22 05:56: It looks very nice.
Kitchen Riffs 23/7/22 06:04: Really, really interesting. I haven't done much with sourdough starter, and have never heard of this technique. Neat! And great looking bread, too. :-)
Julie 23/7/22 06:28: This was something new to me using stale bread, Angie.. Thanks for sharing :)
Anne in the kitchen 23/7/22 06:42: I am not sure when I am going to try this, but I am bookmarking this page to try in the future.
Grace 23/7/22 07:39: Excelente idea! Saber aprovechar. Gracias Angie por tus buenas sugerencias.
Te deseo un buen fin de semana.
Abrazo.
Rainbow Evening 23/7/22 07:55: good idea....
look fresh and yummy...
Nancy Chan 23/7/22 08:41: Another beautiful bread to enjoy. Have a wonderful weekend.
Valentina 23/7/22 08:59: So cool that this is made with "recycled" good stuff! :-) ~Valentina
Lola Martínez 23/7/22 09:23: Este pan es de super profesional, no creo haber visto ninguno a partir de una hoja de pan seco, tiene su trabajo, pero imagino que el resultado sorprenderá. Eres genial. Un abrazo.
Mbul Kecil 23/7/22 12:42: yummy....i can imagine how aromatic your bread Angie...thanks for sharing your fantastic knowledge about bakery, especialy old bread like this. Happy Saturday Dear ^^
DEZMOND 23/7/22 13:24: Love it! I would eat it with tones of sour cream or garlic butter nom nom nom.....
eileeninmd 23/7/22 13:50: Hello,
Your bread looks delicious, I wish I could taste a piece now. Thanks for sharing your recipes. Have a great weekend!
Federica Simoni 23/7/22 14:16: che meraviglia!!!
Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine 23/7/22 14:33: Oh I would eat that whole loaf its lovely!
Anonymous 23/7/22 16:45: Making bread from old bread? Well I have learnt something new from you once again Angie. Your recipes are endlessly fascinating.
Bill 23/7/22 20:40: I would love to have a nice piece of this bread, it looks so good.
DeniseinVA 23/7/22 23:30: Oh my goodness, everything you make looks delicious but I love the look of this bread. Thank you Angie :)
rodzinatestuje 24/7/22 14:56: IT looks really amazing! :)
Muriel 24/7/22 20:15: Un pain magnifique ! comme d' habitude :)
foodtravelandwine 25/7/22 03:40: Very interesting recipe!....I dehydrate sourdough in the same way when I have a lot, I place it in the freezer, and revive it when I need it....no problem so far in my case....beautiful pictures!......Abrazotes, Marcela
Veronica Lee 25/7/22 07:55: Your bread looks delish, Angie.
I'd love a slice, please!
speedy70 25/7/22 14:16: Un altro ottimo pane, bravissima!!!
Pam 25/7/22 19:45: GORGEOUS!!!! As usual.
My name is Erika. 26/7/22 16:34: I need to check the date on my spelt flour as this sounds great. We're supposed to have a couple of cool days ahead and I need to feed my sourdough, so I might give it a try. Thanks for sharing Angie. hugs-Erika
Cooking Julia 27/7/22 21:04: Your bread is so beautiful and dark, I love that kind of bread.
Królowa Karo 30/7/22 22:22: How beautiful bread!
Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews 31/7/22 12:38: We love sour dough bread, in fact we had a portion as a starter with a meal out, only yesterday. It came with a choice of salted butter or balsamic dip, so I had a half and half portion, which was delicious