Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Making your very own sourdough starter requires just two basic ingredients: flour and water. But there’s a third factor that’s often overlooked — and that’s patience. After mixing up your starter, it can be hard to wait 7 to 10 days to reap the benefits, especially if you’ve got the itch to bake.

The solution? Bake biscuits with your discarded starter! A few days after you make your starter, you’ll begin to discard half of it at every feeding. But instead of throwing the discard down the drain, you can use it to make any number of baked goods — my favorite being a biscuit. The discard gives biscuits an extra tender and flaky texture, and eliminates the need for liquid altogether.

Perfectly calibrated to use up the discard from one sourdough starter feeding, these biscuits are incredibly easy and delicious — worthy of making a sourdough starter for in their own right. Here’s how you can make them right now with your starter’s discard.

The sourdough bread-making process involves a lot of waiting and down time, but sourdough biscuits are instantly rewarding. You’ll take the part of the sourdough starter that usually gets thrown away and use it in place of buttermilk. In less than 30 minutes, you have all the sourdough satisfaction you’ve been craving in the form of buttery, flaky biscuits. Plus, you get a preview of sorts into the flavors of your starter before you bake your first loaf.

This biscuit dough is likely a bit drier than you’re used to, so don’t stress if it feels dry while mixing and kneading, or if you leave some crumbs of dough behind. You’ll get six sandwich-sized biscuits from this recipe — perfect for bacon and egg breakfast sandwiches.