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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!

Sourdough banana bread in loaf pan on a cooling rack on a marble surface.

 

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:

Ingredients on a marble surface.

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.

Active sourdough starter on a marble surface.

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:

Dry ingredients for the banana bread in a bowl on a marble surface.

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.

Butter and sugar creamed together in a bowl.

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. 

Bananas in the butter/sugar mixture.

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!

Batter for the sourdough banana bread all mixed up.

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.

Sourdough banana bread in loaf pan on a cooling rack on a marble surface.

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.

Sourdough banana bread on a cooling rack.

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!

Sourdough banana bread in loaf pan on a cooling rack on a marble surface.

 

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:

More Sourdough Discard Recipes:

 


Sourdough Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

A super easy sourdough recipe - great for beginners!

Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword banana bread, quick bread, Sourdough
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 1 loaf
Calories 280 kcal
Author Erica Kastner

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp unrefined salt
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup grass-fed butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup cane sugar
  • 3 medium very ripe bananas
  • 2 large pastured eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup active sourdough starter (see note)
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8.5x4.5-inch loaf pan, tapping out the excess flour.

  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

  3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light. Add the bananas and beat until the bananas are well "mashed." Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the sourdough starter and mix just until incorporated.

  4. Add the dry ingredients and gently mix on low speed just until combined. Add the chocolate chips and gently fold them in with a spatula.

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

  6. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before inverting on the rack to cool completely (or at least until just warm). Serve with grass-fed butter.

Recipe Notes

  • An active sourdough starter is one that has been fed about 8-12 hours beforehand, and is bubbly and passes the float test.
  • I keep my starter at 100% hydration, which means that I feed it equal weights, not volumes, of water and flour.
  • Recipe adapted from Pinch My Salt.

Updated on September 23, 2022

Recipe Rating




Bailey

Thursday 22nd of December 2022

I like the recipe, but I don’t have sourdough discard on hand. Can I remove it from the recipe entirely, or should I substitute it with something else?

Bailey

Thursday 22nd of December 2022

I like the recipe, but don’t currently have sourdough discard on hand. Can I just remove it from the recipe entirely, or should I substitute it with something else?

Anthony

Saturday 22nd of January 2022

Great recipe. I added 1 tbls MCT powder and 1/3 cup of Arms Race protein powder and took out the sugar. Was amazing in individual ramkins for a quick and healthy breakfast.

Susanna

Wednesday 8th of December 2021

I am super excited to try this as mini-loaves. What would you suggest for cooking time? Thank you for sharing this recipe!!

Erica Kastner

Friday 10th of December 2021

I would say, start checking at 25-30 minutes!

Tari A

Thursday 4th of November 2021

I haven’t tried this yet, as I like my flours to be fully fermented (at least 7 hours soak/ferment time). Have you or anyone else tried making the batter the night before, fermenting in fridge, then baking in am? I have tried this method for a couple sourdough muffin recipes from Little Spoon Farm and they worked great.