Easy Sourdough Banana Bread

An easy, soft sourdough banana bread. Bake them as mini loaves, or as one large loaf.

I love adding candied ginger to this delicious sourdough banana bread for a little something extra.

If you're not a candied ginger fan, you can simply omit it from this recipe and just make it a classic sourdough banana bread or add chocolate chips!

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• An easy sourdough discard recipe 
• The ingredients
• The method
• Serving and Storing
• More sourdough discard recipes
• Full Recipe

An easy sourdough discard recipe 

If you're looking for sourdough discard recipes after making regular sourdough bread, this sourdough discard banana bread is the perfect way to use up excess sourdough starter.

You can use an unfed sourdough starter discard or a bubbly starter.

This is sourdough banana bread recipe is a simple recipe, based on classic banana bread but with the addition of a sourdough discard starter and optional candied ginger.

It is moist and full of flavour. This recipe is best made using overripe bananas. It's a great way to use them up if you've got old bananas lying around! Overripe bananas are the sweetest, have the most banana flavor, and are easiest to mash. For another delicious discard recipe, try these sourdough strawberry muffins or sourdough chocolate chip muffins.

What is candied ginger?

Candied ginger is made from a ginger root that has been cooked in sugar syrup and then dried out into sweet, spicy and chewy flavour explosions. It's strong in flavour so a little goes a long way.

You can cut it into large pieces, or spread out the flavour more and finely dice it. An addition like this adds something special to banana bread.

Sourdough banana bread overnight 

This is a quick bread recipe that can be made in under an hour. However, if you want the sourdough starter to ferment the flour, the batter can be rested in the refrigerator overnight.

Tin sizes

This recipe can be made in a range of tin sizes. Either -

• an 8 tray mini loaf pan
• or an 8x4 inch loaf pan (21x11 cm)

The ingredients

The ingredients are listed in the full recipe card at the bottom of this post but here is a run-through of them with a few extra details. 

• Bananas - This is an obvious must-have in a sourdough banana loaf. Extra-ripe brown bananas are best. They provide sweetness and flavour to the recipe as well as add moisture to the bread. It needs about 2 large mashed bananas. 
• Butter - melted butter for rich flavour.
• Brown sugar - sweetness and caramel notes.
• Eggs - for structure.
• Vanilla & salt - For flavour.
• Sourdough starter - Unfed, leftover starter or bubbly fed starter can be used but acidic unfed starter will give the best results.
• All-purpose flour - For a little extra fiber, half the all-purpose flour can be substituted with whole wheat flour.
• Baking soda - This reacts with the acid in the starter to create the rise in the bread.
• Candied ginger - an optional extra but one that brings little explosions of flavour through the banana bread. Finely dice it into tiny pieces, or leave them a bit bigger depending on preference.

The method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease an 8 mini loaf pan or one large loaf pan.

Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Let it cool slightly.

Finely dice the candied ginger into pieces of your choosing. It's very strong in flavour so smaller pieces are best. I cut mine into 2mm pieces.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork, then stir in the butter. Add in the brown sugar, egg, vanilla and sourdough starter and stir it well together until all combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.

Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients along with the diced ginger and fold it together until the flour mixture is well combined but not overmixed. Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf pan.

Sugar topping

In a small bowl mix together cinnamon and granulated sugar. Sprinkle this over the top of the batter for a little extra flavour and crunch. 

Baking

Bake in the preheated oven. The mini loaves will bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. The top of the bread should spring back when touched and a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf should come out clean.

If baking a large loaf, the baking time should be increased to 50-60 minutes, depending on the loaf pan size. You can add an extra sliced banana on top for decoration if you like.

Serving and Storing

Serve the banana bread fresh with a pat of butter. Leftover sourdough banana loaves can be covered and stored at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Banana bread freezes very well too. Cover the cooled bread tightly with aluminium foil or in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months.

Want to try another banana bread recipe? Here's a gingerbread banana loaf, full of spices!

More sourdough discard recipes