Sourdough Banana Bread

This Sourdough Banana Bread recipe is made with discard, so it’s a wonderful way to use up any excess sourdough starter you have hanging around! This simple recipe is perfect for sourdough beginners!

 

Do you have extra sourdough starter discard that you just hate to throw out?

Here’s something delicious you can make with it: Sourdough Discard Banana Bread!

This recipe doesn’t require a long fermentation time, so it’s a great beginner’s sourdough recipe.

And the flavor and texture are wonderful. My dad described it as “smooth.”

Here are the really simple steps for making this yummy treat:

Ingredients:

First, here are the ingredients you’ll need to make it:

• All Purpose Flour: I like to use organic all purpose flour, but conventional unbleached will work as well. You could experiment with adding part whole wheat flour, but I wouldn’t suggest doing more than half whole grain flour. Otherwise the end result could be dense.
• Salt: I use unrefined sea salt (here’s the one I use on Amazon), so you may want to reduce the amount of salt slightly if you use regular table salt.
• Baking Soda: Since this is a quick sourdough recipe, you’ll need to use a leavening agent to help it to rise. Baking soda is perfect here since it reacts with the acidity of the sourdough discard. 
• Cinnamon: I like to add a bit of cinnamon because it adds a lovely, spicy warmth to this loaf.
• Sugar: I use organic cane sugar, but feel free to substitute granulated white sugar or even brown sugar. You could also use maple syrup and add 1 extra tablespoon of flour. 
• Butter: You’ll want to make sure that your butter is at room temperature since you’ll be creaming it with the sugar. 
• Eggs: It’s best if they’re at room temperature as well, but it will be fine if they’re still cold.
• Vanilla Extract: Please please please use pure vanilla extract, NOT imitation vanilla flavor! Unless you enjoy the taste of it, then by all means use it!
• Chocolate Chips: I like to use fair trade dark chocolate chips (in this recipe and nearly every other one). You could also substitute toasted nuts such as pecans or walnuts.
• Very Ripe Bananas: The key to a strong banana flavor (and a deliciously sweet taste) is to use overripe bananas! Make sure your bananas have dark brown speckles before you put them anywhere near a banana bread.

And not to forget: active sourdough starter!

An active sourdough starter means it’s been fed 8-12 hours previously, is bubbly, and passes the float test.

Since this recipe doesn’t rely on the sourdough starter to raise the banana bread or make a fermented dough, it’s less important that it’s at ideal maturity.

So you could use up your excess sourdough discard in this recipe as long as it isn’t tooooo old.

But bubbly and active is ideal! Not strictly necessary, but ideal!

If you’re new to sourdough, you can check out my How to Make a Sourdough Starter From Scratch post. If this is your first time baking with sourdough, make sure to go over my Sourdough Starter Troubleshooting post so you can avoid any common mistakes!

By the way, I like to use a kitchen scale to measure out my sourdough starter. It makes the cleanup SO much easier! I use about 220 to 240 grams of sourdough starter to equal 1 cup.

How to Make Sourdough Banana Bread:

Go ahead and get your oven going now: preheat it to 350°F.

Prepare your loaf pan by greasing and flouring it, or lining it with parchment paper.

Start by mixing together the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

You’re going to use less flour than you usually would in a loaf of banana bread because the sourdough starter contains some flour.

Next, in a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light with a hand mixer on medium speed.

This could also be done with a small stand mixer, but if your machine is high capacity you may find that it doesn’t whip this smaller amount of butter very well. 

Mashing the Bananas:

Quick tip: you can just add the brown bananas to the butter and sugar mixture and use the hand mixer to mash them!

I’m so glad that I discovered this method of “mashing” the bananas – there’s no need to dirty up a potato masher!

Make sure to watch the video at the end for a demonstration of this mashing method!

Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the bowl.

Then add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. You don’t want to over-mix the batter!

Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Baking Time:

Bake in the prepared loaf pan in the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Don’t over-bake it or (obviously) it will be dry!

Quick tip: If you find that the top of the banana bread is getting too dark before it’s done in the center, you can always tent it with aluminum foil partway through baking.

Allow the bread to cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before inverting and allowing to cool at least until just warm.

I won’t ask you to do what I cannot and wait until it’s completely cool to slice.

But please wait until it’s warm, not hot!

 

So that’s how to make my sourdough chocolate chip banana bread! Here are a few notes to go over before you dive in and make it:

NOTES:

• I used chocolate chips in this sourdough banana bread, but you could totally substitute soaked pecans or any other nut you prefer. The chocolate chips are really good, though.
• I only used 1/4 cup of cane sugar in my recipe, which is plenty for me. The original recipe called for 1 cup, so if you prefer things on the sweeter side, feel free to increase the sugar amount.
• You can use a smaller loaf pan than I did, but you may find that you need to adjust the baking time a bit or that you have excess batter. A 9 by 5-inch loaf pan works great here. 
• You could switch up the flavor profile by adding a little bit of lemon zest for a pop of freshness. Orange zest might pair nicely with the chocolate chips. 
• A delicious way to serve this would be to add a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream on top. Especially if the banana bread is a little warm and melts the ice cream. Yum!

Here’s a video tutorial for you!

More Sourdough Recipes:

• Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Sourdough Shortcakes
• The Best Sourdough Pancakes
• Sourdough Dutch Baby
• Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Overnight Sourdough Waffles
• Sourdough Pull Apart Rolls
• Sourdough Brioche
• Soft Sourdough French Bread – No Yeast!
• Sourdough Tortillas
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

More Sourdough Discard Recipes:

• Dutch Baby Made with Sourdough Discard
• Sourdough Banana Muffins
• Sourdough Discard Waffles

 

Updated on September 23, 2022