One of the downsides of baking sourdough is that keeping the starter fresh and lively involves a certain amount of waste. There is the old, sour leaven that’s been kept in the fridge for a while, before feeding as the first stage of making a loaf, as well as the spare ripe leaven that it becomes after refreshing. We thought that it would be an interesting experiment to see what happens if you add the leftover leaven to a yeasted loaf, as a way of using it rather than throwing it away. The leaven we used wasn’t too sour (7 days since the last refresh) – it didn’t have a layer of liquid hooch on top, and didn’t smell too acidic.
The resulting loaf was delicious, with a hint of sourdough flavour. Perfect for toasting, or freezing.  Adapt the recipe for the quantities of leaven you have.
Other delicious sourdough includes – our slow fridge risen no knead sourdough, or our cranberry chocolate sourdough muffins which also use up leftover leaven.
- 180 g sour leaven
- 400 g bread flour a mix of white and wholemeal
- 250 ml water
- Glug olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 7 g dried yeast
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Bake it the same way as a standard yeasted loaf.
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Bring the ingredients together and then knead the dough thoroughly.
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Allow to bulk raise until it’s about doubled in volume, and feels springy to the touch.
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Turn out of the bowl, knock back and form into a loaf, and place in a baking tin.
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Allow to rise again and then bake at 180 fan/Gas mark 6 for 40 minutes.
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It’s done when it sounds hollow on the bottom when tapped.
Sally - My Custard Pie says
How timely. The person taking care of my sour dough starter only fed it every two weeks. Have poured off the vile grey liquid and scooped out some to try and revive. A mass of slightly bubbly, thick starter remains. Will try this out.
Helen says
Let me know how it goes Sally.
Camilla says
Looks lovely – wish my hubby baked me bread! A fab #CreditCrunchMunch recipe;-)
Helen says
Ed was sent on a bread course and always does the baking now.
Emily says
That looks like a loaf that Paul would be approving of. Nice work! x
Helen says
Ed is the expert baker, I cannot remember the last time I did anything with yeast or sourdough.
nazima says
I must get my sourdough baking back on track. I like the idea of adding levain to a yeasted dough to add a nicer flavour and boost the yeast factor!
Helen says
It is a great way not to waste the leaven, we are experimenting with adding to all sorts of bakes.
Jeanne Horak-Druiff says
Mmm, I do love the tang of sourdough – intrigued by this hybrid loaf! Very envious of bread-baking Ed – does he make house-calls? ;)
Helen says
I can send him over Jeanne!
Elizabeth says
I went through a spell of making sourdough and then I stopped and I’m pretty sure my starter was a biohazard! I really ought to get back into it. This recipe looks amazing, and thank you for sharing it with the No Waste Food Challenge!
Helen says
Make more sourdough ELizabeth. Although I am very fortunate that Ed does it.
Laura @ KneadWhine says
Ooh – I really failed with sourdough last time I tried – looks like Ed is making good use of all of the product here! Yum!
Helen says
I think to make good sourdough you really need to do a course Laura. You can make it from books, but it is such a tactile skill and the leaven behaves so differently in different temperatures and humidity that judgement is really important.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
It looks like a great loaf of bread Helen. I really need to get back into breadmaking.
Helen says
There is nothing like good homemade bread
Bob says
That’s a good looking loaf, & I like the idea of not throwing away any leaven. Too good to waste!
Helen says
thanks Bob. We hate food waste and the use of the leaven makes a massive difference to the flavour of the loaf.
Sarah Hernande says
I think that German bakers make yeast assisted sourdough loaves.
Helen says
That is really interesting Sarah. We do it to stop the food waste, and it makes the loaf faster.
Rachel Anderson says
Baking bread shows such dedication! Sourdough even more so. Wish I really had the time, because this looks so much better than a packet from the supermarket.
Helen says
The actual hands on time is not that much. It is a good project for the weekend when you are at home to “tend” to it.