Sourdough brownies have a rich chocolate flavor, fudgy texture, and a signature sourdough kick. Whip them up in an afternoon or long ferment them overnight.
This sourdough brownie recipe is one of my favorite ways to utilize sourdough starter discard. (See some of my other sourdough discard recipes in this post.)
When chocolate cravings hit, it is usually sourdough chocolate cake, fresh milled chocolate chip cookies, sourdough chocolate rolls, or these brownies that find their way to my oven.
If you are used to grabbing a box mix for brownies, you have to give this a try. These easy sourdough brownies are so simple and do not require an extra trip to the grocery store. Everything in the recipe is likely in your fridge or pantry already.
Serve with a cold glass of milk, a dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream for the perfect treat.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Delicious – Gooey centers with a crackly top, these are classic brownies with a burst of sourdough flavor.
Long Fermented (optional) – Long ferment this recipe it to help break down the phytic acid, reduce the gluten content, and make the nutrients more bioavailable.
Great way to use discard – If you have a brand new starter, this is a great recipe to use up the discard.
Ingredients
Butter – Use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt in the recipe. You can also use a neutral oil, like avocado oil.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips – This gives it a nice balance without making the brownies too sweet.
Vanilla – I use homemade vanilla extract.
Flour – Whole wheat flour, spelt, or all purpose flour will work. You can also check out my brownie recipe using freshly milled flour.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Sourdough Brownies
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a 9″ × 9″ pan by lining it with parchment paper. In a medium saucepan over low/medium heat, melt butter. Take off heat and add chocolate chips and vanilla.
Step 2: Stir until all melted together.
Step 3: In a medium or large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
Step 4: Pour melted chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients. Add in eggs and sourdough discard. Stir well until there are no clumps.
Step 5: Pour the sourdough brownie batter into prepared pan.
Step 6: Bake for 40 minutes in the prepared 9″ x 9″ pan or until a toothpick comes out clean and the middle is set. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. This will help it set up and also develop the flavors.
Tips
- My sourdough starter is at 100% hydration, meaning I feed it with equal parts flour and water.
- Make sure your eggs are room temperature. If you forgot to take your eggs out of the fridge ahead of time, you can bring them up to room temperature by placing them in a bowl of hot water for 5 to10 minutes.
- Allow the brownies to cool totally before cutting. Once they are completely cooled, the flavor will have developed, and the brownies will hold together.
- Long ferment the dough overnight to add more delicious tang from the fermentation of the grains. Combine the flour, sourdough starter, sugar, and half a cup of melted butter the night before. Cover and leave overnight or up to 24 hours. The next day, add the rest of the ingredients.
Recipe FAQ’s
Basically sourdough adds flavor. If you have excess sourdough starter, this is an easy recipe to try! If you long ferment the recipe overnight, you will gain the benefit of easier digestion thanks to the breakdown of phytic acid.
If these are made without long fermenting, then they are basically the same as regular brownies. If long fermented, sourdough helps to make the gluten in the brownies easier to digest.
Fudgy brownies have more fat in them than flour, while cake like brownies have more flour than fat.
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 or 3 days at room temperature or in the fridge for 3 to 5 days. These also freeze well! Freeze for up to three months once completely cooled.
More Sourdough Dessert Recipes
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Sourdough Monster Cookies
- Sourdough Monkey Bread
- Sourdough Discard Double Chocolate Bread
- Sourdough Discard Blondies
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Fudgy Sourdough Discard Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 113 grams
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 170 grams
- 1 tablespoon vanilla, 13 grams
- ¾ cup flour, 105 grams
- 1 ¼ cup sugar, 250 grams
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 50 grams
- ½ teaspoon salt, 2.5 grams
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sourdough discard, 125 grams
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a 9" × 9" pan by lining with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan over low/medium heat, melt butter. Take off heat and add chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until all melted together.
- In a medium or large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Pour chocolate butter mixture into the dry ingredients.
- Add in eggs and sourdough discard.
- Stir well until there are no clumps.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake 40 minutes in prepared 9″ x 9″ pan or until a toothpick comes out clean and the middle is set.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. This will help it set up and also develop the flavors.
Notes
- Make sure your eggs are room temperature. If you forgot to take your eggs out of the fridge ahead of time, you can bring them up to room temperature by placing them in a bowl of hot water for 5-10 minutes.
- Allow the brownies to cool totally before cutting. Once they are completely cooled, the flavor will have developed, and the brownies will hold together.
- Long ferment the dough overnight to add more delicious tang from the fermentation of the grains. Combine the flour, sourdough starter discard, sugar, and a half a cup of melted butter the night before. Cover and leave overnight or up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, add the rest of the ingredients to the batter.
- If long fermenting, use a double boiler to melt the chocolate before adding to the fermented batter.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I used active sourdough starter and an 8×8 pan. Baked them at 350 for 22 minutes and they were amazing. In my opinion the baking time is all off in this recipe. 35 min is way too long for any brownie recipe.
These are by far the best brownies, the best sourdough brownies I’ve ever had in my life. I made them once and loved them so I went to Macon the second time and I used the wrong recipe. Absolutely nothing compared to you.
I made a double recipe. They came out of the oven not looking as expected. I read the reviews and saw some comments about them being dry. That’s how these looked. I waited for them to cool, and then as I was getting ready to close the tab saw the recipe and realized I didn’t add sugar! Oh my goodness! So while I think they would still be dry I will say they are actually pretty tasty even without a drop of added sugar! So we will be cutting and freezing them and eating them with ice cream!
Wow! These are delicious. Fudgy and just the right amount of gooey. I di moist. d make one adjustment. Because some were saying that the brownies were dry, I added a generous blob (about 1/4 cup) of vanilla yogurt to ensure that they would be moist. They were nice and moist even on the edges, and it enhanced the flavor too. These are going in the rotation.
I agree with another reviewer. It is very dry and did not make the shiny top. My starter is whole wheat so maybe that was the issue or because I didn’t do the extra long fermentation of putting back into the fridge for 24 hrs.
I ‘d like to try again if someone has advise on what would make it moister. Meanwhile we can eat them mixed with a bowl of ice cream or glass of milk.
These came out so dry that I had to throw them away. I did everything as specified and even underbaked because they looked done. I could not swallow them they were so dry. Sad because the flavor was good. Sigh…. Maybe I’m just not meant to make brownies. I’ve never had much luck actually.
These were absolutely delicious! I “long fermented ” them and everybody raved about them! Will definitely make these often.
How do melt the chocolate chips the next day after long fermentation if your adding butter the day before.
I have the same question!!!
This recipe is amazing!!
Love this recipe. Only feedback I have that disagrees with you is that you can get 12 servings from a 9″ by 9″ pan. You definitely don’t live at our house! 🙂 That’s a 2-bite brownie. — we We love the taste and so did our guests — we divided the pan into 6 equal pieces! Divine!