These flakey, scrumptious sourdough biscuits are one of the easiest recipes you can make with sourdough discard—no food wasted! You’ll actually want more discard on hand, not less, after you taste these. They contain just five ingredients, including an entire cup of discard, which adds a hint of cheesy flavor. I based these on a King Arthur sourdough biscuit recipe.

(Go here for 19 more sourdough discard recipes.)

Baked sourdough biscuits cooling on a metal rack — Best served warm

Baked sourdough biscuits cooling on a rack sitting on a light wooden board — Sourdough biscuits and end pieces

The ingredients

Out of baking powder?

If you have cream of tartar on hand, combine 2 parts of it with 1 part baking soda and use immediately. For the 2 teaspoons called for in this recipe, you’d combine a scant 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar with a scant ¾ teaspoon baking soda.

Not sure if your cream of tartar is still good? Mix ½ teaspoon in ½ cup of hot water. Stir in a pinch of baking soda. If it fizzes, your cream of tartar is still effective. (Use this same test for baking powder but omit the baking soda.)

Sourdough discard biscuit ingredients sit on a light wooden background — I “made” baking power with cream of tartar and baking soda for the biscuits in this post

A large jar of baking soda and a small jar of cream of tartar sit on marble in front of a wooden background — I “made” baking power with cream of tartar and baking soda for the biscuits in this post

The fat

Use a stick of butter, dairy or vegan, to make these. I’ve also baked (and eaten) many with coconut oil. It’s a tiny bit harder to work with. After chilling it, let it warm up at room temperature for about 10 minutes so you can more easily cut it into the flour mixture.

Sourdough discard or active starter

The runnier sourdough discard mixes easily into the dough. An active, bubbly starter will work as well and your biscuits may rise a bit more but its elasticity makes it a little trickier to work into the flour-butter mixture.

Whether you bake these with discard or active sourdough, try not to overwork the dough. Overworking leads to tough biscuits. And be sure to stir down the active starter to pop the bubbles before measuring it.

My starter contains half whole wheat, half all-purpose flour but any wheat flour combo will work. If you have questions about the health of your sourdough discard, go here for FAQs.

Tools for tasty sourdough biscuits

Pastry blender versus food processor

To cut in the fat, use a pastry blender or two knives. You can make this sourdough biscuit dough in a food processor but overworking the dough can happen very quickly (as with pastry). Over-processed dough will render tougher, less flakey biscuits.

Biscuit cutter versus a sharp knife

I used to make round sourdough biscuits. I’d cut my circles out of the dough with a biscuit cutter, smush the trimmings together, cut one more biscuit and then smush what was left into one final small biscuit.

But after sewing makeup remover pads for my daughter in a square shape to reduce fabric waste, I thought, why don’t I cut square biscuits instead of round? This way, I also work the dough less.

blue and white flannel makeup remover pads — Squarish makeup remover pads and squarish sourdough biscuits (made with coconut oil)

Squarish makeup remover pads and squarish sourdough biscuits (made with coconut oil)

Cleanly cut sourdough biscuit dough rises more when it bakes. For both sourdough biscuits below, I first formed a rectangle with the dough.

On the left, I trimmed the edges of the dough before cutting it into squares. On the right, I simply cut a rectangle of dough into six squares without first trimming the edges. Those edges didn’t rise as much. Another bonus of trimming the edges—those small crunchy, flakey baked pieces may be the tastiest parts!

Side view of a baked sourdough biscuit cooling on a metal rack

Side view of a baked sourdough biscuit that had not been trimmed along the side edge before baking

The baking surface

Bake on a baking sheet or an easy-to-clean cast iron pan. These biscuits contain enough fat that you don’t need to grease baking sheets.

And now… lots of pictures of sourdough biscuits in the making

Cubes of butter sit in dry ingredients in a bowl sitting on a light wooden background — Cut in the chilled fat

A metal pastry blender with flour and butter stuck to it — Cut in the chilled fat

Sourdough discard poured on top of dry ingredients and butter for biscuits — Mix in the sourdough

Hands mixing together sourdough biscuit ingredients in a bowl — Mix in the sourdough

Sourdough biscuit dough in a glass bowl sitting on a light wooden background — Note the visible blobs of fat in the dough

Hands form a rectangle of sourdough biscuit dough — Gently pat dough into a rectangle, slice off the ends

A rectangle of sourdough biscuit dough ready to cut sits on a floured wooden work surface — Gently pat dough into a rectangle, slice off the ends

A knife cutting through sourdough biscuit dough to form shapes — Cut into squares

A knife cuts sourdough biscuit dough into squares before baking — Cut into squares

Sourdough biscuits sit on a metal cookie sheet before baking — Group the faster-cooking ends together for easier removal during baking or bake them on a separate sheet

Sourdough biscuits sitting on a silver cooking sheet before baking — Again, note the visible pieces of butter in the dough

Want more sourdough discard recipes? Go here for 22 more.

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