Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Muffins
Soft, moist sourdough discard chocolate chip muffins with tall bakery-style tops. A hot oven start builds the domes, oil and sour cream keep them tender for days, and a scoop of discard puts that jar to work.
Equipment
- Muffin pans (16 cups total, or bake in two rounds)
- Paper or parchment liners
- Kitchen scale
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk and spatula
Ingredients
Dry
- 240 g all-purpose flour 2 cups
- 8 g baking powder 2 teaspoons
- 2.5 g baking soda ½ teaspoon
- 5 g fine salt 1 teaspoon
- 255 g semisweet chocolate chips about 1½ cups; a mix of regular and mini works best
Wet
- 200 g granulated sugar 1 cup
- 120 g avocado or neutral vegetable oil ½ cup
- 2 large eggs
- 185 g full-fat sour cream ¾ cup; or plain full-fat Greek yogurt
- 60 g whole milk ¼ cup
- 15 g vanilla extract 1 tablespoon
- 125 g sourdough discard ½ cup
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Line muffin pans with paper or parchment liners (this makes about 16, so use two pans or bake in two rounds).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 20 to 30 seconds so the leavening is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, sour cream, milk, vanilla, and discard until smooth with no streaks of sour cream or discard.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold gently with a spatula until a few streaks of flour remain.
- Reserve about 25 g of chocolate chips for the tops. Fold the rest into the batter, stopping as soon as the dry flour disappears. Do not overmix. The batter should be thick but soft.
- Divide the batter among the cups, filling them nearly full (about 90 to 95 g each) for taller domes. Sprinkle the reserved chips over the tops. A light sprinkle of coarse sugar is optional.
- Bake at 425°F for exactly 5 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350°F and continue baking 15 to 18 minutes, checking at 14 to 15 minutes.
- They're done when the tops spring back, a toothpick hits melted chocolate but no raw batter, or the center reads about 200 to 205°F.
- Let the muffins stand in the pan 5 to 7 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Do not cool them fully in the pan, or the bottoms overcook and the liners turn soggy.
Notes
The 425°F start is what creates the bakery-style domes. Do not skip it or open the door during the first 5 minutes.
Fill the cups nearly full for the tallest tops. For extra-dramatic domes, bake 6 at a time with empty wells between them.
Chocolate is adjustable: 255 g is the sweet spot, 200 g for a lighter breakfast muffin, up to 355 g for a dessert-level muffin.
Oil plus sour cream keeps these soft for days, longer than butter-based muffins.
Older discard (a week or more) gives more tang; fresher discard (2 to 7 days) lets the chocolate lead.
These freeze well. Cool completely, bag, and reheat briefly to get the chocolate melty again.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!