These Sourdough Crackers have an incredible flavor, thanks to sourdough discard. They are thin, crisp, and simple to make with just 7 ingredients!
Sourdough Discard Crackers
Light, crisp, and SO flavorful, sourdough crackers are a simple, yet thoughtful snack. My recipe is made with sourdough discard, which means you’ll get some of the health benefits from sourdough while at the same time reducing your food waste (I basically keep a zero-waste sourdough starter in my house, I use the discard in everything!). Win win!
My sourdough discard crackers have a deep, unique flavor, and they are a healthier alternative to your standard cheese crackers. While they are perfectly fine to enjoy on their own (and a great snack for kids), you can also pair them with cheeses and meats on a charcuterie board, serve them alongside your favorite dip (I vote for spinach artichoke dip!), or crumble them over a bowl of soup.
3 things to love about my recipe:
- Simple: just 7 ingredients!
- Flavorful: tangy and complex flavor, without the need for sugar.
- Nutritious: Thanks to whole wheat flour and sourdough discard.
What You Need
I love how simple and unassuming the ingredient list appears. Everything you need is so basic, but the flavor is really unparalleled (I like these even better than my cheddar-filled cheese crackers, so that’s saying something!). Just 7 simple ingredients:
- Sourdough discard. This is what you discard before feeding your sourdough starter. Make sure you are using discard from a starter that is at least a week old; I don’t recommend using it before that time.
- Flour. I like to use a combination of whole wheat flour and regular all-purpose flour. This gives the crackers a lovely flavor, color, and some health benefits too!
- Oil. We’ll brush our sourdough crackers with olive oil before baking. This helps crisp them up and encourages a light golden brown finish.
- Butter. Melt your butter, then let it cool down a bit before adding it. Make sure to use unsalted butter, since we are adding table salt into the dough and kosher salt on top of the crackers before baking! I absolutely love the flavor that the butter adds to these crackers, I think it’s what sets them apart from every store-bought version I’ve ever tried.
SAM’S TIP: Don’t want to bake your sourdough crackers right away? You can let the dough chill in the fridge for 2 days without issue. Just know that if you do this, the dough will be quite firm and will likely need to sit at room temperature for at least 10-15 minutes before it’s soft enough to roll out.
Note that this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Sourdough Discard Crackers
- Stir together the discard, flours, butter, and table salt until well combined. Dough should be clinging to itself and almost Play-Do like in consistency. If the dough is too sticky to handle, add more flour, a Tablespoon at a time, until it is manageable.
- Divide the dough into two pieces and form each into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap or parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Unwrap one disk and roll to ⅛″ thickness on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Prick the dough all over with a fork, brush with olive oil, and then cut into 2″ squares. I use a pizza cutter for this step, it gives me nice straight lines. And if you’d like smaller crackers, by all means, cut your squares smaller!
- Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt (or another seasoning of your choice, everything bagel seasoning is another great option!).
- Bake at 375 until light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Repeat with the second disk of dough.
SAM’S TIP: Make sure to roll your dough to a consistent thinness so your sourdough crackers bake uniformly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sliced cheeses and meats, hummus, pepperoni pizza dip, and bacon jalapeño popper dip are just a few of my favorite pairings. You could also eat them as a quick (but filling!) snack with some tuna or chicken salad–kind of like a deconstructed sandwich!
Of course, crackers are also a classic pairing with soups, especially tomato soup, and these sourdough discard crackers are no exception.
If your sourdough discard crackers are soft while they are still warm, this isn’t necessarily a problem. However, if they have cooled completely and are still soft, they might be a touch underbaked. Just pop them back into the oven for a few minutes, and they should crisp up!
There are many recipes that will use up your discard so you don’t have to throw it away. I like to use mine to make sourdough pancakes, brownies, banana bread, and chocolate chip cookies (recipes coming soon!).
Want to add even more flavor to your sourdough crackers? Swap the kosher salt topping with some everything bagel seasoning (recipe coming soon)!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Sourdough Crackers (Made with Discard)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (220 g) sourdough discard
- ¾ cup (95 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (60 g) whole wheat flour
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter melted
- 1 scant teaspoon table salt
- Olive oil for brushing
- Kosher salt for sprinkling
Recommended Equipment
- Pizza wheel or pastry cutter
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sourdough discard, both flours, melted butter, and table salt.1 cup (220 g) sourdough discard, ¾ cup (95 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (60 g) whole wheat flour, 6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter, 1 scant teaspoon table salt
- Stir until well combined. If dough is very sticky, add a bit more flour until it is manageable.
- Divide dough into two pieces and form each into a disk. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove one disk of dough from refrigerator and unwrap.
- Place on a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll dough to be under ⅛” thick (<3mm). While rolling, occasionally use a spatula to scrape under the dough to keep it from sticking too much to your countertop. Transfer sheet to prepared baking sheet and use a fork to pierce dough all over (to help prevent bubbles).
- Lightly brush all over with olive oil, then use a pizza wheel or pastry cutter to cut into 2” squares (no need to separate the crackers).
- Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt. Transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) oven and bake until light golden brown, about 20 minutes.Olive oil, Kosher salt
- Repeat steps 5-8 with second disk of dough.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Christie
I started making sourdough bread using your starter recipe, I’m Very Happy to say it turned out great!! I absolutely love the recipes you have posted with sourdough, my family is very appreciative.
I do have one suggestion… I have printed out a couple recipes from you page, but because I only have black ink the blue color doesn’t show up well at all. I am suggesting that for the print page, if you can, maybe keep all the words in black. Thank you so much for these wonderful, yummy recipes!!
Sam
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying everything! I am not sure why it’s showing up like this when you print, but I am looking into it. If you select black and white print on your printer that could potentially fix the issue. 🙂
Rosie
Hi Sam
I want to try these crackers but would like to add cheese and herbs to the dough. Would it work? How much and what kind of cheese do recommend? ❤️ your recipes.
Sam
Hi Rosie! I haven’t personally added cheese, but a hard cheese that you like should work, like cheddar. I don’t have an exact amount to add, but I would shred it finely and start with a “handful” and go from there. 🙂