Easy Sourdough Discard Crackers (Thin & Crispy)
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After a long summer snooze, my sourdough starter, Pepita, is back in action. A few weeks ago, I pulled her from the fridge, poured off the “hooch”, the layer of murky grey liquid that rises to the top of starters upon being neglected, and began the feeding process: discard nearly all of it, feed with equal parts flour and water, wait for it to double, then repeat.
Within a day, Pepita was back to her old self, as bubbly and vibrant as ever. I am always amazed by the resiliency of sourdough starters, how they can spring back to life from what appears a very unpromising state. Nothing about a hooch signals: “Everything is fine!”
I have yet to make a loaf of sourdough bread, but I have been keeping Pepita on my countertop with the intention of doing so soon. In the meantime, I’ve been using the discard to make these sourdough crackers, from Melina Hammer’s new book, A Year At Catbird Cottage.
If you are unfamiliar with Melina, she is a recipe developer, photographer, food stylist, and Food52 resident. She lives in the Hudson Valley, and she and her husband own the Catbird Cottage, a bed and breakfast run out of their home. Her cookbook is filled with recipes made with ingredients from her garden or foraged from the nearby woods and includes recipes for pickling, fermenting, preserving, and more.
What I love about these crackers is their simplicity. They’re essentially made with 4 ingredients — flour, water, salt, and butter — but they can be gussied up in countless ways by using various flours or by adding herbs or spices to the dough itself or by topping them with various seeds or seed mixes: sesame, everything bagel, dukkah.
I also love that they call for a lot of sourdough discard — 1 cup (200 grams) — which has drastically reduced how much discard I actually have to discard. And did I mention the flavor? I think Melina says it best: “The tang of the sourdough evokes a subtle, sharp cheesiness (in the best possible way).”
The dough, moreover, can be frozen! How nice would it be, come winter, the season of grazing boards and cheese plates, to pull out dough from the freezer and bake off thin and crispy, craggy-edged, seed-speckled crackers? I think these crackers would make a wonderful holiday gift, too.
PS: Three Seed Crackers (Raincoast Crisps Copycat Recipe)
3 Other Favorite Sourdough Discard Recipes
Also: If you’re interested in sourdough bread baking and aren’t sure where to begin, I have a free email course that demystifies the process. Sign up here: Sourdough Demystified.
Finally: If you need help maintaining your sourdough starter, I have a guide: How to Feed, Maintain, and Store a Sourdough Starter.
How to Make Sourdough Discard Crackers, Step by Step
Place 200 grams of sourdough discard in a large bowl.
Add 1/2 cup of rye flour, 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, butter, and salt. (You can use any mix of flours you like.)
Mix until you have a cohesive dough ball.
Cut the dough in half and pat it into two rectangles.
Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes or longer.
Unwrap and roll the portion out as thinly as possible on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Use the plastic wrap, too, to prevent sticking.
It’s OK if the finished shape is amoeba-shaped.
The key is to roll the dough thin.
Cut into cracker shapes — squares, rectangles, whatever you like. Brush with olive oil.
Season as you wish: everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, or simply flaky sea salt.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until evenly golden — you do not want to underbake these.
Store them in an airtight vessel at room temperature for 1 week or freeze for longer storage.
Such a treat to have on hand! And so simple!
Easy Sourdough Discard Crackers (Thin & Crispy)
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 48
Description
These sourdough discard crackers are incredibly easy to make and are such a treat to have on hand.
This recipe is from Melina Hammer’s new book A Year at Catbird Cottage, which she adapted from King Arthur Flour. Melina’s recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of finely chopped rosemary, and King Arthur Flour’s recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of dried herbs, so feel free to add those if you have them.
Having made these several times now, I think there are two places where things can go wrong:
- Not rolling them out thinly enough.
- Not baking them long enough.
Once I made both mistakes, and the crackers were too thick and not crisp. That said, looking at the photos both on the KAF website and in Melina’s book, I think if you want to make them slightly thicker, though no thicker than 1/16-inch thick, you can as long as you bake them long enough — an even golden brown color is the visual cue you are looking for.
Notes:
- If you don’t have rye flour, you can simply use all all-purpose flour or you can use any other flour you have on hand, such as spelt, or any variety of freshly milled flour, etc.
- If you don’t have a starter but want to make these, stir together 100 grams water with 100 grams flour in a small bowl the night before you want to bake these. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest at room temperature. Use the entire mix as your starter the following day.
- If you want help getting started with sourdough bread baking, I have a free email course: Sourdough Demystified.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) sourdough discard (unfed sourdough starter)
- 1/2 cup (56 g) rye flour, see notes
- 1/2 cup (56 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon if you are sensitive to salt)
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- olive oil, for brushing
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling or sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning
Instructions
- Mix together the sourdough starter, flours, salt, and butter until you have a cohesive dough. It’s OK if it’s a little sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, divide into two portions, pat each into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or longer — I’ve done this 24 hours in advance — until the dough is firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, unwrap the plastic wrap and reserve it. Very lightly flour a piece of parchment, a rolling pin, and the top of the dough.
- Place the dough onto the floured parchment paper, and place the sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough. Roll the dough as thinly as possible (see notes above), using your rolling pin to disperse it as evenly as possible over the parchment paper. It’s OK if the edges are ragged, but do try to make the dough as thin as possible — if it’s too thick, the crackers won’t be crisp.
- Transfer the dough-topped parchment sheet onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush with oil and then sprinkle the salt (and/or other toppings) over the top of the dough.
- Cut the dough as you wish. I like to do long strips, about 1.25 to 1.5 inches wide. I use my bench scraper, but a pizza wheel works well here, too.
- Bake the crackers for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until they’re starting to brown around the edges. Depending on how thinly you’ve rolled them, they may be done closer to 25 minutes, so do check at the 20-minute mark.
- When fully browned, remove the crackers from the oven and place the pan on a rack to cool. I like to let the crackers cool completely on the sheet pan, which ensures they will be crisp ultimately.
- Repeat with the remaining portion of dough or keep it in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to use it.
- Store crackers in an airtight vessel at room temperature for up to a week. Freeze for longer storage.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: Sourdough
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: sourdough, discard, crackers, rye, butter, sea salt
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
78 Comments on “Easy Sourdough Discard Crackers (Thin & Crispy)”
I absolutely love this recipe and so does everyone who’s tasted it. Biggest problem is I eat waaay too many crackers. I just tried a sweet variation. I brushed the tips with water and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious but next time I plan to substitute spelt for rye.
★★★★★
Spelt will be delicious! Love the sound of your sweet crackers, too. Thanks for writing 🙂
Great recipe. I used everything seasoning for one half and Tarrago and Chives seasoning for the 2nd half. I’m addicted to using my discard for crackers. It’s so easy and uses up so much discard! I bought a cracker roller on amazon and it’s fun!!
Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Great recipe. I used everything seasoning for one half and Tarragon and Chives seasoning for the 2nd half. I’m addicted to using my discard for crackers. It’s so easy and uses up so much discard! I bought a cracker roller on amazon and it’s fun!!
Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Fun! I think I need a cracker roller 🙂
Love, love, love. Best discard cracker recipe I have tried so far. When I was getting ready to make them today, could not find my large cookie sheet. Where did it go? So I used the 1/4 sheets I have. It worked out much better for me. I didn’t realize using a rolling pin was a skill I need to fine tune! Ended up needing to do in 6ths versus halves. I don’t have the urge to flavor these with anything but salt because they are tasty. And if I want s special spice I can put it in the toppings. Also last batch I made, I found if I brushed them with olive oil and they sat for a while, they were tougher. Now I make sure I don’t brush with olive oil until right before they go in the oven.
★★★★★
So nice to read all of this, Sara! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love, love, love!!! By far the best discard cracker recipe I’ve made to date. Endless flavour options using this dough as your base. Thank you for posting, Ali 🙂
★★★★★
Great to hear, Christie! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
My daughter and I ventured into sourdough recently and I stumbled across this recipe. I had made another cracker sourdough discard recipe but they did not compare with yours! I made the first half of the dough a couple weeks ago and froze the second. The frozen and thawed dough was a bit wet so I had to knead a bit of flour into it to make it manageable. They are in the oven now. I did a bagel seasoning the first time and learned I needed to push the seasonings into the dough to prevent them from falling off. Did course salt and garlic powder this time. My kids love them with hummus! Will be making again as we continue through the journey of sourdough life!
★★★★★
Absolutely love this recipe – as I do all your others! Hate waste so this is especially good. I have just made another batch and following other comments decided I would try with olive oil. However I took it up a level and used chilli oil – delicious. Flavours and combinations are endless, can’t wait to try some more!
★★★★★
Oh fun! I love this idea so much. I have chili oil on hand and will try this variation next. Thank you for writing and thank you for your kind words 🙂
Amazing crackers!!!! these are absolutely perfect. I’ve made them two days in a row now and we cant get enough. They are also great to package and gift to friends. I’m wondering if you have tried this with olive oil and if the ratios change at all. I would love to gift some crackers to my vegan friends. Thank you!
★★★★★
Great to hear! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
I’m dying to try this, but the most discard I have when I feed, my starter is about 2 tablespoons! . Good to know that you can freeze it which is probably what I’ll need to do in order to build up the amount. …worried about it being too wet upon thawing, tho. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi! I think it’s great that you only have 2 tablespoons — that means your feeding your starter very efficiently and not having to make something else to use up the discard. Regarding your question, if you don’t have enough discard but want to make these, stir together 100 grams water with 100 grams flour in a small bowl the night before you want to bake these. Then use it all in the recipe.