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I started making sourdough granola not long after getting serious about regularly baking sourdough loaves at home. It became a favorite way to use up sourdough discard and the big, oat clumps the sticky discard effortlessly enabled quickly made me take notice. It became a thing around here. I like this granola loaded with clumps, everything golden and crisp. Maple syrup delivers just enough soft-edged sweetness, cinnamon plays a more assertive role. And to get everything to crisp up and brown there are a couple important techniques I use outlined below.
sourdough granola in a bowl served with yogurt and maple syrup

Contents

How To Make Sourdough Granola Sourdough Granola Variations More Granola Recipes More Sourdough Recipes

How To Make Sourdough Granola

You’re going to need sourdough discard from feeding a sourdough starter. Beyond that, the one thing you need to know: this granola is wet, damp, going into the oven. The discard and maple syrup are the culprits. Your goal here is to battle that. You want to bake every bit of moisture out of those clusters without over-baking or over-browning the whole situation. Halfway though baking you might doubt yourself, the granola looks sad and it’s (literally) steaming. Have faith! A good amount of olive oil here helps with the crisping, but the little trick that really delivers a good bake: allow the granola to cool in the oven by propping the oven door open a bit with a wooden spoon. It takes an extra 45 minutes or an hour, but it delivers. Look at the close-up pictures. Crunchy! Beyond that, here are the major steps.
sourdough discard, maple syrup, vanilla, and olive oil in a mixing bowl

Mix your liquids. Ignore the wooden spoon you’re seeing in the photo here. Use a fork instead. It helps to break up the sourdough discard more quickly. You want a fairly uniform appearance, but if it’s a bit stringy or there are a few lumps, that’s fine.
oats and other ingredients combined in a bowl to make granola
Combine dry ingredients. Then add them to the wet ingredients. Mix really well (see above), and then mix some more.
sourdough granola on a sheet pan before baking
Spread across a large sheet pan. The larger the better. Or spit across two pans. Bake, tossing regularly after about 20 minutes, or as things are starting to brown at the edges. After about 50-60 minutes toss one last time, turn off the oven, prop open the oven door and walk away for a while. When you come back you’ll have perfect granola!
granola served for breakfast at a table with an espresso cup

Sourdough Granola Variations

Ginger-Cinnamon Sourdough Granola: Add 1 tablespoon ground ginger to the recipe below.
Smoked Cinnamon Sourdough Granola: I bought this smoked cinnamon a while back and it is really something special. I shy away from using it full-on in a recipe like this one, and prefer to make a blend instead. You use 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon here, just swap in 1 teaspoon of the smoked if you get your hands on some.
Seeds! If you want to add some seeds to this granola, go for it. You can leave the amount of walnuts the same and add up to 1/3 cup of seeds. Sesame, sunflower, and hemp are all fair game.
Spices: Experiment with added spices or swapping in other spice blends. Some ideas: cloves, star anise, curry powder, baharat, etc.
Use sourdough granola in your baking projects: Mix a couple cups of clumps into your next batch of cookies or use it to top a favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt.