What Is Active starter and How Can I Use It?

If active starter has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 23 recipes to try it in.

Recipes using active starter

There are 23 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Yummy Sourdough Pancakes

Sourdough pancakes made with active starter, baking soda, an egg and evaporated milk. Tangy, light, and lacy-edged. A great way to use up sourdough discard for breakfast.

Buttermilk Sourdough Pancakes

Tangy sourdough pancakes using active starter and buttermilk mix for complex flavor in just 20 minutes. Add fresh berries to the batter for bursts of sweetness in every bite.

Mom's Sourdough Pancakes

My mom always makes these pancakes for breakfast when I stay overnight.

Mom's Buttermilk Sourdough Pancakes

Mom's cherished sourdough pancake recipe combining active starter with buttermilk mix for tangy, tender pancakes. Customize with fresh berries for a family-favorite breakfast that never gets old.

Jane's Easy Sourdough Pancakes

Sourdough pancakes use active starter for tangy, fluffy flapjacks with serious lift. The classic discard recipe for sourdough bakers, ready in 40 minutes from bowl to plate.

Sunday Morning Sourdough Pancakes

Sourdough pancakes from an active whole wheat starter, with baking soda stirred in for tang and a tall, fluffy rise. The weekend way to put your bubbling starter to good use.

Easy Tasty Sourdough Pancakes

Easy sourdough pancakes using active starter and buttermilk pancake mix. A 5-minute weekend breakfast that puts your sourdough discard to work for tangy, fluffy stacks.

Classic Sourdough Pancakes

Classic sourdough pancakes from active starter, pancake mix, milk, and a single egg. Tangy, fluffy, and perfect for sourdough discard. Ready in 25 minutes.

Honeymoon Sourdough Biscuits

Honeymoon sourdough biscuits use just four ingredients: active sourdough starter, biscuit mix, baking powder, and oil. Tangy tender crumb, ready in 30 minutes. A clever shortcut for sourdough fans on a busy morning.

Campground Sourdough Pancakes

Campground sourdough pancakes whip 2 cups of active starter into tangy lacy pancakes cooked over a campfire griddle in bacon drippings. Built for outdoor breakfast on a fed starter.

Easy Breakfast Sourdough Pancakes

Easy sourdough pancakes turn 2 cups of active starter into tangy, lacy pancakes cooked in bacon drippings. Camping-friendly recipe with optional powdered eggs for backcountry breakfast.

Sourdough Applesauce Cake

Try something different for Thanksgiving with this decadent cake that will have its own spotlight on the dinner table.

Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat Bread

A rich and crusty bread that's easy to make with this tasty recipe that's stress-free.

Applesauce Friendship Cake

Applesauce friendship cake made with sourdough starter, warm spices, brown sugar, and chopped nuts. A nostalgic Amish-style starter cake that's moist, spiced, and meant to be shared.

Sourdough Pancakes #2

Sourdough pancakes made with active starter, evaporated milk, and baking soda for extra-tangy, fluffy flapjacks. Mix, let it foam, and griddle. Uses up sourdough discard.

Sourdough Sams

Sourdough doughnuts made with active sourdough starter, buttermilk, nutmeg, and cinnamon, fried until golden. Virtually greaseless, freezer-friendly, and dusted with powdered or cinnamon sugar.

Homemade Delicious Christmas Bread

Christmas bread made with sourdough starter, currants and warm mace and cinnamon. Two loaves of fragrant holiday breakfast bread, slow-risen for deep flavor.

Sourdough Apple Pancakes

Sourdough pancakes with applesauce folded into the batter for fruity sweetness and extra moisture. Tangy from the starter with a fluffy lift from baking soda.

Bacon & Cheese Sourdough Muffins

Great for breakfast with a glass of orange juice. Grease the muffin tins very well. The cheese tends to make them stick a little.

Daddy's Sourdough Apricot Walnut Bread

Homemade sourdough bread with dried apricots, walnuts, and whole wheat flour. Makes 3 loaves with a tangy crumb and pockets of sweet fruit.

Sourdough Biscuits

Overnight sourdough biscuits with tangy starter fermented into fluffy, tender layers. Rise twice for light texture and deep sourdough flavor.

Sourdough San Francisco Bread

A soft and delicious bread that's easy to make and tastes great plain or toasted.

Alaskan Sourdough Fruitcake

A scrumptious and decadent fruitcake made with golden raisins, candied fruit and delicious blackberry cordial wine.

All 23 recipes