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How to make the most delicious Sourdough Crackers from sourdough discard or starter. A quick, easy and adaptable recipe- these crackers are crisp, tangy and incredibly addicting!
What you can plan is too small for you to live. ~David Whyte
Made with sourdough discard, these sourdough crackers are a favorite in our house and usually gone within a day. I have been playing around for a while now with this recipe from King Arthur Baking. I love that they are really quite simple to make and so versatile!
Using heartier flours such as rye, teff, cornmeal, and with the addition of seeds and spices, the flavor and texture are elevated to almost perfection. I throw on whatever seeds I have around. Fennel, sesame, nigella are favorites. These crackers are full of savory goodness and sturdy enough to dip or top with your favorite accompaniments.
what is sourdough starter/discard?
Sourdough Starter is often referred to as “wild yeast”, made from flour and water and the wild yeast in the air around us, and it is typically used as the “yeast” when baking Sourdough Bread. The sourdough “discard” – the part of the starter that often goes to waste- can be used to make flavorful crackers, biscuits, waffles and pancakes.
Ingredients in Sourdough Crackers
- All-purpose Flour- or add in rye, whole wheat, spelt, etc.
- Sourdough starter or discard -cold out of the fridge or room temperature- either works!
- Butter
- Salt
Optional Additions: seeds, spices, and fresh or dried herbs.
- Fresh herbs: rosemary, thyme, sage, chives, etc
- Dried herbs: basil, oregano, thyme, Herbs de Provence, etc
- Spices: zaatar, dukkah, sumac, pepper, coriander, Aleppo, chili flakes, garlic, etc
- Seeds: fennel, sesame, poppy, nigella, Everything bagel spice
- Finely chopped nuts- hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds
- Zest – Meyer lemon, orange, or lemon
How to make Sourdough Crackers
Place all ingredients together in a bowl and combine.
Don’t be afraid to get your hands into it.
The dough is very forgiving. Mix until everything is fully incorporated.
Work with the sourdough cracker dough until it comes together into a ball.
Form dough into 2 pieces and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
Roll out directly on parchment or baking sheet. Lightly flour your rolling surface, rolling pin, and top of the dough. Roll out in a shape that will fit on your baking sheet.
You can add additional seeds on top of the dough and lightly roll in.
Transfer parchment with rolled out dough onto a baking pan.
Cut the sourdough cracker dough into the desired cracker shape. A pie or pizza cutter works well here.
Prick with a fork. This allows any steam to escape while baking and makes for fewer bubbles resulting in a sturdier cracker.
Bake 15-20 minutes.
Let cool completely.
how to store sourdough crackers:
These save beautifully in an airtight container for several weeks.
serve Sourdough Crackers with:
- A beautiful Cheese Board
- Smoky Harissa Red Pepper Dip
- Lemony Artichoke White Bean Dip
- Muhammara Dip
- Rainbow Veggie Hummus
- Tandoori hummus
- Baba Ganoush
- Charcuterie Board
- Winter Cheese Board
Enjoy how good it feels to discard your sourdough and make these homemade sourdough crackers. Have fun with this one and tell us about your creations in the comments below!
xoxo
More sourdough recipes:
- Easy Sourdough Bread
- Simple Sourdough Starter
- Sourdough Pizza Crust
- Sourdough English Muffins
- Quick Sourdough Buns
Sourdough Crackers
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 18
- Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes
- Yield: about 80 crackers 1x
- Category: sourdough, appetizer
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: american
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Easy and adaptable homemade sourdough crackers are full of tangy wholesome flavor. A perfect use for your sourdough discard! Add seeds and herbs or keep them simple! (Adapted from King Arthur Baking)
Ingredients
- 1 cup or 113 grams flour (AP, or use 1/2 rye, teff, cornmeal whole wheat etc.) plus a little for rolling out if needed
- 1 cup or 227 grams sourdough discard starter, unfed
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped or 2 teaspoons dried
- optional: whole spices like fennel seeds, sesame seeds, everything bagel spice, zaatar (see notes)
Instructions
- Combine together flour, sourdough starter, butter or oil, salt, and herbs until in comes together into a ball. Cut the dough in two pieces, and refrigerate for a half hour or up to a day.
- Set oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- Working with one portion of dough at a time, place on a piece of parchment paper.
- Flour your surface and dough as needed.
- Roll out evenly to about a 1/16 of an inch.
- If adding spices and seeds, sprinkle on top of dough and lightly roll the rolling pin over to get them to stick.
- Transfer dough and parchment to a baking pan.
- Using a pizza cutter or knife score into desired shapes. Prick with fork.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F. Turning pan halfway through baking.
- Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
Experiment with alternative flours for flavor and texture such as cornmeal, semolina, rye and teff.
Tailor to your tastes! Add fresh herbs, spices, coarse or flaked salt, dukkah, zaatar, seeds, lemon zest, garlic, nigella, sumac, fennel, chili flakes, nutritional yeast…..have fun experimenting with flavors.
Optional: Brush top of crackers with olive oil or melted butter before baking if desired. This is especially helpful if adding spices to help them adhere.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 crackers
- Calories: 64
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 58.7 mg
- Fat: 2.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.2 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 1.5 g
- Cholesterol: 6.1 mg
Keywords: sourdough crackers, seeded sourdough crackers, homemade crackers, crackers with sourdough discard, sourdough seed crackers. seed crackers, rosemary sourdough crackers
Has anyone tried adding cheese?? Wanting to make cheese it’s style and we love these crackers!
Hi Hayley, I have used parmesan, it gets toasty but was pretty yummy. I think it would also work fine to add in some grated softer cheese like sharp cheddar. 😋 Curious to know how it goes!
These are so good! They are delicious and the first batch is practically gone. Love having ideas like this to use the starter discard, because I don’t like wasting. I will definitely be making more of these in future.
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These are a favorite in our house too. I hear you on not wasting. Glad you enjoyed!
I doubled the recipe but then realized that the multiplier didn’t change the amount of starter and flour. Still came out ok.
Ok thanks Janet- I think it’s fixed now. 🙂
Thank you! These crackers are perfect and so versatile. In addition to the sourdough, I use oat pulp strained from my homemade oat milk instead of flour.
★★★★★
That’s awesome Dorla, I love the resourcefulness!
Thanks Doria, what a great suggestion! I tried adding oat pulp to my latest batch of crackers and it turned out absolutely brilliant! So good to have another use for this oat milk by-product.
I’m hooked on these crackers. I’ve tried them with a bit of cornmeal added (for more delightful crunch), whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds and other seeds, too. To those adding cornmeal, be aware that it will make the baking time slightly less and will brown the crackers sooner. This is a good, reliable recipe that produces a consistently great cracker. Thank you to Sylvia for this recipe!
★★★★★
So happy you enjoyed this!
My favorite sourdough cracker recipe!
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Awesome- glad you are enjoying it!
I just LOVE this recipe and have been making these crackers regularly for almost three years now. I purchased one of those adjustable rolling pins so my crackers are beautifully thin (2mm) and even.
My preference is to use wholemeal flour and freshly chopped rosemary from the garden. I always have confit garlic in the fridge and using the garlic oil from this process imparts the most amazing flavour. A tablespoon of onion flakes in the dough with sesame seeds & sea salt flakes sprinkled on top and these crackers are simply divine! Everyone is so impressed with them…I will never buy crackers again. A huge, sincere “Thankyou” for this simply brilliant recipe!
★★★★★
Oh my gosh Marco, I am salivating! So happy you are enjoying.