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.
Amazing brownies, thank you so much for the recipe 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
So glad you enjoyed them!
Can I use olive oil as a substitute for the butter. I’m aware the moisture content needs to be accounted for and it will change the flavor. I recently found I can’t have dairy but I love these brownies. I want to continue to make them.
I don’t see why not!
I allowed the dough to ferment overnight in the refrigerator. Though it was extremely hardened, I finally scooped it out into the parchment prepared pan with an ice cream scoop. It baked into a kind of pull-apart brownie mass. A lot of fun, and tasted equally delicious to flat, square cut brownies.
I’m so glad it still worked out and you enjoyed it.
Thank you for sharing some of your sourdough discard recipe. I’ve been using few of them like the banana muffin, blueberry muffin and the chocolate Bundt cake. So far the feedback from my son and the family are good. Your recipes are very useful. Thank you again. Keep up your good work..
So glad you and your family enjoy the recipes! Have a great weekend!
I made these today with gluten free starter discard, gluten free flour and plant based butter. They are fudgy and delicious! Can all if these discard recipes be made with gluten free starter discard and gluten free flour?
That is wonderful to hear that it worked with all those swaps. I think it really depends on the recipe. Breads are a lot harder to use gf flour than other recipes
Love them (said this before baking)
Wonderful
My brownies came out cakey even though I didn’t let the batter ferment whatsoever and followed the recipe to a T. I will not make this again. I’m unsure how yours came out so fudgy?
Hmm. Sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you.
Just got done making this, I didn’t do a long ferment on it and I didn’t have chocolate chips on hand but still turned out really good. I think next time I will try to mix in the sourdough starter in the cooled butter because it didn’t mix well in the batter, so it looks like I’ve got marbled brownies in some spots. But this recipe will be in my rotation of sweets.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I’m a little confused by the long ferment directions. Do I add a half cup of melted butter to the batter and then the next day melt another half cup butter along with the chocolate & vanilla?
Sorry about that! There is no additional butter to add.
I tried the long ferment instructions but the outcome was really dry, crumbly, almost inedible! I was confused because the long ferment instructions said to use half a cup of melted butter, then add the remaining butter the next day. But, since the recipe only calls for 1/2 a cup, I did not add any more. Did I mess something up? Are you supposed to add more butter if you long ferment? Appreciate the clarification since the photos look way better than my batch!
Hmm! I am not sure why they would have turned out really dry. I have not had this issue. There are so many factors that go into it! As far as the butter, there is no extra butter, so it sounds like you did the right thing!