Sourdough Discard Crackers

May 27, 20213 min read

Updated: Jul 2, 2021

These sourdough crackers are a delicious and easy way to use sourdough discard. With just two ingredients and your desired seasoning you have a yummy snack or appetizer addition.

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Whether you need a way to use up your sourdough discard while making your sourdough starter from scratch, just love homemade crackers, or forgot to feed or make your dough and now you have too much starter (this is often me 😳), this simple recipe is a quick and very easy way to use up a cup of sourdough starter discard.

WHAT IS SOURDOUGH STARTER DISCARD?

Sourdough discard is another term for unfed sourdough starter. In other words, when the organisms in your sourdough starter are not active. Sourdough starter is a living colony of natural good bacteria and yeast. The bacteria is considered not active when it has fermented or "eaten up" all the flour and water since you last fed it. It cannot be active to ferment the carbs and create the bubbles and alcohol present in an active starter if it does not have any flour to "eat".

THE FLOAT TEST

An unfed sourdough starter will not have all the bubbles an active starter does and will not pass the float test. The float test is to ensure your starter is active enough to leaven a dough so it will rise properly. To perform the float test, put a tiny bit of the starter in water to see if it floats. If it floats, that indicates there are a ton of bubbles and the bacteria is super healthy and active. Another way to tell if you starter is healthy and active is if it roughly doubles in size after a feeding (wait at about 10-12 hours after feeding to see if it doubles). Learn more about how to take care of your sourdough starter in this blog post. Please note: this section is a bit of a tangent for this recipe -- the starter in this recipe does not need to pass the float test 🙃.

CAN I USE ACTIVE STARTER IN PLACE OF UNFED / DISCARD?

Ok back to unfed 😊 Generally, if you have a healthy active starter because you just fed or baked bread, yes, you can still use it for a recipe that calls for unfed starter or discard. You just don't let it sit our to bulk ferment and rise. This recipe specifically has no added flour, so your starter wouldn't have anything to "eat" anyways.

CRACKER SEASONING

These crackers have the hallmark sour flavor of sourdough, but you can season them with whatever else you like. My favorite cracker flavors are below.

Italian Herb Crackers: garlic powder, oregano, thyme & basil (dried or finely chopped fresh)
Rosemary Garlic Crackers: garlic powder and finely chopped fresh rosemary (you can use a food processor)
Everything Bagel Crackers: Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Seasoning.
Cheddar & Chive Crackers: Finely grated cheddar cheese & finely chopped fresh chive
Cracked Black Pepper & Sea Salt Crackers: Freshly cracked pepper & large flakey sea salt
Cinnamon Sugar: Cinnamon & granulated sugar for a sweet & sour cracker

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