Sourdough Discard Crackers
A few weeks back, I mentioned that I had finally decided to tackle one of the things on my Baking Bucket List and learn how to bake sourdough bread.
As an update, the learning process is still ongoing, and I’ll have something in the way of results for you all pretty soon. But until then, I’m here with these.
An unfortunate part of working with sourdough starter is having to ‘discard’ the majority of it at every feeding. For those of us who hate waste, it can almost feel like a waste of ingredients, even if the ingredients are only flour and water.
That’s where sourdough discard recipes come in to save the day. I’ve learned in the past few months that discard can work as a leavener and a flavor enhancer in a number of other baking recipes. My first experiment with it was with biscuits, and I really loved the results. This time, I put it to use in crackers.
Thanks to Julia, who reminded me of this recipe that I’d had pinned for a while to try out once I actually took the plunge and began learning how to bake with sourdough. It was easy to put together, and I was really really pleased with the results.
Make sure you roll the crackers as thin as you can without tearing the dough so that they bake crisp and chewy. The white whole wheat flour pairs well here with the flavor of the sourdough starter, and the herbs give the crackers a fresh, artisan flavor. Also, the sea salt on top is a must.
More on my Sourdough Baking adventures still to come..
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Sourdough Discard Crackers
Recipe Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard
- 1 cup (113g) white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into tiny cubes
- 2 tablespoons dried herbs ( I used a combination of basil and rosemary, but you can use whatever you have available/prefer)
- oil, for brushing
- coarse salt, (such as kosher or sea salt) for sprinkling on top
Directions
Combine the flour, sea salt and dried herbs together in a medium sized bowl and stir together with a fork.
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with fork, until it resembles tiny pebbles.
Make a well in the center of the dry mix and pour in the sourdough starter. Stir together until a smooth, not sticky dough forms. (If you need to add a few tablespoons of water here, that’s fine.)
Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Divide dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, very lightly flour a piece of parchment, a rolling pin, and the top of the dough.
Place the dough onto the floured parchment and roll it about 1/16″ thick. It’ll have ragged, uneven edges; that’s OK. Just try to make it as even as possible.
Transfer the dough and parchment together onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush with oil and then sprinkle the salt over the top of the crackers.
Cut the dough into 1 1/4″ squares. I used a fluted pastry wheel, but a pizza wheel, a bench scraper or even a large knife in a pinch will work fine too.
Prick (dock) each cracker a couple of times with a fork.
Bake the crackers for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re starting to brown around the edges. Midway through, rotate the baking sheets both top to bottom and front to back; this will help the crackers brown evenly.
When fully browned, remove the crackers from the oven and place the pans on a rack to cool.
Roll and cut the second piece of dough following the directions above.
Store crackers, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to a week; freeze for longer storage.
Sharing at Fiesta Friday #420, hosted this week by Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook.
Looks yummy! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen sourdough crackers for sale.
I don’t think that I have either! Somebody should really get on that though, cause these were awesome 😉 Thank you!
These look really delicious!
Thank you! They really are 🙂
Gosh, these crackers look great! I’m always looking for ways to NOT waste my sourdough discard and turning it into crackers is a brilliant idea!
Thanks Angie! This is a really fun and easy way to use up that discard 🙂