Sourdough Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

How to Make Sourdough Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Howdy Kneaders!

I have a really scrumptious and fun recipe for you today! Your favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie in ultimate muffin form! These muffins came about from a desire to use up ingredients and also a bit of boredom. The combination of these two things is great because it gets the creative juices flowing and pushes me to try new things. I’m super excited to share this recipe with you guys, particularly because it utilizes sourdough discard.

You may be thinking…”I had no idea you could use sourdough in baking!” And I was once that lost soul without this golden knowledge. But, you can use it for LOTS of things. We’re talking crackers, desserts, biscuits, cookies and more. One of my favorite things to use it for is homemade cornbread. But, I digress… There will be a plethora of recipes coming your way that make use of what would otherwise be thrown out! And, we LOVE not wasting ingredients!

These morsels of goodness are oh-so-fluffy and chocolate-y, you’ll want to make them over and over again. You know I wouldn’t steer you wrong!

So, I was messing about in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to make with my sourdough discard and thought…MUFFINS. Fluffy tender muffins with the volume turned up! I quickly located my tried and true classic chocolate chip muffin recipe and got to work tweaking it a bit.

Aside from adding the sourdough discard that I mentioned, I subbed the whole milk in my original recipe for buttermilk and added a little sour cream, too. With all that tang, I increased the sugar, added some yummy spices to really elevate it and some oats for good measure. I soaked the oats in a mixture of sourdough, buttermilk and sugar for about 15 minutes before continuing on with the recipe. I wanted the oats to get nice and soft so they would almost disappear into the muffin batter while creating the ultimate fluff-factor. And, we all know that fluffy and muffins should always go together! As a matter of fact, these should be called Fluffins haha.

Here at AKFB, we love a good ole EASY recipe! Although the ingredients list is a teeeeensy bit long, it’s all basic pantry ingredients (for the most part).

I also think the extra pizazz of coarse sparkling sugar sprinkled (liberally) on top before baking is a crucial part of elevating these muffins to bakery status! The sugar creates the best crunchy topping that’s slightly caramelized, which is a nice complement to that soft sweet interior.

I originally made this recipe with regular semi-sweet chocolate chips but found that the mini chips are SO much better. Trust me on this. If you don’t have or can’t find, use what you got and they’ll still be delicious. But, if you’re going to the store to grab chocolate chips anyway, get the minis. No thanks necessary!

This recipe utilizes the simple baking standard of mixing wet ingredients, separately mixing dry ingredients and then combining the two before transferring to whatever pan and baking. Super straight forward and hard to mess up!

Sourdough Starter & Discard

This recipe really stands out because of the sourdough starter we’re using for extra flavor. If you don’t have a sourdough starter, it’s easy to make one and I’ll teach you how. I plan on launching a full series of different baked goods & even dinners you can make with your starter.

The cool part is that in maintaining your sourdough starter, you have to remove some of it to make room for new flour and water – that’s why it’s referred to as “discard”. But, it’s hardly waste and can be used for so many things!

The discard does not taste any different than the active starter and the fermentation has created an amazingly concentrated flavor that compliments sweet and savory dishes. It’s also really good for your gut health so that’s a win/win!

How do I start a Sourdough Starter?!

A sourdough starter is typically equal parts water and flour. Although experienced bakers will play with this water/flour ratio, which is referred to as hydration, it’s easiest when starting out to just do a simple one-to-one ratio in my opinion.

I highly recommend using organic, unbleached flour and filtered/purified water. Although it really does not matter what kind of flour you use, you’ll want to avoid self-rising flour as you don’t want the extra salt or rising agents. Fun fact: direct contact between salt and yeast will actually kill the yeast! So, avoid this at all costs.

Examples of flours you can use:

• All Purpose Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Mixture of All Purpose and Whole Wheat
• Italian 00 Flour
• Einkorn Flour
• Rye Flour

You’ll want to clean, sterilize and dry a mason jar and then add 1 cup each of filtered water and unbleached (organic if you can) flour. What we are doing is creating a space where we can capture wild natural yeast that exists in flour (and all around us) and allow it to thrive (multiply) by feeding it. This is a LIVING ORGANISM, which is why it’s important to consistently feed it and feed it the good stuff (like filtered water and unbleached organic flour!) Give it a brief mix until it goes from shaggy to smooth and is homogenous. Leave on the counter overnight to begin bubbling up.

What’s happening is the little yeasty boys are consuming the flour and then farting up a storm, which creates gas. This gas then ferments and all of that bacteria and fermentation is crazy good for our gut health. It’s a hilarious yet astute explanation. Yeast are living organisms and we rely on their gases to make bread, yogurt, kombucha and BEER among other things we consume in our every day lives.

You can then choose to store it on your counter top or in the fridge. Unless you intend to feed your starter multiple times per day in order to bake daily bread, it’s best to store it in the refrigerator. This is what I do. There’s also ways to dehydrate or freeze-dry your starter and maintain what’s called a Dry Starter but we’ll get into that more in depth in a separate post All About Sourdough

“I haven’t fed my Starter in a while. Can I save it?”

Scenario: You haven’t fed your sourdough starter in like a week – maybe longer. Maybe a lot longer. It’s been sitting in the back of your fridge and you want to make these delicious muffins but you aren’t sure what the state of it is. Take it out, pour off the inevitable liquid that has formed on top and maybe even a little of the top layer of starter as well. Then, feed it heftily equal parts water and flour (remember, give it the good shit, you just starved it for like…ever). Next, let it sit on the counter (or in the warmest place in the house) until it starts to bubble up again. Bada bing bada boom, your starter is saved. Just call me Yeasty Jesus. Jk, don’t do that.

A Note about Yeast

Yeast is extremely resilient. More than we realize. So even though you DO need to consistently feed your starter to keep it bubbly and active, if you forget to feed it, it will simply go into what I call hibernation mode. There’s a lot of misconceptions and misinformation online regarding sourdough starters but in my experience I’ve found that you can revive your starter instead of throwing it out and starting over MOST of the time.

Preparation

First, preheat your oven to 400F/180C and grease your muffin tins (baking spray, butter, neutral oil, whatever you want) or line them with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, add 1/2 cup of your recently fed starter. It should be bubbly and smell of bread. Add the sugar, buttermilk and oats. Give it a good mix and allow to sit at room temperature for 10-15 min. This process of soaking the oats is going to help them break down a bit so they can dissolve into the batter. You can skip this step if you want and the muffins will still be delicious. The only real difference is the final product will have a little more texture.

In a separate bowl, mix the all purpose flour, baking powder, bi-carb, salt and spices. I use a combination of cinnamon and cardamom (a highly underrated spice – particularly in baking). But, feel free to use nutmeg instead or whatever combination of warm spices you prefer. Bake with your heart, boo!

Into the first bowl with the soaked oat mixture, add 1 large egg and any neutral-flavored oil (canola, vegetable, avocado, etc.). Give that a quick mix and then add in your dry ingredients. Fold in your chocolate chips. I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips and I think the mini makes a big difference!

Use an ice cream scoop to evenly scoop batter into your greased muffin tins.

Optional but highly encouraged is to add coarse sparkling sugar to the tops. Regular sugar would work too, though. It gives a nice caramelized crunch to the tops and also looks really pretty on the final muffin!

Bake these bad boys for 20-25 minutes but keep an eye on them. Rotate your pan halfway through baking and take them out when a toothpick into the center comes out clean. They’ll be nice and golden brown on top with a beautiful sparkle from the sugar!

Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing onto a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also freeze them! When you’re ready, take them out to thaw and microwave to warm them up! So easy and so delicious!

For the coarse sugar topping, I liberally sprinkle a layer of Bob’s Red Mill coarse sparkling sugar that you can purchase here.

Can’t wait to hear how you like them!

Don’t forget to tag us on social media with your photos using the hashtag #AKFBandMe so we can see your recreation!

Enjoy!!