My friend gave me her sourdough starter in January 2023 and it has been a whirlwind experience of learning to bake with it…and keep it alive. The Vietnamese do not use sourdough as much…at least not that I can recall even though we ate a lot of bread. It was mainly french bread. And it maybe because my mom wasn’t much of a baker. She was more of a cook. Cooking is like performing organic chemistry while baking is more analytical chemistry. There I said it. The nerd in me has come out🤣. So today we are going to be doing some organic chemistry and making sourdough crunchy granola.
Even though this dish is not traditionally a Vietnamese dish, I still want to share…for those who are looking for ways to use up their sourdough discard. If you’re new to sourdough starter, check out my homemade sourdough bread post.
Why make sourdough granola?
We love granola at our house. At the rate at which we consume it, it’s cheaper to make than buy. Plus, you can tailor it to your taste buds. My husband is not a fan of dried fruits in the granola so I leave it out. Our son is allergic to walnuts & pecans so I leave those out too. You’re probably wondering, then what is left to be in your granola? 🤣 well…instead of the nuts, I add different seeds and of course the sourdough starter to give it a tang.
How to make sourdough granola?
I love making this recipe because it makes two full ziploc containers of granola. This lasts us approximately 2 weeks. The trick is to mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately then combine them. Otherwise the starter will not get evenly distributed and no one likes to eat clumps of cooked sourdough starter by itself.
First mix the rolled oats, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp hearts, almond flour (or chopped almonds) and salt until they are well combined. Set this aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together vegetable oil and sourdough starter. Stir this oil-sourdough mixture using a fork until the sourdough starter is well mixed with the oil. Then add the maple syrup and vanilla extract to the oil-sourdough mixture. I find it’s easier to mix the oil with the sourdough first before adding the maple syrup and extract.
After the wet mixture is homogeneous, pour it into the dry mixture and mix gently until everything is well combined.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the granola onto the baking sheet. Some granola will clump together forming clusters. That’s okay. Those clusters will become nice and crunchy when it’s all said and done.
Put the baking sheet into the oven and let it bake at 250oC. I let it bake undisturbed for 45 minutes before stirring. This way the crunchy cluster will remain intact and become nice and golden brown on the bottom. If you’re not a fan of granola clusters, go ahead and stir the granola more often…every 20 minutes.
Toppings
There are so many possibilities with granola. I prefer to eat mine with almond milk and fresh berries. My husband loves it with greek yogurt, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I know…it sounds strange, but he claims it’s delicious🤣.
Sourdough Crunchy Granola
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 630 grams old fashioned oats
- 60 grams chia seed
- 113 grams hemp hearts
- 100 grams almond flour
- 142 grams pumpkin seeds
Wet ingredients:
- 113 grams sourdough discard
- 100 grams vegetable oil
- 315 grams honey
- 14 grams salt
- 15 grams vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl and give it a stir to combine all the ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, add the vegetable oil and sourdough discard. Using a fork, mix until the sourdough discard is combined with the oil.
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the oil-sourdough mixture and continue stirring until everything is combined.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined.
- Line a 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Pour ½ of the granola mixture onto one baking sheet, spreading the granola out.
- Pour the other ½ of the granola mixture onto the other baking sheet.
- Bake both sheets at 250oC until they are nice and golden brown, approximately 1.5 hours. Stirring occasionally. With the oven that I have, I can bake them undisturbed for 45 minutes before stirring. This gives the clusters a crunchy, golden brown bottom.
- After they are done, let them cool completely on the baking sheet. Then I transfer them to two large ziploc containers with lids. I store the containers in the pantry.
The next time you’re wondering what to do with your sourdough discard, give this recipe a try. I promise it will be delicious and so much cheaper than store bought.
