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 followed the directions for the long frement. My daughter was confused in the morning. Are you supposed to melt the choclate chips alone, since the butter is already mixed into the flour, discard, and sugar?
Same here!! How do you mix in the melted chocolate? Did she mean to say “1/2 of the butter” instead of “1/2 a cup of butter” under the long ferment instructions, so you have the other half for melting the chocolate the next day? Help!
1/2 cup of butter! I just mix in the melted chocolate into the batter.
Can you clarify what size pan? In the “Tools you may need” it says a 9×13 but in the recipe it says 9×9. Comments say either 8×8 or 9×13. Help!!!
OMG! I am a brownie connoisseur. I was very skeptical when I made this tonight. I had never heard of sourdough brownies. I just started with sourdough recently and hated throwing away the discard. These are the best brownies I have ever had. Super chocolatey and gooey but not undercooked. I will never make them another way again!!
what happens if you let it ferment overnight with the chocolate sauce mixed in? i was going to let it get back to room temp before baking ?
It should be all right. I wouldn’t worry too much about letting it get back down to room temperature before baking. It should be just fine to pop in the oven!
This is my favorite brownie recipe! I always get lots of compliments, “These are the BEST brownies I have ever had!”, when I make these! It is a great recipe! Thank you!
The perfect brownies! I only used two tsp of vanilla and did cook them for 50 minutes. These are the best ever!
Delicious!!!!Easy to follow recipe and moist. Highly recommend!
These are amazing! I added about a teaspoon of water to the dough because it was so thick. It took a lot of stirring to remove the lumps but finally success! I cooked them for 50 minutes and they are perfect, chewy, chocolate delight. This is a keeper.
Oh,my. I’m not even sure what to say. What a fantastic brownie! I used active starter because I had some left over from the bread I was making. I wasn’t sure if it absolutely had to be discard, but figured I’d try anyway. Really great recipe! Thank you!
these are my family’s new FAV brownie recipe! so gooy and chocolaty!
Hi! I LOVE making these brownies. They taste so good. The problem I have with them is when I cut them, the tops always crumble, and sometimes the brownies will crumble. Am I doing something wrong or is there a way to fix this? I want to fix some for extended family but don’t want them to fall apart.
Thank you!
It may be an issue with baking times/temps. Do you notice your oven cooks warmer? It can also happen if you cut them too soon out of the oven.
Someone told me to cut brownies with a plastic knife and for some reason this works! They don’t tear, crumble or stick. You might try it😁