Sourdough Crackers
I’ve been sourdough baking for about 3 months now. I love it. Yes, it does require a little effort. But we aren’t eating store-bought bread anymore and are slowly switching most of our crunchy snacking over to these babies. Everyone loves them so much that I sometimes bake them daily to keep up! Of all the sourdough goods I’ve baked, these crackers are probably the easiest and require very little effort. I make up the dough before going to bed, and then roll out, cut, and bake them in the morning. Easy peasy. I’ve even baked them on the mornings of co-op … that’s saying something considering how much effort it takes to get everyone and everything out of the house by 8:15am.
I need to start experimenting with different seasonings, but this version is just so yummy. It’s based on THIS recipe that I found on Pinterest. It does use unbleached white flour, which I realize isn’t the best flour option. But there are no chemicals or preservatives in the crackers otherwise. Just real ingredients. One day I may try experimenting with other more nutrient-dense flours. This recipe is such a big winner for us though, so I’m keeping it as-is for now.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter discard
- 4 tbsp melted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup - 1 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- dash paprika
Instructions
For the dough:
- In a medium bowl, mix melted butter into the sourdough starter.
- Add 1/2 cup of the flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp dry mustard, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and dash of paprika.
- Add enough extra flour to make a stiff dough that won't stick to your hands, though it's ok if it's still slightly sticky. I do all of the mixing with a spoon.
- Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 8-12 hours. I typically rise the dough overnight, which gives it a chance to roughly double in size.
To make the crackers:
- When you are ready to make the dough, preheat oven to 350 degrees. If your dough is proofing in the oven, make sure to remove it first! I've made the mistake of forgetting it in there more than once, and it's very frustrating!
- Next, punch the dough down and knead for a few minutes, adding flour as needed so the dough doesn't stick to your hands or work surface.
- Divide the dough into two even pieces.
- Roll out each to about 1/8 inch thickness. I roll the dough right onto my metal airbake cookie trays so I don't have to transfer the dough from the counter.
- Use a pizza cutter or pastry cutter to cut the dough into desired shapes, trying to keep similar sizes so the crackers bake evenly.
- Bake the cookies at 350 for 15 minutes. Depending on how evenly your oven bakes, you may want to consider switching the trays around halfway through.
- After 15 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the crackers in the oven for another 15 minutes.
- Pull them out when the crackers are crispy and then let cool.
- Store in an airtight container, if they last that long!
