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 (or place in an airtight vessel) 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 (or place in an airtight vessel), 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
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
267 Comments on “Easy Sourdough Discard Crackers (Thin & Crispy)”
I have made this recipe many times and the crackers always turn out fabulous. I love infused salts and different flavors, so the sky is the limit for me. I even made some whole wheat crackers with butter and cinnamon sugar. Yum!
No more store-bought crackers at my house! Thank you!
I do have a question about freezing the dough. You state the dough can be frozen, but in other sourdough discard recipes, you recommend baking before freezing. Is the reason that the dough gets stickier when you freeze it and this has so much butter it is not as big of an issue? Just curious.
Hi Marie! Great to read all of this. I don’t recommend freezing sourdough dough that’s meant to turn into a loaf or pizza — it doesn’t perform well even after short periods in the freezer. Cracker dough is different! You’re not trying to get any loft with crackers, so this dough does fine in the freezer.
Made them today, turned out amazing.
Great to hear, Keira!
Can I use oil instead of butter?
Yes! Others have with success.
These were way better than expected! Highly recommend.
Can you put the dough through a pasta roller? Thank you
I’m not sure! Worth a shot… I’d hate for it to crumble and leave you a mess, but if you are open to experimenting give it a go (and report back if you do).
I did put it through the pasta roller and it worked great!!! Nice and thin, and evenly rolled. Turned out delicious thank you
Great to hear, Kimberly! Thanks for reporting back 🙂
I also used a pasta roller and they came out PERFECT!
Great to hear, Brittany! So glad the pasta roller is working out for people 🙂
We love these! I make them all the time. I add sesame seed, poppy seed, & pepitas. So yummy!
Great to hear, Michelle!
Great recipe – follow the instructions and they’ll be delicious and crunchy!
What I am struggling to master is getting the seeds to stick on. I made these for the second time last night and did half the batch with flaky sea salt and half with sesame seeds. I oiled the dough lightly,, sprinkled the seeds and gave them a press with the rolling pin, but after baking most of the seeds came off during transportation to my friends house.
Any suggestions please?
Hi Jenny,
This is what one commenter suggested: “This time I egg washed (1 egg and a 1/4 cup milk) rather than oil. Sprinkled on the toppings then rolled them in with my rolling pin.”
She said it “worked a treat.” Love that 🙂 Good luck!
Fantastic! Used McCormick Perfect Pinch Steak Seasoning on one of the batches and it makes it very close to a Chicken in a Biskit cracker (it’s the celery seed, I’m sure).
Crackers are a hit! Have a batch in fridge right now. I mixed toasted sesame seeds right in the dough this time. Hope that solves the problem of topping falling off. I’ll definitely be trying some of your other recipes.
Great idea! Report back if you feel like it… I’m curious. Sounds delicious!
Love this recipe! Quick and easy when I don’t have time to make bread but am loath to throw away my discard.
Side note, my vegan sister and brother in law were coming to visit so I tried with 3 Tablespoons of olive oil in place of butter. Still turned out beautifully! Yay!
Oh yay! Great to hear, Victoria. Thanks so much for writing nad sharing this — so helpful for others.
I’m a beginner sourdough maker and this was the first discard recipe I tried. Absolutely delicious!! So much better than store bought crackers or pita chips. So like to sprinkle them with maldon sea salt flakes and sesame seeds. Very addictive. I also made a batch and topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese the last couple of minutes of baking. Also very good. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Great to hear, Penny! Thanks for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
Just made these today for the first time. Very easy to make. So thin and crisp and tasty. I used Everything Bagel topping.
Great to hear, Dan! Thanks for writing 🙂
This recipe is amazing! It’s such a perfect base to add whatever you want to customize your crackers. This is my go-to base recipe. The texture is flaky and crispy and WAY better than store-bought crackers. When I served these to friends, they couldn’t believe I made them. I used caraway seeds in half my crackers, and “everything but the bagel” seasoning in the other half. Delicious!
Great to hear Marleen! Thanks so much for writing and sharing these notes.
Extremely great tasting crackers! Very easy to make. I used rye flour, as the recipe suggested. I will be sharing this recipe online and in my kitchen. Thank you!
Great to hear, Jill! Thanks for writing 🙂
These crackers are delicious. But , when you think you have them thin enough, go over with the rolling pin a few more swipes. They need to be THIN to be cracker-like. A few places I had it thicker they baked up chewy. I used a half cup of rye flour and half a cup of unbleached. I used seasoning and pressed it in before baking. They would look very elegant on a charcuterie board. They have the appearance of expensive, artisan crackers. WINNER WINNER!
Love this recipe! They were a hit at a family get together. Question, if I’m tight on time, do I need to chill the dough? What does the chilling do?
I think the chill helps the flour fully hydrate and allows the butter to firm up in the dough so that it doesn’t seep out upon baking. That said, try skipping it! They’ll still turn out well.
Sooooo good 🤤
Wow! What a great recipe!!! I made a sea salt and a zataar seasoned cracker. Delicious! I baked about 18 mins for full crispiness. For sure you don’t want to over bake them. Thank you!!!
Great to hear, Richelle! Thanks for writing 🙂
This was my first discard recipe when I discovered sourdough baking. I’ve tried others, but this one never fails to please. I’m currently making a batch for my out-of-state oldest to take home with him. Thank you for a versatile recipe that doesn’t disappoint.
Great to hear, Jan! Thanks for writing 🙂
These were super easy and absolutely delicious! No going back to store bought. I will try the egg wash as suggested as I did have the problem of the toppings not sticking.
Thank you!
Great to hear, Kathy! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have made quite a few discard crackers and these are my all time favorites. The rye adds a wonderful flavor, they are easy to make and roll out beautifully when placed in the fridge. I made them for the first time last week and doubled the recipe today to make more. A single batch is not enough! They really have substance and I feel like I am eating a very very healthy cracker.
Next batch will try exploring other toppings and add in’s….
Great to hear, Francine! Thanks so much for writing 🙂
Can you the rye flour for AP?
Yes!
These are SO good and incredibly easy to make. I’ve made two batches, one with everything bagel seasoning and another today with Trader Joe’s green goddess seasoning. Both so good. I saw the comment about running the dough through a pasta roller and this worked incredibly well for me with both batches, a great way to get the dough nice and thin and a consistent width!
Great to hear, Megan! Thanks so much for writing and sharing these notes. I need to try the pasta roller!
I tried and loved it. Though I did use olive oil while kneading and millet flour..stored in the fridge for 12hrs..
Great to hear, Ayesha! Thanks for writing 🙂
These are great! I used 1/2 cup of rice flour instead of the rye and all purpose. Worked nicely. Trying to make them as gluten free as possible and I am so happy I was able to use up some discard!
Used your sour dough starter guide to make my first ever starter and sour dough bread.
So cool!! Thank you for sharing your gift
Great to hear, Dawn! Thanks so much for writing and sharing all of this 🙂
Buttery, light, crispy. Delicious! And great to get some use from discard. Thank you for the recipe.
Great to hear, Alex! Thanks for writing 🙂
I always thought making crackers would be labor intensive but these are a breeze! So tasty and the seasoning possibilities are endless. The first batch lasted about 10 minutes as everyone loved them. Thank you!
Great to hear, Pearl! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
These are outstanding. My first batch I also had an issue with the topping not sticking. Second batch, before cutting I went over the dough one last time with the toppings sprinkled on. It made a huge difference. Third batch I added Italian seasoning to the dough and after rolling cut them into rounds with a cookie cutter. These are so quick and delicious, that I have no discard left!
So nice to read this, Karen! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
These were delicious! Subbed Emmert flour for the rye and topped with Everything but the Bagel no salt seasoning and salt and pepper. They are crispy and make a great snack even without cheese or dips! Thanks Ali!
Great to hear, Cindy! Thanks for writing and sharing these notes 🙂
This was my first ever sourdough recipe with my new starter and WOW these crackers are amazing. Easy recipe, and SO GOOD!!! I cut the recipe to 1/4 of the size based on how much discard I had, and I ate all of the crackers as soon as they cooled off! Added rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper on top. 10/10!
Great to hear, Madison! Thanks for writing and sharing these notes.
This is a fantastic cracker recipe! I used white whole wheat, and refrigerated overnight. I am amazed at how crunchy and delicious they are!
Great to hear Shirley! Thanks for writing 🙂
These crackers are phenomenal! This recipe is going on my life menu.
Awww I love this 🙂