Sourdough Discard Rye Biscuits
The Recipe
Ingredients
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup rye flour (if you don’t have rye, 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour is fine but lemme tell ya the rye really makes these)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, very cold (you can toss it in the freezer for about half an hour to get it to the right temperature)
1 cup sourdough starter, unfed/discard
1 whole egg, beaten
2 tbsp butter, melted
flaky salt for finishing
Method
Preheat oven to 425º F and ensure that your rack is in the top third of your oven.
Combine flour(s), baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Using the grater attachment, pulse in your stick of butter until shredded and evenly distributed.
Pour butter-flour stuff into a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, fold in your starter. Be careful to only stir until it barely comes together. Too much mixing will lead to gluten development and tough biscuits! If your dough seems too dry, let it rest for a few minutes and then continue mixing. If it still seems too dry, add milk (or buttermilk!) a tablespoon at a time until shaggy.
Plop onto a floured surface and knead for a few seconds to bring it all together. Roll into a rectangle, and then fold into thirds like a pamphlet. Roll out again, then fold again. Repeat three more times until dough is soft, smooth, and laminated. Gotta build them FLAKY LAYERS. Roll out one final time into a rectangle about 8” x 8”.
Using your SHARPEST knife (sharp = clean cuts = nice rise), cut into four equal biscuits measuring four inches on each side. Gently (don’t squish the sides!!) place and space biscuits on a baking sheet and brush with the beaten egg.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating halfway through.
As soon as the biscuits come out of then oven, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve warm with jam, more butter, or anything your biscuit-loving heart desires.
The Story
happy starter <3
Posting this recipe was not even a shred of a thought in my mind when I woke up this morning. It only came about when I went to feed my sourdough starter in preparation for tomorrow’s bread and saw that my discard was lookin’ REAL happy. I didn’t want to let it go to waste, so I looked up some recipes and found this one from the gods of baking, King Arthur Flour.
I made a few modifications to suit what type of biscuit I wanted (FLAKYYYY), but overall followed the recipe pretty close. I was nervous to see how they turned out because I’ve never made biscuits before let alone sourdough, rye, LAMINATED ones, but as soon as I started smelling them baking I knew even if they looked like shit they would be tasty.
My god was I right. My first bite killed me and sent me to biscuit heaven. They look a little rough but I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t add to the charm of homemade biscuits. They are buttery, soft, flaky, salty, everything you want-y in a biscuit with the sneaky added tang that makes sourdough so good.
And that was eating it just as it is coming out of the oven. Then my brain had the audacity to spread some wild blueberry preserves on a split biscuit which resurrected my cold dead biscuit heart and then immediately killed me again with how delicious it was. I wish I could put into better words how transcendent that the first bite of that biscuit was.
Anyway, as I was spamming my family group chat about the biscuits, I realized that I should probably just take an hour or two to type up the recipe instead of annoying them with my rantings and ravings about them. I still did that a little before actually sitting down at my computer to put in the work but that’s beside the point.
