Sourdough herb crackers hit the spot for that salty, crunchy craving. This recipe makes as much as a package of crackers from the store, if not more. In a little over an hour, you can make an incredibly tasty, satisfying snack great for those long car trips, flights, camping or hiking trips, work or school lunches, and of course, just eating as you binge watch your new favorite show. This is yet another fantastic recipe for using up your sourdough discard.
How About That Cracker?
I’ve made quite a few savory snack crackers over the years. When I discovered my gluten intolerance last year, I began making many more. I didn’t have a good recipe for a long time until I decided to get serious about it last year. After building my confidence level in cracker making using gluten-free products, I knew I had to go back and give regular flour a try.
I have to credit King Arthur’s Baking for giving me the idea for this recipe. While I used the ratios from their basic sourdough cracker recipe, I made flour substitutions and added my preferred flavorings.
I have to say, after many so-so cracker-making experiences, I finally figured out how to make a tasty and long-lasting, crunchy cracker worthy of comparing to a grocery store brand. I’ll spare you the frustrations and provide the tips along the way. My instructions in the recipe include these helpful tips.
What was Making this Cracker Recipe Like?
Let’s start with the ingredients. There really aren’t that many, but you could certainly cater this recipe to include your preferred flavorings. In the notes section of the recipe below, I provide lots of potential herb combinations for substitutes.
If you prefer a simpler cracker, just leave out the herbs and cheese. You could also use most any flour you want, I prefer the combination of white and whole wheat for a heartier cracker similar to a Wheat Thin.
Combine Dry Ingredients (with TIPS)!
In a large bowl, first whisk the dry ingredients and then stir in the grated cheese. A hard cheese (like Pecorino or Parmesan) would probably work best, because it doesn’t have much moisture and won’t soften the cracker over time. However, you could test out this theory and find out for yourself.
Regardless, you want grated cheese for this recipe not shredded (like what you might add to biscuits or scones). We want the cheese flavor not the ooey, gooey texture.
All-purpose & whole wheat flours, herbs, and salt Dry ingredients whisked, add grated cheese
Add the Wet Ingredients (with TIPS)!
There are only two wet ingredients in this recipe, and I don’t recommend subbing either of them in this particular recipe. Sourdough starter discard and softened butter are it. Later, I’ll post other cracker recipes with liquid/fat substitutions that I know work.
Make a well with the dry ingredients, because it helps to contain the wet and makes it easier to combine. Notice the butter is very soft. You don’t want it melted (although mine is a little), a room temperature softness is perfect!
sourdough starter discard very soft butter (room temperature is just fine)
All Ingredients Combined Make a Soft, Wet Dough (with TIPS)!
The butter should be room temperature soft, so that you can easily combine all the ingredients making a smooth, sticky dough. Refrigerating the dough for 30 minutes hardens the butter resulting in an easy to manipulate dough.
Divide the dough in half, leaving both halves in the bowl. Then refrigerate both halves in the bowl for 30 minutes.
Preheat the Oven
Time to Roll Out the Crackers (with TIPS)!
The easiest way to get that PERFECTLY crunchy cracker is focusing on the cracker thickness. It’s difficult to measure 1/16th of an inch. This does NOT work for me, however, here’s what does.
That PERFECT Crunch!
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper to the length and width of a regular-sized cookie sheet. For me that is 16.5″x 11.5″.
- Leave the parchment paper OFF of the cookie sheet while you roll out the dough. If not, you will end up with uneven thickness on the edges since the cookie-sheet edges interfere with the rolling.
- Lightly flour the parchment paper. Flouring the parchment paper will aid in manipulating the dough and keep it from sticking to the paper. With floured hands place a dough round in the center. Pat out the dough round to get a simple rectangular shape started. Keep your hands floured.
- Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to the exact width and length of the parchment paper. This length and width size creates the right thickness for that perfect cracker crunch you expect. The rolling pin will even out the dough.
Pat out dough Roll out dough to edges Dough rolled to edges
Transfer the dough on parchment paper to the cookie sheet
Roll a little more if you see some uneven edges
Add the Toppings & Create the Shapes (with TIPS)!
Lightly brush the top with oil and add a sprinkling of salt.
Brush on olive oil Sprinkle on some salt
Use a sharp knife or pizza wheel to cut the dough into 1 ¼-inch squares or preferred size. I didn’t measure 1 ¼ inches, I just eyeballed the cuts for an appropriate size.
cut using a sharp knife OR cut using a pizza wheel
Prick each cracker a couple of times to prevent each from puffing up during bake.
Ready For the Oven!
You can place this cracker pan aside while you prepare the other dough half OR go ahead and bake this pan in the oven WHILE you prepare the other dough half. If you only have one cookie sheet, you’ll want to bake one at a time.
Bake the crackers for 20-25 minutes. At the 10-minute mark, if baking one pan, turn the pan around to help brown the crackers evenly. If baking 2 pans at at time, rotate the baking sheets at 10 minutes switching them out and turning them around to help brown the crackers evenly. Remove the edge crackers if they brown quicker and allow the others to continue to bake, removing as necessary until all crackers have turned browned (without burning).
Crackers are DONE and Ready for Cooling
Notice how much each cracker shrunk after baking. I didn’t separate them, only cut them. The heat is what caused the shrinkage, so you can see why cutting them is important before baking them. Also, cutting them into an appropriate cracker size allows them to bake evenly. I didn’t need to remove any crackers during the baking process. For this batch, they baked pretty evenly all around during the 20-25 minutes of baking.
Sourdough Herb Crackers baked and ready to cool Crackers transferred to wire rack to cool
Both Batches Complete!
Final View of the Sourdough Herb Crackers
Notice the specks of salt topping and herbs peppered throughout. They are a great cracker size and very crunchy. We actually stored these crackers in a tightly sealed container in the pantry for 3-4 weeks. I don’t think I can recommend this, because I’m not sure that’s safe for a freshly made product. However, they were STILL crunchy by the time Scott finished eating them and still had a GREAT flavor.
Final Thoughts…
Baker’s Perspective
I was super excited to finally make a true cracker! This is by far the best cracker recipe I’ve made using regular flour. Once I figured out the tips and tricks needed for homemade crackers to resemble and taste like a store-bought cracker (I mean, taste BETTER), I felt I had an incredible recipe. After making several batches, I actually enjoyed making them. They aren’t difficult to make once you get the “feel” and follow my tips.
While there are significant quantities of dried herbs, butter, and salt topping, the amounts are needed for that store-bought richness you typically find in a cracker.
These crackers would make great gifts for family and friends along with being that perfect snack-time munchy.
Taster’s Perspective
Since these crackers are a gluten product, Scott was very happy to consume them all. I found him snacking on them throughout the day, and he’s not a snacker. That should tell you something.
He found them very flavorful and crunchy like a traditional cracker. If you know Scott, then you know, in general, he’s not very expressive (unless he wants to be). He has the best poker face of anyone I know. However, when I watched him take his first bite of these crackers, his typical poker face actually transitioned. He had the look of “Hmmm… these are really quite good.” For me, the baker, that was a total WIN!! He was very happy taking them to work to eat along with his PB & J (on homemade bread, mind you!) 😉
For visuals of each step in the making and baking of these crackers, see my video entitled “Sourdough Herb Crackers: How to Use YOUR Sourdough Discard“.
Sourdough Herb Crackers
Ingredients
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt plus more for sprinkling on top
- 1 cup sourdough starter any sourdough starter that is 100% hydrated = 50/50- flour/liquid
- 4 tbsp softened butter = ¼ cup = ½ stick, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp dried herbs of your choice optional (Italian seasoning or herbes de Provence)
- ¼ cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese optional
- olive oil for brushing top
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together both flours, herbs, and salt. Stir in grated cheese until all are combined. Make a well in center of the dry ingredients and stir in sourdough starter and softened butter until a well combined dough is reached.
- Divide dough roughly in half and leave both halves in the bowl. Refrigerate the dough halves in the bowl for 30 minutes or so until dough is firm and can be manipulated without being too sticky.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/ 177˚C. Remove one dough half from bowl and place remaining back in fridge. Each dough half will make one large cracker sheet.
- Place one dough half on a lightly floured 16.5 x 11.5 inch sheet of parchment paper. Flour a rolling pin and roll out one dough half to about 1/16" thick or the full sheet of parchment paper. The rolled dough may have jagged edges, but try to even them out as much as possible. You can trim the dough edges with a knife or pizza wheel if you choose for aesthetic purposes.
- Carefully transfer the dough and parchment together onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush the top with oil and add a sprinkling of salt. Use a sharp knife or pizza wheel and cut the dough into 1 ¼-inch squares or preferred cracker size. Use a fork or sharp tip knife and prick each cracker a couple of times to prevent each from puffing up during baking.
- Repeat above steps 4 & 5 for rolling out, cutting, and preparing the other dough half.
- Bake both pans of crackers (or bake one while you prepare the other) for 20 to 25 minutes until the crackers start browning around the edges. Rotate the baking sheets at 10 minutes switching them out and turning them around to help brown the crackers evenly. Remove the edge crackers if they brown quicker and allow the others to continue to bake, removing as necessary until all crackers have turned browned (without burning).
- When all crackers have browned, remove the remaining crackers or pan(s) from the oven and place them on a rack to cool.
- Store crackers in a tightly sealed container or zip-top bag at room temperature for 2 weeks or freeze for longer storage.
Video
Notes
Interested in other sourdough discard recipes? Check these out!
Cheese & Chive Sourdough Biscuits
Blueberries & Cream Sourdough Muffins
New Zealand Potato Sourdough Starter & Bread
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it. Check out my YouTube Channel as well to see videos of kitchen tips, blog bakes, and dishes.