My Top 5 Sourdough Cookie Recipes by Make It Dough (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you use too much sourdough starter in a recipe? ›

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

Are sourdough cookies better for you? Sourdough is a good option because of the fermented grains in the discard, and a long-fermented dough will be more easily digested and utilized. They still contain sugar and fats, so moderation is key, but fermentation does reduce the sugar and add flavor.

Think of sourdough starter as a natural leavener, and in many cases, a way to cultivate the wild yeast that exists naturally in flour and in the air, and convert it to something that you can use to make bread (or whatever else) rise.

With each sourdough starter feeding, you'll be discarding some to avoid it from becoming overly acidic. Most will compost or trash this discard, but you can save it and use it in other recipes!

you can develop a nice flavor with a little starter because your dough can ferment longer giving the bacteria more time to develop flavor in your bread. You can maintain a smaller sourdough starter.

Over the past decade-plus of baking, I've tested all manner of flour from whole grain wheat to spelt to einkorn, and while they all do work, my preferred flour to use when creating a sourdough starter is whole grain rye flour and white flour (this can be all-purpose or high-protein bread flour).

If your starter gets completely covered on top with bubbles but does not rise, it is healthy but may just be a wet mix. Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter.

Yes, you can overfeed your sourdough starter. Audrey explains: “Every time you add more flour and water, you are depleting the existing population of natural bacteria and yeast.” If you keep adding more and more, eventually you'll dilute the starter so much that you'll just have flour and water.

The moisture contributed by the milk will also increase spread and hydrate more of the starches in the flour. These hydrated (gelatinized) starches support the structure of the air pocket wall, keeping the cookies from collapsing once cooled. By holding more water, they also help keep the cookies softer over time.

If the dough is chilled before baking then the cookies will be slightly more rounded, so if you want slightly flatter cookies then bake them as soon as you have mixed up the dough. But we would not recommend flattening the cookies completely as this will affect the texture.

What happens if you use more sourdough starter than the recipe calls for? ›

The more starter you use, the faster your dough will ferment - resulting in a less sour loaf. Of course the amount of starter is actually a ratio in relation to the flour - so 50g of starter to 500g of flour will ferment at a much slower rate than 200g of starter to 500g of flour.

Typically, everything is based on the amount of starter. I'm sure you've seen 1:1:1 ratios, or 1:2:2, or 1:10:10… It's usually given as starter:water:flour, so a 1:1:1 ratio means 1 part starter, 1 part water, and 1 part flour. 1:2:2 means 1 part starter, 2 parts water, and 2 parts flour, and so on.

An overfed starter can be too diluted and it will be very watery. Your workers are there, they are just overwhelmed with too much food and water. When this happens, first leave it out in the warmth overnight. In the morning discard all but a tablespoon of starter and feed it.

Yes, it's necessary to discard a little of your sourdough starter each time you feed it; otherwise, your mixture will eventually become very large and overly acidic. (Be sure to read below for ways to save and use this sourdough starter discard!)