These sourdough discard mini loaves are what we bake when there’s a jar of unfed starter in the fridge and redcurrants on the bush. The discard brings a quiet tang that plays against the sharp berries, and instead of a powdered sugar glaze they get a soft, barely sweet Greek yogurt glaze with lemon and vanilla. Baked in paper molds, they come out of the oven ready to serve.

Sourdough Discard Mini Loaves with Redcurrants

Sourdough discard mini loaves studded with tart redcurrants and finished with a soft lemon-vanilla Greek yogurt glaze — small, sharp and made with unfed starter straight from the fridge.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 35

Cooling 30

Total Time 1 25

Servings: 12 mini loaves

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Nordic

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

Batter

240 g all-purpose flour 2 cups
8 g baking powder 2 tsp
½ tsp fine salt
113 g butter ½ cup/ 1 stick, melted and slightly cooled
200 g granulated sugar 1 cup
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar — see Notes
170 g plain Greek yogurt ¾ cup, full fat
120 g sourdough discard ½ cup, unfed, straight from the fridge

Berries

400 g fresh redcurrants 3½ cups, stripped from the stems
1 tbsp all-purpose flour for tossing the berries

Lemon-vanilla Greek yogurt glaze (enough for all 12 — see Notes to glaze just a few)

480 g plain Greek yogurt 2 cups, full fat and thick, strained style (Fage 5% or Chobani whole milk)
65 g powdered sugar ½ cup + 1 tbsp, start here and adjust to taste
1½ tsp vanilla extract or 3 tbsp vanilla sugar, see Notes
1 lemon, zested for the glaze, plus a little held back for the tops

Equipment

Paper mini loaf molds (3½ x 2 in / 9 x 5 cm)
Rimmed sheet pan The paper molds need a flat tray under them to move in and out of the oven safely.
Digital kitchen scale With 400 g of fruit going into the batter, weighing the flour is what keeps the crumb from going heavy.
Silicone spatula Folds fragile redcurrants in without bursting them.
Fine zester / rasp grater One lemon does the whole batch — the zest is where nearly all of the lemon flavour lives.
Small offset spatula For spreading glaze neatly on a small surface.

Method

Heat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Set 12 paper mini loaf molds on a rimmed sheet pan.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, yogurt and sourdough discard. Whisk until the batter is even and glossy.
Fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula and stop as soon as no dry flour is left. The batter should be thick and a little lumpy — don't beat it smooth.
Toss the redcurrants with 1 tbsp flour, then fold them in gently, holding back a small handful to scatter over the tops.
Divide the batter between the molds — a scant ½ cup (about 110 g) each, filling them roughly three-quarters full. Scatter the reserved berries over the tops.
Bake for 35 minutes, until the tops are golden and springy and a skewer in the centre of one comes out clean.
Leave the loaves in their molds and cool them completely on a wire rack. They have to be cold before the glaze goes on.
Whisk the Greek yogurt, powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon zest together until smooth. Spoon it over the cooled loaves, spread it to the edges and finish with a little more zest. Serve straight away.

Notes

Chef’s tip — the yogurt is the recipe. This glaze holds its shape purely on the thickness of the yogurt, so use full-fat, strained Greek yogurt (Fage 5% or Chobani whole milk are both thick enough). Low-fat, “Greek-style” or regular plain yogurt will slide straight off and soak into the crumb. If your yogurt still feels loose, set it in a sieve lined with a paper towel for 30 minutes and let some whey drain off. It never sets — and that’s the point. This is a soft, cream-like glaze, not a powdered sugar glaze that dries to a crackle. It’s barely sweet, which is exactly what you want against 400 g of sharp redcurrants. Spoon it on just before serving.

Glaze only what you’re eating. Unglazed loaves keep in their molds at room temperature for 3 days. Once glazed, they need the fridge and are best the same day. Our own ratio for a couple at a time: 80 g yogurt, 1 tbsp powdered sugar, ¼ tsp vanilla extract and a little lemon zest.

Vanilla sugar instead of extract. This is how we make it, and it’s worth doing if you can get hold of Scandinavian vanilla sugar. In the batter, swap the 1 tsp extract for 1 tbsp vanilla sugar and take the same tablespoon off the granulated sugar. In the glaze, swap the 1½ tsp extract for 3 tbsp vanilla sugar and pull the powdered sugar back to 2 tbsp (24 g) — the vanilla sugar is doing most of the sweetening at that point. Either way, whisk the glaze a minute longer so the granules dissolve properly.

Make your own vanilla sugar. Blitz dried vanilla pods with granulated sugar in a food processor until fine, then sieve out the coarse pieces. There’s no fixed ratio — the more pod you use, the stronger it gets, so make it to your own taste. Stored dry in a sealed jar it keeps almost indefinitely.

Berries. Fresh redcurrants if you can find them — frozen work just as well, folded in still frozen so they don’t bleed. Blackcurrants, raspberries, blueberries and cranberries all work in the same weight.

Use the discard cold and unfed. The baking powder does all the lifting here, so the discard is there purely for flavour and acidity. Straight from the fridge is exactly what you want — no feeding, no waiting for it to peak.

The yogurt glaze, and why the yogurt matters

This is the part that makes or breaks them. The glaze holds together on nothing but the thickness of the yogurt — there’s only about a tablespoon of powdered sugar per two loaves in it, so there’s no sugar structure to fall back on. Full-fat strained Greek yogurt works. Low-fat, “Greek-style” and regular plain yogurt do not; they run off the top and disappear into the crumb.

It won’t set hard, and it isn’t supposed to. Think of it as a thin cream rather than a glaze: soft, tangy, cool against the sweet crumb. Spoon it on just before you serve, and only on the loaves you’re actually eating. The rest keep better bare.

Make your own vanilla sugar

We use Scandinavian vanilla sugar rather than extract, in the batter and in the glaze both — it gives a rounder, less alcoholic vanilla note. The exact swaps are in the recipe notes, and it’s easy to make yourself: blitz dried vanilla pods with granulated sugar in a food processor until fine, then sieve out the coarse pieces. There’s no fixed ratio — the more pod you use, the stronger it gets, so make it to your own taste. Kept dry in a sealed jar it lasts almost forever, and it’s better than anything you’ll buy.

Tips for berry-heavy mini loaves

Don’t beat the batter smooth. Fold the dry ingredients in and stop the moment the flour disappears — a lumpy batter bakes into a tender crumb, an overworked one bakes tough.

Toss the berries in flour first. It’s one tablespoon and it stops 400 g of fruit from sinking to the bottom of every mold.

Fill them three-quarters full. About 110 g of batter each. Any fuller and they dome over the paper instead of rising up cleanly inside it.

Bake to the skewer, not the clock. Thirty-five minutes is right for 3½ x 2 inch molds, but redcurrants carry a lot of water, so check the middle of one before you pull the tray.

Cool them completely. Warm loaf plus yogurt glaze is a soggy top. Leave them in the molds on a wire rack until they’re properly cold.

Make it your own

Redcurrants are sharp, which is exactly why the glaze is so lightly sweetened — if you switch to blueberries or raspberries, you may want a little more powdered sugar in the yogurt to keep the contrast. Blackcurrants and cranberries go the other way and can take a spoonful more sugar in the batter itself. Frozen berries are honestly fine: fold them in still frozen and don’t thaw them first.

Baked in a single 9×5-inch loaf pan instead, the same batter needs 50–60 minutes at 350°F / 180°C.

Sourdough Discard Mini Loaves with Redcurrants