Do you have a sourdough starter that you are feeding everyday or every week? I do! Every time I feed my starter, I try to find recipes that include the sourdough discard so I am not wasting all that flour. So far, I have made rosemary sourdough crackers, peanut butter sourdough cookies, sourdough pancakes, double chocolate sourdough waffles and most recently almond sourdough biscotti. You can probably find a lot of sourdough recipes on crackers, cookies and pancakes, but biscotti, not so much. Plus the biscotti recipes I found typically use a 50% hydration sourdough starter, which means I have to convert my 100% hydration sourdough starter first to a 50% starter before I can make my biscotti. So in the end, I decided to make my own biscotti recipe using my 100% sourdough starter. It involved studying numerous basic biscotti recipes and calculating flour to water ratios to incorporate my sourdough starter discard. I was worried about how it will turn out but, it is so good that if there’s a biscotti contest, it will easily win top 3 (and nobody would even be able to guess that it’s made with sourdough starter discard!).
Can you use any type of sourdough starter?
Absolutely, as long as it’s a 100% hydration sourdough starter. 100% hydration just means it’s 1 to 1 ratio of flour to water. Your 100% hydration starter can be made with any type of flour. My sourdough starter is made with rye, all purpose flour and water. When I feed it, usually once a week (I take it out of the fridge and leave it to rest in room temperature for 2 hours before I feed it), I use 50g organic rye flour and 50g all purpose flour with 100g room temperature filtered water. The amount of starter that I actually keep for feeding is around 25g, which means I discard around 200g matured starter each time.
After the biscotti are completely cooled, I like to store them in a sealed glass container. They can be kept up to a month! If they turn soft, there’s an amazing trick. Simply turn the oven to 250°F, pop in the biscotti for 15 min and turn off the oven, leaving the biscotti in the oven to cool down slowly. They will taste just the same if not better with a more concentrated flavor.
Can you add other dried fruits and nuts?
You can add any kind of fruits and nuts that you like. I recommend a maximum of 2 cups of fruits and nuts mix. When you have too much fruits and nut, it will be hard to keep the dough together, especially when you slice the dough for your second bake.
Almond Sourdough Starter Discard Biscotti
Level: (easy to hard)
Yield: 22-24 biscotti
Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour (you can substitute with all purpose flour instead)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon orange zest (one whole orange, or one whole lemon)
1 tablespoon honey (you can substitute with sugar instead)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F degrees
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl
In a separate bowl, cream together all wet ingredients except for the sourdough starter discard
Stir in the sourdough starter discard in the wet mixture
Combine all the dry and wet mixtures until blended. Do not overwork the dough otherwise gluten will develop and make the biscotti chewy
Divide the dough into 2
Roll each dough into 10″ long and 4″ wide rectangle (roughly 1 1/2″ thick)
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 30-35 min until lightly golden
Let cool for 10 minutes and then cut into 1″ thick wedges
Turn the wedges on the side for second bake
Reduce the oven heat to 325°F degrees and bake the wedges for another 15-18 min until golden brown on the edges
Let cool completely before storing them in an airtight container
Baking it for the third time really sealed the flavors and make them very crispy. If you like crunchy snacks like these biscotti, you will like my crunchy vanilla almond granola. Or if you are using your sourdough to make some pizza dough, here’s a fun twist to using your pizza dough.
More baking posts for you!
Double Chocolate Sourdough Starter Waffles
Strawberry Chocolate Buns With Sourdough
Cherry Oat Bars
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If your biscotti are too soft then it is likely that the cookies were not baked for long enough second time around. If your biscotti slices are around 1/2cm/1/4 inch thick then they should only need around 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 180c/350F to dry out sufficiently.
You can use 1-2 week old discard in “discard recipes”… think cookies, brownies, muffins, non-yeast breads, tortillas (pretty much anything that doesn't require active starter (aka wild yeast).
One of the reasons biscotti is the perfect crunchy treat is its double-baking process. After the initial baking, the biscotti is sliced and then baked again, which gives it its unique dry and crunchy texture.
By feeding the discard with fresh flour and water over a few consecutive feedings, the microbial activity can be restored, eventually turning it into a viable and active sourdough starter.
How to Store Biscotti: Maximize Crunch & Prevent Soft Biscotti. To store biscotti, keep it in an airtight container at room temperature. Lining the container with a paper towel will help soak up any excess moisture that finds its way in.
You can store mature sourdough discard in the refrigerator indefinitely. As long as there is no mold, it is good to use. It may develop a grayish liquid on top called “hooch” which can be poured off before use or stirred in.If you stir it in, the flavor will become more sour.
Only a small portion of the sourdough starter is reserved and fed during each feeding, the rest is referred to as discard, since typically it is thrown away. In efforts to reduce waste, discard is often collected from multiple feedings and stored in the fridge until enough is allotted to be used for discard recipes.
If the biscotto feels soft, like a piece of cake, give it another 5 minutes in the oven. If it feels firm but still gives a bit when you poke it, take it out for rather soft-textured but still crunchy biscotti.
Baking soda – baking soda helps the biscotti rise and spread. Make sure that your baking soda isn't expired. Sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe. You can use caster sugar as well.
I left my sourdough discard out at room temperature for a few days. Is it okay? As long as your kitchen isn't too warm (I'd say 78°F or higher) your starter/discard will be fine stored at room temperature for at least a few days without feeding. The flavor will get more acidic the longer it sits.
Yes you can use sourdough discard straight from the fridge, you don't need to let it come to room temperature if you don't want to. What is this? If you are using it straight from the fridge it may be a little stiff or thick, so you'll need to ensure you mix it really well.
I recommend keeping sourdough discard for about one week, but I do know others who keep it for much longer. After one week, there is a higher risk of mold or bad bacteria growing on the discard.
I make Biscotti all the time and for a softer version just cook them less time.. I bake the log for 15 minutes at 375 F then remove from oven let cool. then slice put back in oven for just five minutes standing up... Remove and you are done!
The best way to make soft biscuits crispy again is to put them in the oven at a low temperature (200–250°F) for about 10 minutes. The heat will help dry out the moisture in the biscuits, making them crispy again.
A: Overbaking the logs of dough during the first baking can make the slices crumble as you are cutting them. Also, even if the logs of dough are perfectly baked, they will crumble if they are sliced while still warm, so be patient. The logs crumble when you use a dull knife, too.
Introduction: My name is Dr. Pierre Goyette, I am a enchanting, powerful, jolly, rich, graceful, colorful, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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