If you make sourdough bread you know all about the "discard". The portion of sourdough starter you throw out anywhere from every day to once a week. By adding just another few ingredients to that glop, you can make artisanal crackers.
And by "artisanal" I mean, they'd be expensive if you sold or bought them in a store because they have the word artisan in them.
Calling your new favourite crackers Artisanal also lets you get away with any number of abnormalities in them like uneven edges or burned spots.
For instance, you may also have artisanal tea towels in your kitchen. Or after COVID some artisanal hair.
To make these sourdough crackers you won't need anything weird other than perhaps the actual sourdough starter discard which is in fact, very weird.
Sourdough starter is full of secrets. How many bubbles it has and where they are hold the secret to how strong the starter is. A tiny bit warmer in the kitchen and you'll get a much faster rise out of it with less "sour" flavour.
Table of Contents
What is Sourdough Discard?
But the biggest secret about sourdough starter that no one discusses IS THE FACT THAT SOURDOUGH STARTER IS LITERALLY GLUE.
It is flour and water. Paste. That means that sourdough discard is also glue.
Therefore, when you stir, drip, rinse or fling any of it anywhere - it glues itself to whatever it lands on. If you wipe it up right away you're good, but if you leave it to dry you're looking at a permanent adhesion of flour to your floor, sink, spoons, jars and even your artisanal hair.
If the sourdough enthusiast can avoid pouring the discard down the sink or into the garbage then they have less of a chance of gluing themselves to their kitchen floors.
Now that I'm a champion sourdough starter cracker maker, I can just pour the starter into its own bowl and stick it in the fridge
O.K. everyone ready to make glue crackers??
Parmesan Sourdough Cracker Recipe
You're just going to mix together some flour, salt, butter, sourdough discard and parmesan cheese.
You just mix and work it with your hands until you have a dough then refrigerate it to firm up.
Roll it out, brush it with some half decent olive oil and sprinkle it with parmesan and salt.
You can either leave the sheet without scoring it and break the crackers into bite sized pieces after cooking or you can pre-cut the crackers before you bake them.
I find pre-cutting them helps them to cook more evenly, so that's what I do.
Bake for around 30 minutes or until the edges are browned and the tops are golden.
I didn't roll mine out quite enough on this batch so they're a bit puffier.
To gift them put them in a cookie tin or cardboard candy box with the original parchment paper you baked them on (just because it looks nice and browned around the edges like the crackers).
Who knew that one day ...
Sourdough crackers.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour (113 g)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup sourdough discard 227g
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- pepper
- 20 grams grated parmesan cheese 5 g to be reserved for sprinkling
- olive oil for brushing
- coarse salt for sprinkling
- pepper
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, salt, sourdough discard, butter, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 15 g of parmesan cheese. Give a good grinding of pepper. I use my hands to work it into a smooth dough. (the remaining 5 grams of parmesan is reserved for sprinkling the dough later)
- Shape the dough into a rectangle, cover with plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill and firm up.
- When you're ready to bake heat the oven to 350°F.
- Lightly flour your rolling pin and the top of the dough. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces then roll each of them out to about 1/16" thick. That's around the thickness of 2 credit cards stacked on top of each other.
- Lift the dough and parchment onto a baking sheet then brush it with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and the remaining 5 grams of parmesan cheese. Finally do a few grinds of fresh cracked pepper on top. For thin crackers you'll need 2 baking sheets for cooking. One for each dough you roll out.
- Cut the dough into squares or rectangles.
- Bake the crackers for 25 to 30 minutes or until they're nicely golden on top.
- Let cool then store in an airtight container.
Notes
- The amount of crackers you end up with depends on how thin you roll them out. Thicker crackers will get you 60 or so, rolling them to the proper thinness will get you about 100 1" square crackers.
- If after cooking the crackers seem gummy inside, stick them back in the oven and check every 5 minutes. You really can't overcook these, but you CAN undercook them.
Nutrition
... you would grow up to be that weird kid who eats paste.
Good for you.
Karen, you are my favorite Instagram account! Back to the concerns of too many ads, maybe that reader is seeing what I’m seeing when I read your blog on my iPhone. The top half of my screen has your ‘SUBSCRIBE if you like to sweat, swear and do stuff’. I can click on the X to make it go away but the moment I scroll it comes right back. I do already subscribe FYI and love all you offer! Thank you for all the entertainment and education! You’re the best!
Someone else mentioned that happening Carolyn, thanks! I'm looking into it. :) ~ karen!
Thanks for the laughs. Don't have sourdough but I DO have artisan hair and some other hidden artisan stuff growing (artisan midriff?)
I love your posts.
This year I made the dried orange slices. They make great Christmas tree decor (yes it does look like stained glass if placed strategically in front of lights) It also looks good on the gift wrapping of my marmalade jars. Great idea, easy to make, and if you get hungry, they are delightful little nibbles as well. How is that for versatility?
Thanks for all these wonderful and creative ideas Karen. You are the BEST!
Happy Christmas and all that jazz !
This recipe is the bomb! I tried a similar recipe from another site last year and they just weren't as good or as easy. I now will be making these regularly, probably adding herbs too. Love getting your posts, brightens my week. Thanks!
Ha! I love this. Sourdough starter is my friend. My pet. Ish. I feel guilty when I have to divide and toss. We've been together for .........sourdough things. But crackers matter. Crackers are loved. It's not discard. It's dip facilitation. It's cheese transportation. It's there when you run out of chips. Discard? No. Party hero! I'm gonna make these today. Sourdough under dog chip winners.
Perfect!
I've been meaning to try sourdough crackers.
Do you still have discard with your mature starter? I haven't had anything that I needed to throw out since my starter was about 10 days old and that was almost 3 years ago.
I only keep a small amount, feed it, use it and put that small amount back in the fridge.
When it's been awhile ( or when I just want banana bread), I'll take it out and feed it more than once, use the extra (usually for banana bread or pancakes) and then put a small amount back in the fridge.
How long do these stay fresh??
😆😆😆 Thank you for a great recipe tutorial and, as you so often do, a great dash of humor! I laughed out loud at the ending. 🤗
Thanks, Karen! I just got furloughed on Monday and these would be great for my Christmas party I am hosting here in California.
Now I just have to find your Sourdough starter recipe...
Softened or cold butter? Are you rubbing cold butter in with your fingers? Or just smooshing room temp butter together with everything else?
Should the butter be cold, softened or melted for this recipe?
OR...avoid the issue altogether, as I do, by using one of the variations of the Almost-No-Knead recipes. The one I use most often is in an America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, and uses a Dutch Oven in the Oven, heated to Plumber's Torch temps. Produces a bread ball/loaf (Boule` ?) that has a nice crunchy crust, and a mild sourdough flavor (maybe because I allow it rest for the full 18 hours the recipe calls for, rather than the minimum 8 hours). Gotta go, the 500 degree oven is calling me...
For the record, I do own artisanal tea towels. The hair is also artisanal, depending on the day...x-D
I didn't get time off during COVID, so I just got my sourdough starter last week. What a good time to see this!
I have a Question - If you don't have Sour Dough Starter Discard because perhaps you don't like bread -GASP! - Could you still make the "glue paste" to make crackers? - which I LOVE!
How would you do that? Flour & water (how much of each?) and let it sit for how long?
If I could whip up my own Artisinal Crackers to serve with my HomeMade Boursoine Cheese it would be a Happy Quarantine Christmas here for sure :)
People, mainly my family, think I'm nuts for having made my own crackers a few times. Now to think I grew up to be a glue eater is the icing on the cake. Ha ha ha!
Terrific timing for this post. I already planned on starting my einkorn sourdough starter this week. I'm looking forward to trying your recipe! Still LOVING your site!
2 things....where is the recipe for the Starter?
Second....I have never seen so many ads that prevent me from reading ! When you click on the x to get rid of the afs...it opens up the ad instead of making the ad disappear!! If this continues ill delete your emails. Rude.
Hmmmm, I don't get ads like that. Maybe it's your browser....
I'm the same as Lynn. Not many ads at all.
Suspect it's your browser as I never get any adds with Karen's posts. Try installing an ad blocker.
I get a ton of ads as well. I assume it's payment for free fun stuff like funny useful blogs.
I didn't mind the few ads on the side, but lately they seem to have increased and gotten in the way making it hard to read. I am less inclined to even click on the mail when I know I will have to hack my
through ads to read the article.
Rose, there's been no change to the number or placement of ads on my site in years. ~ karen
Robin, in order to find the sourdough starter, you just type in "sourdough starter" into the search box and hit enter. I have copied/pasted the url here as you seem to be having computer problems: https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-to-make-sourdough-starter/
I just went through and re-read the entire article and only saw 3 ads. THEN of course I clicked on every single one of them because I believe that Karen's content is worth supporting. I can't tell you how much her posts have helped me during the ongoing renovation of our home. If everyone was annoyed by her ads and never opened the email, let alone read the blog, she might be forced to close the site down--through no fault of her own. Talk about rude.
Thank you Cheverly. :) ~ karen!
Hi Robin. I understand your frustration, I'd be mad at intrusive ads as well. But I haven't changed anything to do with my ads for years. Not the number of them or the placement of them. ~ karen!
What a great idea... and you can never go wrong if you add parmesan cheese to something. Or for that matter any cheese. There are a few buzz words that just seem to elevate anything you're talking about.. artisanal, organic, transitional, small-batch, limited, etc. I know there must be some better examples. Reading your posts makes we wonder if you find the use of language interesting and notice how words are used to evoke a certain "feeling". I know your background is media but it seems like you have some marketing experience? I used to "collect" words which were interesting to me and since quarantine I've started doing it again. I even remember the first word that started it all when I was in middle school... scintillating.
Me too! But I can't remember the word now. It was from the movie The Trouble with Angels from 1966.
U think you're looking for "scathing brilliant"
HI Emie. I don't have formal marketing experience, or even really an interest in it, lol. But I'm a writer and that makes me word aware I suppose. :) ~ karen!
I once made artisanal crackers out of what was left in the almond milk nut bag ... I added coconut oil, salt, garlic and some chives ... rolled & baked it, etc. YUM.
SO this is kind of like THAT but with a twist of new gnu poo from the zoo we get from the City to add into our compost station at the allotment gardens for use after the gardening season is over and is way more fun because of where it's come from and what it is.
GLUE. and it rhymes with ... new gnu, too!
I am IN.
Now to start making starter, again.
I am trying to remember what I did with the last batch I made.
Brilliant idea about using the almond milk nut bag leftovers!! I hate to waste it, but never really knew what to do with it. I have just fed it to my chickens, who of course love it. I'm going to try it next time I make almond milk! Thanks for the inspiration!!
let us know how yours turn out if you do try it ... [you just need to season them the way you want and get the nutty leftovers to stick together with coconut oil or something so you can pat them onto a thin layer on to a tray and/or onto parchment ... and bake until you like how crispy they are] ... I am about to make more starter just forr the crackers - haha ... crackers are so darn expensive
Honestly Karen, you strike again. I can’t stop laughing at your intro re: artisanal and how the word is used so imaginatively. Love it! You’re the best.
Oh yeah, regarding repurposing the “discard”, good thinking! I will try it.
Yummy sourdough love it just have never managed to make it 🥴