Herbed Sourdough Crackers are a great way to use up the discarded sourdough starter from your sourdough bread making.
I have been making Sourdough Bread regularly at home during these Covid-19 days. Yeast was impossible to find so I persevered until I can now make consistently delicious loaves of artisanal bread! I added lots of tips to help you avoid making the mistakes I made at first so don't be afraid to give it a try!
Throughout I have been feeding my starter 'pets' and, like many others, cringe at the prospect of throwing out half the starter each time I feed it. At first I thought whoever started the 'throw out half your starter' didn't have much imagination it seems. But... as it turns out there is a good reason for it. Reducing the volume of starter reduces the amount of fermentation by-products that could eventually make turn your starter turn 'funky'.
So- if you remove half of it and use it some delicious recipe (!) and feed the remaining starter you are constantly 'refreshing' the starter but retaining the favourable characteristics of a mature starter.
Check out all kinds of things you can do with leftover sourdough discard!
Chef's Tips for Herbed Sourdough Crackers
- mature starter means one that has completed its original fermentation. It doesn't matter which part of the maintenance cycle it is from. It can be the discard prior to the regular feeding or the excess from the final feed prior to the bulk fermentation step.
- 100% hydration means that your starter has been fed with equal parts flour and water.
- you can use any kind of flour or any combination of flour for this recipe.
- you can vary the spices to suit your taste. I used dried rosemary because that is what I had on hand and I am fond of the Costco crackers that have dried rosemary. I am also going to make a sheet of crackers with plain dough and Za'atar seasoning sprinkled on top. Use your imagination and follow your tastes...you could use onion and/or garlic powder, lavender
- for the rolling out of the crackers- use the plastic wrap - the dough needs to be so thin that you won't be able to pick it up and transfer it. The wrap will let you move it and peel it off gently. Also I thought I had rolled the dough really thinly the first time - the edges were almost see through. After they were baked the edges were the perfect level of crispness and the very center was a bit -doughy. So... emphasis on roll out thinly!!
- store at room temperature in an airtight container up to one week.
Herbed Sourdough Crackers
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Save Print Pin FacebookIngredients
- 200 grams mature sourdough starter 100% hydration (about 1 cup)
- 132 grams flour can be all purpose, whole wheat, or 50/50 (about 1 cup + 2 Tbsps)
- 1 Tbsp dried herb of your choice
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 Tbsps olive oil (about 32 grams)
- coarse sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the starter and olive oil and mix till mixture is wet.
- Knead with your hands until the dough is fully mixed, wet and forms a smooth.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to rest in refrigerator at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Move oven racks to top ⅓ and bottom ⅓ of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the dough in half and in half again so you have 4 equal size balls.
- Roll out between two sheets of plastic as thinly as you can. (1/16th-⅛th inch). Peel the plastic off one side and invert the dough on to the parchment paper of the baking sheet. Carefully peel off the remaining plastic. Repeat with the other balls of dough. Makes sure the rolled out dough does not overlap on the baking sheets.
- Lightly spritz or brush top of dough with water. Sprinkle coarse sea salt sparsely over top of the dough.
- Bake at 350 degrees 12 - 15 minutes til crackers are golden and crisp. Switch baking sheets from top to bottom half way through baking.
- Let cracker sheets cool and then transfer to a cooling rack. Break crackers into pieces when cool and store in an airtight container up to one week.
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