Sourdough Granola Recipe (Discard or Active Starter) with Crunchy Clusters
Looking for sourdough discard recipes? Come try our healthy loaded sourdough granola recipe - with chunky clusters of oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, flax, maple syrup, hemp seeds, vanilla, cinnamon and more. You can make sourdough granola with active or discard starter, or make it fermented!
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Baking sheet
- air tight storage container
Ingredients
"Wet" Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter, discard or active (recently fed). If using discard, it’s best if it was fed within the last week or two.
- 6 Tbsp maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp melted coconut oil or melted butter
- 3 Tbsp ground flaxseed. In a pinch, you can grind 1-2 Tbsp of whole flax seeds into powder OR add a couple tablespoons of your favorite nut butter instead.
- 1 Tbs vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon (or change it up and use pumpkin spice seasoning instead)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 cup water- ONLY if you're going to ferment the granola for a few hours or overnight
- 2 Tbsp nut butter of choice (optional)
- 1/2 Tbsp almond extract (optional but divine!)
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned roll oats
- 1 cup nuts of choice (raw and unsalted). We love to use a mix of pecan halves, walnut pieces and almonds
- 1/2 cup seeds of choice (raw, unsalted) such as pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup hemp hearts
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dry coconut flakes (or 1/3 cup shredded coconut) - optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 315F.
- In a medium to large mixing bowl, combine all of the “wet” ingredients first including the sourdough starter, maple syrup, melted oil or butter, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon (or other seasonings), and ground flax meal (or nut butter). Mix well to combine.
- Next add the rolled oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, and hemp hearts to the bowl of wet ingredients. Toss and stir until all of the dry ingredients are coated and combined.
- Optional: Loosely cover the bowl, and let the sourdough granola ferment for 2 to 6 hours at room temperature (or longer in the refrigerator*) before baking.
- Spread the raw granola mixture out on a baking sheet that is either greased or lined with parchment paper. Rather than loosely spreading it, pack the granola together and down into a solid flat sheet – so that all of the granola bits are touching and about ½ inch thick. You’ll break it up into smaller pieces later.
- Bake low and slow until it’s lightly toasted, about 20 minutes. Once the outer edges start to lightly brown, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it sit to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Using a spatula or your hands (if it’s cool enough to handle), gently break up the sourdough granola into large clusters or chunks, and then stir, flip and rotate them on the tray. I try to move the pieces that were on the outer edge of the pan inward (and vice versa) to promote even toasting.
- Return the granola to the oven to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. (If you added additional wet ingredients such as nut or fruit butters, you may need to bake it a tad longer – just keep an eye on it and stir occasionally!)
- Remove the granola from the oven and set the pan on a cooling rack. Let it sit undisturbed to cool and crisp up for at least 30 to 45 minutes. Remember, it will not seem very crispy when you first take it out of the oven, but will become more crunchy as it cools. Trust the process!
- Allow the finished granola to fully cool on the pan before putting it away for storage. Leave it in large clusters or break it up into smaller pieces as you wish.
- For maximum crunch, store in an air-tight container such as a glass container with a sealed lid or zip lock bag.
Notes
Note: if you choose to ferment the sourdough granola overnight in the refrigerator, plan to take it back out of the fridge to warm up and soften at room temperature for a couple hours before baking. It can be fairly stiff and sticky after fermenting in the fridge, so I use wet hands to help spread and press it out flat onto the baking sheet.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!