Lemon Poppyseed Sourdough Discard Muffins
These bright, zingy muffins are the perfect start to any day. Sourdough discard adds to the tanginess and texture of this recipe, complemented by the use of lemon juice, zest, and extract and a crunchy lemon sugar topping.
What can I do with sourdough discard?
Well, my friend, I’m glad you asked. Sourdough discard is the byproduct of feeding and maintaining a sourdough starter, but don’t let the name fool you. This gloopy mix of flour and water doesn’t have to be thrown out, and can actually be quite useful in baking. I’ve seen other sourdough bakers turn it into pasta, pie crust, brownies, and I’ve even turned it into this Rye Banana Sourdough Crumb Cake.
If you’ve read my guide, Sourdough Starter: Everything You Need to Know, then you know that starter is simply a mixture of flour and water that is allowed to ferment. During the fermentation process, wild yeast from the flour and the air create a symbiotic community with lactic acid bacteria, which creates a culture of microorganisms that can be used for leavening bread. In order to keep this microscopic community going, the starter requires feeding of fresh flour and water. But if you feed and feed the starter without ever getting rid of any, you’d quickly end up with a gallon of fermented flour on your counter. Not ideal.
I like to store my discarded starter in a jar in the fridge, where it can be left alone for weeks (yes, really) without detriment. While sourdough discard isn’t strong enough to raise a loaf of bread, it can be added to many baking recipes to enhance their flavor as well as add some welcome prebiotic fiber content.
Enter: sourdough discard baked goods!
Since starter is just a mixture of flour and water, it’s easy to incorporate into many traditional baked goods. Now I’m not saying that you want to go throwing sourdough discard willy nilly into any old recipe, but if you’ve got a recipe that contains a substantial amount of flour and liquid, odds are that it can work. Muffins are a great candidate.
To develop this recipe, I looked through a few different inspiration recipes for Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, including this one from Sally at Sally’s Baking Addiction. Her technique of starting with a hotter-than-usual oven and then lowering the temperature is brilliant for creating impressively tall muffins, so I incorporated that technique while adjusting the ingredient formula. While I love a buttery muffin that includes yogurt—I’m looking at you, Banana Espresso Swirl Muffins—I wanted to create something lighter with pure lemon flavor. The sourdough discard adds a deeper tanginess that is the perfect compliment to the hefty dose of lemon juice and zest. If you don’t have lemon extract, feel free to substitute a teaspoon of vanilla extract, or a 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract. But if you do have it, I highly suggest it to give the crumb the most intense lemony punch.
Keep in mind when you add discard to a baked good that while it seems like a liquid ingredient, it does contain flour. Since this flour has fermented past the point of good gluten development, it won’t contribute much to the structure of the baked good, but it should be accounted for. Thus, I reduced the amount of flour added in the dry ingredients to compensate, preventing a dry and crumbly finished product.
How to make Lemon Poppyseed Sourdough Discard Muffins
These muffins come together just as easily as any other muffin recipe, so don’t let the inclusion of discard fool you. This recipe requires a full cup of discard, so if you maintain a small amount of starter, you can let this amount build up over time in your fridge. Discard is treated like a liquid ingredient here, and it’s important to stir down the discard to disperse any air pockets trapped inside. I always prefer baking by weight, with the exception of small and lightweight ingredients like salt and baking powder. If you are using cups to measure your ingredients, your result would be very different with a fresher, “fluffier” textured discard rather than one that’s been sitting in your fridge for a few weeks. Stirring helps eliminate this discrepancy!
Most likely, a refrigerated container of discard will have a layer of brown or clear liquid sitting on top of it that can smell like acetone, alcohol, or fruit. Pour this off before using the discard—while it contains flavors that are welcome to some folks in bread, the strong aromas aren’t as nice in sweet treats.
Considering that 1 cup of discard contains approximately half a cup of water, I opted to not include any additional liquid such as milk or yogurt, and used vegetable oil to ensure that the muffins would retain their moisture past day one—cakes and muffins made with butter stale faster. Coincidentally, this makes this recipe dairy free!
The lemon sugar topping is totally optional, but a sweet, crunchy top is the hallmark of a good muffin in my book. Adding zest right into the sugar gives these lemons one more hit of fresh lemon flavor. Just be sure when zesting your lemons to only get the yellow outer skin, as the white pith underneath is very bitter.
Next time you go to refresh your sourdough starter, consider keeping the discard to make a batch of muffins! You’ll waste less flour and end up with a new, delicious treat that will leave you saying, “I can’t believe it’s sourdough!”
Lemon Poppyseed Sourdough Discard Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (200 g) all purpose flour
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, plus additional for topping (see below)
- 1 ½ tablespoons (14 g) poppy seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (270 g) unfed sourdough discard, stirred down
- ½ cup (90 g) vegetable oil
- 2 large (100 g) eggs
- Zest of two lemons (16 g), plus additional for topping (see below)
- Juice of one lemon (30 g)
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
- For the topping:
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- Zest of one lemon (8 g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Prepare muffin tin (6 large cups or 12 standard cups) with paper liners, or grease and lightly flour pan.
- If using topping, combine ¼ cup granulated sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk sourdough discard, vegetable oil, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract until well blended. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir gently until no dry streaks remain. Some lumps may be present.
- Fill each muffin cup ¾ of the way. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter.
- Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean and tops are lightly brown, 15-18 minutes more. Note: because these are dairy-free, they will not brown as much as traditional muffins, so be sure to check towards the earlier end of the baking time.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove muffins from the pan and cool completely.
Notes:
May be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.
