I’m about 2 weeks into my sourdough journey, and can honestly say, it’s been SUCH a fun adventure! After my initial starter died after about 36 hours, my second one – Harry – has been thriving. I’ve only baked one batch of sourdough bread, and the recipe called for added commercial yeast. So that one didn’t really count. I plan on diving into this Beginner’s Sourdough Loaf this week! I’ve been enjoying watching my starter feed and experimenting with various sourdough discard recipes. I’ve made the King Arthur Flour Sourdough Discard Crackers several times now; they are so far superior in taste to any store bought crackers I’ve ever tasted. AND they’re so so so simple! Here’s the recipe:

Sourdough Discard Crackers

recipe very slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 1 cup (113g) sprouted whole wheat flour (original recipe calls for white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard
• 4 tablespoons (57g) salted butter, room temperature (mine wasn’t at room temperature one day, so I actually let the entire wrapped stick soak in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes and that did the trick)
• 2 tablespoons dried herbs of your choice, optional (I used dried rosemary the first time, and left the herbs out the second time)
• oil, for brushing
• coarse salt for sprinkling on top (I used Maldon sea salt flakes the first time, and then everything bagel seasoning the second)

Directions

1. Mix together the flour, salt, starter, butter, and herbs. It will form a smooth dough ball.
2. Divide in half, shape into small rectangles, then cover with plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 350°.
4. Flour a piece of parchment paper, the top of the dough, and your rolling pin. Then roll 1 piece of dough out on parchment until 1/8″ thick.
5. Place dough and parchment on baking sheet. Brush lightly with oil. Then sprinkle with topping of choice. I used just flaky sea salt once (when I added rosemary to the dough) and everything bagel seasoning to the second batch (with no added herbs in the dough). I also did a plain sea salt batch, and those were my favorite.
6. Cut the dough into about 1″ squares. I didn’t have a pizza wheel, so I used my largest knife.
7. Prick each cracker with a fork.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. I had to watch the crackers on the edge, and remove them from the oven once they started to get beyond golden brown. Then I baked the inside crackers for about 5 minutes longer, carefully watching. You want them nicely browned and crispy, but they will be overdone quickly.
9. Cool on rack until room temperature. King Arthur Flour says you can keep in the counter for a week, or freeze for longer storage. Ours only lasted about a week (and that was with me hiding them).

Notes

• I use this kitchen scale; I love it, and it really makes life so much simpler and precise when baking. I’ve had it for several years, and have replaced the batteries twice.
• Maldon sea salt flakes are the absolute best salt for your kitchen; I use them in almost every recipe that calls for salt, but they’re especially lovely for topping things like crackers and cookies.
• Everything bagel seasoning was our second favorite topper for these crackers.

Have you baked with sourdough/discard? What are your favorite recipes?? Please share; I have three starters sitting on my counter now and would love your tried and true recipe ideas! Follow along my sourdough adventure!