Sourdough Strawberry Bars

These sourdough strawberry bars are a deliciously tangy treat made with sourdough discard, fresh strawberries, and a touch of lemon zest for a bright, fruity flavor. Perfectly soft with a golden crumb, they’re a delightful way to use up discard and celebrate seasonal berries.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Discard

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 35

Total Time 50

Servings squares

Calories 468kcal

Equipment

9" x 9" baking pan

Ingredients

220 g Butter (softened at room temperature)
200 g White Sugar
1 Egg (large, around 70g)
120 g Sourdough Starter (or sourdough starter discard)
280 g All Purpose Flour
3 g Baking Powder
3 g Salt
Lemon Zest (zest of one whole lemon)
200 g Strawberries (diced or sliced)

Strawberry Glaze

50 g Strawberries (diced, approx 2 large strawberries)
20 g Lemon Juice (juice of one whole lemon)
200 g Powdered Sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 9" x 9" baking pan with parchment paper. Set this aside.
You can use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer for this first step, or a whisk, it's up to you.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the egg and continue to beat until well combined.
Now add the sourdough starter and continue to beat until it's all mixed together. Set this aside for just a minute while you work on the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until well combined. Add the strawberries and lemon zest and fold them through the flour until they are well coated.
Now, add the flour and strawberry mixture to the butter, sugar and egg mixture, folding together until there's no more dry flour (just don't over mix at this point).
Add the strawberry bar batter to the pan you prepared earlier and bake for around 30 to 35 minutes. You want the middle to still be slightly moist when you take it out of the oven.

Strawberry Glaze

While the bars are baking, grab a bowl and add the diced strawberries sprinkled with just a little bit of the powdered sugar. Mash them up with a fork until they look like the photo on the right.
Then, add the rest of the powdered sugar and lemon juice to the strawberries and whisk together to form the strawberry glaze.
Once the sourdough strawberry bars are cool, pour the glaze over and allow to set before slicing into 9 squares. I like to set the glaze in the fridge before slicing, but it's up to you whether you do this.

Notes

Baking Pan - this recipe will also work in a 8" x 12" baking pan. You can make it in a 9" x 13" inch baking dish, however the squares will be thinner. I don't recommend going smaller than 9" x 9" as the batter will overflow the pan.

Strawberries - you can substitute the fresh strawberries with other seasonal fruit like blueberries, raspberries or even fresh pitted cherries. You could also use dehydrated or freeze dried strawberries. I recommend crushing the freeze dried strawberries up to make them go a bit further.

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