Einkorn crackers

Sourdough Crackers – Easy and Versatile

We’ve been slowly moving away from any processed foods in our household, and crackers have been a holdout. I never could seem to get something that was crisp enough and with enough flavor. At the same time, as I started baking more and more bread and experimenting with wild yeast/sourdough, I discovered that a starter can quickly get out of hand unless you bake a LOT of bread. So in desperation, I started looking for recipes that required a pretty good amount of starter.

This recipe solved both my problems – a great crispy cracker that uses a full cup of starter for each recipe.

Try this one if you’ve got starter that is growing like the blob! And it turns out, crackers are really easy provided you do two things: first, roll the dough out as thin as you possibly can, and second, don’t wait until the crackers are crisp in the oven to take them out. They WILL get crispy as they cool.

My first cracker adventure turned out baskets full of something akin to hardtack. So tough that you could hardly break them!

Nope, these are not your grandmother’s Saltines! These are yummy, crispy, and soooo easy to make with real ingredients – not an unpronounceable ingredient on the list! No preservatives either, though I guarantee they won’t last long enough to need them!

Sourdough Crackers

Cracker Dough Base:

Einkorn crackers with Mrs. Dash garlic and herb spice mix
Einkorn flour with Mrs. Dash garlic and herb spice mix

1 C sourdough starter (mine is whole wheat)
1/3 cup melted butter
1 C flour plus small amount to roll out dough

In a small bowl, combine starter and melted butter – make sure the butter isn’t too hot.

Add the flour and stir well. When it becomes too stiff to stir, knead it in the bowl to incorporate all flour.

Cover and set aside for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Cracker Seasoning:

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp seasonings of your choice
1/4 tsp baking soda

Knead the seasonings and baking soda into the cracker base, making sure they are incorporated throughout.

Preparation:

Whole wheat crackers with Menudo spice mix
Whole wheat flour with Menudo spice mix

Divide dough into quarters. One quarter at a time, roll the dough very, very thin on a sheet of parchment paper. The thinner your dough, the quicker it will bake.

When the dough is as thin as you can make it, cut into squares with a pizza cutter. Then remove any small pieces that don’t make up whole crackers and toss them back in the bowl with the reserved dough. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and run your rolling pin over it once, lightly.

Slip a baking sheet under the parchment paper and put both into the hot oven (400o). Bake for about 15 minutes – check after 10 minutes and watch closely.

Cool on rack or paper and they will crisp up as they cool.

Variations:

Flour – use any flour: whole wheat, Einkorn, unbleached white, rye – if the dough is too wet – i.e. too oily – add just a little more flour. You’ll find that flour from grains with lower/weaker gluten (like Einkorn) may not absorb the oil as well, so you may require more.
Oil – use butter, olive oil, organic vegetable oil, or a combination.
Spices/flavoring – try any of these spice alternatives, remember to add the salt and baking soda, then add the spices/flavoring. Add as much as you like, but start with a smaller quantity, you can always add more:

1) 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder and mix in 1/3 C of finely grated Parmesan cheese
2) 1/2 tsp Menudo mix – contains oregano, onion flakes, coriander seed, cumin, and crushed red chili pepper
3) 1/4-1/2 tsp lemon pepper
4) 1/2 tsp Mrs Dash spices (your choice of several combinations)
5) 1/2 tsp (or a little more) of Herbes de Province

4 thoughts on “Sourdough Crackers – Easy and Versatile

  1. Sourdough crackers was just what I was looking for a snack! I used a mixture of olive oil, coconut fat and butter. I added toasted sesame seed to half and toasted cumin seed to the other half of the crackers. Thanks for the recipe idea. Cheers, Sarah

    1. Sarah,

      Sure glad you’re enjoying them. I make crackers just about every weekend – great way to use up the extra sourdough starter that keeps growing and growing!

      Try different types of flour for fun – I really love Einkorn flour – but you need to either add more flour or cut back a little on the liquid oil. It seems to burn faster than regular whole wheat.

      Enjoy!

      Gail N-K

  2. Gail
    Thank you for your recipe. I am making a variation using sprouted lentils and substituting the butter with olive oil. I will add the salt and soda tomorrow after it ferments in the refrigerator overnight. I have a pasta maker that I use to flatten the dough. It was the oven temp I was most concerned about.

    1. Brenda,

      It’s a really fun recipe – I used lentil flour last week and they were yummy!

      Watch the olive oil, it tends to scorch faster than butter, though I like the flavor. Sometimes I mix half melted butter and half olive oil.

      I’ve baked them at 400 degrees and 425 degrees – both work fine. Just keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. At 400 the crackers take almost exactly 15 minutes in my oven.

      As for the pasta maker, I thought about trying it, but I’ve been able to roll the crackers out thin enough on parchment paper. They don’t seem to have the elasticity of pasta so I wasn’t sure I could “catch” the dough fast enough as it came out of the machine.

      Good luck and good eating!!

      Gail N-K

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