Avoid waste: Use up your sourdough starter for this appetizer

When I make sourdough bread, I always end up with a ton of extra sourdough starter after a while because I feed the starter to keep it fermenting, but end up with more than I need for the batches of bread I’m baking  Most people say, “Throw it out.”

It’s a lot of waste, though, and if I’m using high-quality ingredients, tossing is an unnecessary expense, so I’ve started to look for things to do with it.  Here’s an appetizer I make. I call it a scallion pancake. It’s not like the one in the restaurant. But, it’s good, and it uses up the starter.  Give it a try!

I swap out the herbs but aim for scallions, green onion, or chives, fresh cilantro, and crisp fried garlic (pricy on Amazon, close to free any Asian market).

Directions:

  1. Heat a frying pan. I use cast iron.
  2. Grease it, and pour in some of the starter.
  3. Top with chopped herbs and garlic.
  4. Slice in wedges and serve with dipping sauce.

My dipping sauce:

Soy sauce, plain rice vinegar (not sushi seasoned), and sesame oil in a 2:1:2 ratio.