This sourdough banana bread recipe uses discard sourdough for a thrifty quick bread that uses ingredients that might otherwise be wasted. It’s moist, sweet, and delicious.
Why you’ll love this recipe
One of my favorite sayings it “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Not that I am able to live by it, but I love the sentiment and I think it’s a worthy goal. And that is one of the frustrating parts of keeping a sourdough starter… you have to discard some of it every day! So any recipe that can use up that discard starter is always welcomed.
And of course, we all have a few overripe bananas in the house. Or is it just me? Anyway, this recipe uses up all those things in the kitchen that were not destined for greatness.
By the way, I know the word “sourdough” can be off-putting when we talk about sweet baked goods. But this recipe tastes just like the sweet, moist, classic banana bread we all know and love, with no sourdough taste.
It makes a great snack, dessert, or breakfast
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup softened butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3 bananas mashed
- 1 cup discard sourdough starter stirred
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Step by step sourdough banana bread
Making the batter
You can use either a stand mixer or hand mixer for this, whichever is easier for you.
It is a quick and easy recipe, so go ahead and preheat the oven to 350 degrees before you get started.
Beat the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until fluffy and well combined. It should look light yellow.
Add the mashed banana and discard sourdough starter and gently mix them in. In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Gently add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined.
Baking
Pour into a greased loaf pan, smooth out the top with a spatula, and bake for one hour. The top usually splits. A toothpick inserted should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
(Here are good guidelines on how to tell when quick bread is done.)
Cool completely before slicing.
Some variations
- Want to make this recipe vegan? Use a vegan butter substitute and 1/4 cup of applesauce instead of the egg.
- Add a cup of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips to make this an extra special treat.
- Add 1/4 cup of peanut butter in with the starter
- You can absolutely reduce the sugar by as much as 1/2. It will be still be good, but less sweet (obviously).
Here’s the recipe!
Classic Sourdough Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup softened butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3 bananas mashed
- 1 cup discard sourdough starter stirred
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing with vegetable oil spray or butter.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing until combined. Add the mashed banana and sourdough starter, mixing on low.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add it to the wet ingredients and mix on low until just combined.
- Pour into loaf pan, smoothing out the top with a spatula, and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The top will split. Allow to cool before slicing. Store at room temperature, tightly wrapped, for up to three days,
Notes
Nutrition
Need more breakfast recipes to use up discarded starter?
- Sourdough carrot cake cupcakes are similar but use vegetable oil and lots of delicious additions for a delicious dessert.
- You’ll love sourdough chocolate chip muffins for their sugary top.
- And fluffy sourdough pancakes are the quickest and easiest way to usee sourdough starter.
Happy baking!
First time I am going to make anything with discard starter. Have a jar of discard in the fridge – do I need to take it out and feed it the night before or can I just use from the fridge
I would love to try this recipe! How much butter does it call for? It says “? cup butter”. Thanks for your help.
i’m suzy! i’m so sorry, i just changed fonts on my blog and all my 1/3 turned into ? 😭😭😭😭. So it’s 1/3! I’m going to fix it now!
Have you ever made these into muffins? If so do you know how long they would need to bake?
hi aubrey I haven’t but it *should* work. Maybe start checking at 20 minutes? (Also I have a banana muffin recipe on my blog with a really good caramel drizzle icing you should put on top!)
This is probably my favorite banana bread recipe. I substituted 1/2 cup hone for the sugar and added a tsp vanilla and it was splendidly delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe and for a great way to redeem the discard. Love it!
Can I use discard straight from the fridge if I dont have time to use it straight away?
yes, absolutely!
I have enjoyed this recipe more than once! FYI Typo in “Prepare this pan {my} greasing…”
oh thank you denise! I’ll fix that! 🙂
Love this recipe. Already did this twice! I added dark choco chips because my husband likes chocolates 🙂
I just tried this with chocolate chips too! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂