Healthy Easy Sourdough Discard Crackers
Servings: 4 servings
Calories:
Making your own crackers offers a range of benefits, including ingredient control, customization, health considerations, freshness, reduced waste, cost savings, creative freedom, and the enjoyment of the baking process. This WFPB recipe version was adapted from King Arthur Baking Company’s Sourdough Crackers recipe.
Print Recipe
Equipment
- Medium size bowl and wooden spoon
- Rolling Pin/Chef Knife or Pasta Rolling Machine
- Sheet Pan with lined parchment paper
Ingredients
- ½ cup rye flour 56 g
- ½ cup 100% wheat flour 56 g
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1.5 g
- 1 teaspoon butter powder optional such as Molly McButter
- 1 tablespoon Nurtional Yeast
- 1 cup sourdough discard unfed sourdough starter (200 g)
- 2 tablespoons aquafaba 25g
- Choice of seasoning mix optional (I like Trader Joe's Everything Bagel, Unami Mushrooms, Goddess Mix) or simply pepper and flaked salt)
- Cooking Spray optional
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients.
- Mix the sourdough starter, aquafaba, both flours, Nurtional Yeast, salt, and butter powder until you have a cohesive dough. It will be a little sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and form into a ball. Flatten slightly and divide into 2, 4, or 6 portions, pat each into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or longer until the dough firms up a bit. 30 minutes is usually all you need but you can leave the Refrigrrate for up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Every oven is different and if you set your oven to 350℉ you may need to increase your bake time.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, flatten the piece of dough into a rectangle. Keep the remaining dough wrapped in the refrigerator until ready to repeat.
- You can use a rolling pin and parchment paper dusted with flour to create sheets to be cut into 1x1-inch-sized crackers. If using a rolling pin, place the dough onto the floured parchment paper, and place the sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough. Roll the dough as thinly as possible (see notes above), using your rolling pin to disperse it as evenly as possible over the parchment paper. It’s OK if the edges are ragged, but do try to make the dough as thin as possible — if it’s too thick, the crackers won’t be crisp.
- I prefer to use my Pasta Roller Machine. I set it to zero, move to 4 then move to 6.
- With the setting on the lowest setting then thread the piece of dough through. Fold the dough into thirds over itself.
- Thread through the lowest setting again. Repeat one more time for a total of three times.
- Move the setting to the 4th dial position and thread the dough through the pasta roller machine twice. If the dough sheet is very long, cut in half.
- Move the setting to the 6th dial position and thread the dough through the pasta roller machine.Place dough on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Pierce with a fork to reduce crackers puffing up during baking.
- Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough sheets into 1x1-inch or thereabouts size crackers.
- Cut the dough as you wish. I like to do long strips, about 1 to 1.5 inches wide using a pizza wheel but a knife or scraper works well here too.
- Before sprinkling with flaked salt and fresh ground pepper, you can brush the top with 1) nothing, 2) aquafaba, or 3) cooking spray. I recommend option 1) nothing, Use your hand to gently press the salt and pepper into the crackers.
- Bake the crackers for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, bake for another 4-5 minutes or until they start to brown around the edges. Depending on how thinly you’ve rolled them, they may be done closer to 20 minutes, so do check at the 15-minute mark.
- Remove the crackers from the oven and place the pan on a rack to cool. I like to let the crackers cool completely on the sheet pan, which ensures they will be crisp ultimately.
- Repeat with the remaining portion of dough or keep it in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to use it.
- Store crackers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Freeze for longer storage.
Notes
King Arthur Flour's recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of dried herbs, so feel free to add those if you have them.
Make sure you roll them out thinly enough and bake them long enough to ensure they are crispy. If the crackers are rolled too thick they will not crisp.
NOTES:
If you do not have rye flour, you can simply use all all-purpose flour or you can use any other flour you have on hand, such as spelt, or any variety of freshly milled flour, etc.
If you do not have a starter but want to make these, stir together 100 grams of water with 100 grams of flour in a small bowl the night before you want to bake these. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest at room temperature. Use the entire mix as your starter the following day.
If you do not have rye flour, you can simply use all all-purpose flour or you can use any other flour you have on hand, such as spelt, or any variety of freshly milled flour, etc.
If you do not have a starter but want to make these, stir together 100 grams of water with 100 grams of flour in a small bowl the night before you want to bake these. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest at room temperature. Use the entire mix as your starter the following day.
