You’ll never throw away sourdough starter again once you’ve tried these ultra thin and crispy olive oil crackers, seasoned with herbs de Provence and finished with flake sea salt.
These homemade sourdough crackers are the perfect snack all on their own, or, for an extra treat, spread with soft cheese and top with a dollop of homemade jam. They are surprisingly quick, easily prepared while you’re waiting for your bread to rise, though you can also refrigerate the cracker dough for up to 24 hours.
I’ve been making homemade sourdough bread, at least a loaf every other week, for almost a year now. My starter (aka Jane Dough) is a bit of a diva (she prefers King Arthur organic flour and tends to wilt in the heat/humidity of summer) but she’s brought me loads loaves of joy. There are few things as wonderful as homemade sourdough bread.
The one thing that has always bugged me about keeping a sourdough starter, however, is the sheer amount of waste. Every time you feed the darn thing you have to throw away 2/3 of it, and when you’re buying $10/bag organic flour, well, that’s a travesty.
So I set out to find a way to utilize some of that discarded starter.
There are lots of recipes out there, from waffles to pizza crust and beyond, that use sourdough discard. But it was sourdough crackers that grabbed my attention.
Sourdough crackers require only a few ingredients, the bulk being made up of discarded sourdough starter (the stuff you’d normally toss every time you feed it). That starter is mixed with a bit more flour (I used a combo of all-purpose, whole wheat, and a touch of rye), olive oil, salt and dried herbs. That’s it. It really couldn’t be more simple.
In terms of flavor, they taste a lot like a homemade wheat thin, if wheat thins were made with olive oil and seasoned with Herbs de Provence (fancy wheat thins).
Now, I fully learned my lesson when I painstakingly cut out hundreds of tiny cheese crackers using a cookie cutter. They’re cute, but the time it takes to cut them all out really isn’t practical for a snack you eat by the handful.
With these crackers, I rolled them out into paper-thin sheets using my pasta roller attachment. Brilliant, right?! Indeed, you don’t need to exert yourself one bit to roll these out, and the attachment gets the dough much thinner and more even than doing it by hand (that said, you can certainly roll it out by hand too—I recommend doing so between sheets of parchment or waxed paper so you can get it super thin).
Spritz the whole sheet lightly with water (or brush on a very thin layer) and sprinkle the flake sea salt (the water will help it stick to the surface better than oil). I have a very fine mist spray bottle I always keep on hand, clean and empty, mostly for food styling but also for uses such as this.
Then you bake! You could cut them into squares or whatever if you wanted first, but I found baking them in whole sheets to be the most efficient.
After baking, break up the golden brown, crispy sheets into beautifully rustic pieces. I think this method produces much more beautiful crackers than cutting them ahead of time.
When I bake a single loaf of sourdough I end up with about 200 grams of sourdough starter overall (including the starter discarded at the very beginning before I feed it, as well as after the final feeding before the bulk ferment begins). Instead of throwing the discard away at each step in the process, plop it in a container and set it aside, then mix it all together and bake up a batch of these crackers.
If you bake two loaves at once you’ll probably have more starter leftover, in which case you can easily scale this recipe as needed to use up all your discard.
This recipe works with sourdough discard from any step in the process, as long as it is at 100% hydration (fed with equal parts water and flour). Doesn’t matter if your starter uses all whole wheat or a mix of flours, whether it’s been dormant, sitting in the fridge for weeks, or freshly fed and vigorous.
If you don’t have a sourdough starter and you’re looking to begin your sourdough journey (beware, it will consume you!) here are some resources to get you (and your starter) started:
- How to Make Your Own Sourdough Starter from Splendid Table/America’s Test Kitchen. I strayed a bit from this process, ultimately developing my starter from entirely all-purpose flour, as whenever I tried to use whole wheat the whole thing went south. But the process is still the same no matter what flour you use.
- 7 Easy Steps To Making An Incredible Sourdough Starter From Scratch from The Perfect Loaf (I also really like his Beginner Sourdough Bread recipe, it’s the process I’ve been using since last fall, and Jane seems to like it much better than the Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast method.)
- If you’re a see-then-do kind of baker, Baker Bettie’s Sourdough Club on Instagram is a great resource. Start here to begin your starter, then follow her highlights as she continues through the entire process of developing, feeding, and finally baking with her starter, lovingly called Millie.
- Laura has put together a great post on sourdough bread baking tools and resources (also follow her on instagram for lots of sourdough content including regular appearance by Breadly Cooper, her stellar starter).
- If you’d rather buy a starter and get to baking in days rather than weeks, King Arthur sells a fresh sourdough culture in a jar. Just feed it a few times and you’re ready to bake!
I love the mix of dried herbs and lavender flowers in Herbs de Provence. That said, you could just add some dried rosemary and/or thyme, or mix it up with just about any herb or spice blend you’d like.
I finished my crackers with a sprinkle of flake sea salt, but you could also top it with sesame or poppy or any other kind of seed (um, hello everything bagel seasoning? Heck yes). I have to say, I love these kinds of recipes where the main flavoring element is so incredibly versatile, you could really take it in just about any direction your tastebuds desire.
Sourdough Crackers with Olive Oil & Herbs
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 200 g mature sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- ½ cup / 60 g all-purpose flour
- ½ cup / 60 g whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons / 12 g rye flour*
- 3 tablespoons / 32 g extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dried herbs de Provence
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- maldon flake salt, for topping
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine sourdough starter with flours, olive oil, herbs and salt. Mix to combine, kneading until the dough comes together in a smooth ball.
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Position oven racks in the upper 1/3 and lower 1/3 of oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
- Cut dough in half; put one half back in the fridge while you roll out the other. Cut dough again into 4 smaller pieces.
- Roll out each piece into an oblong rectangle. You can do this with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, or using a pasta roller for super thin crackers. I like to roll my dough out to the #6 thickness setting (out of 8). If you are rolling by hand, just roll it as thin as you possibly can.
- Lay out two oblongs of dough side by side (not overlapping) on each baking sheet.
- Spritz or brush lightly with water; sprinkle with flake salt.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown and crispy, rotating the pans top to bottom and back to front part way through baking.
- Let cool, then transfer crackers to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Crackers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Video
Notes
- While I used a mix of AP, whole wheat, and rye flours, you can use any blend you like so long as the total flour weight stays the same. For example, if you leave out the rye flour just add an additional 12g of whole wheat instead.
Quick and easy and delicious. I couldn’t roll it thin enough, so I made wonderful herb pitas rather than crackers. I’ve been sprinkling fresh herbs on top as well as the salt. Thank you so much for giving me something easy to do with my leftover sourdough.
This is the best recipe ever! It tastes like cheez its. I made it with my mom, it turned out great the first time!
I was found this recipe to be only ‘OK’ but to be fair I ran out of herbs de Provence and could include only half the amount. That may have under-seasoned the crackers. The result is much like wheat thins (which I think are a little bland). I think rolling a slightly thicker dough might be used for taco salad shells. I will try the recipe again and experiment. Sure is an easy way to use extra discard.
Love this recipe. Made it several times and its easy to make and delicious.
I absolutely love these crackers. Just making my second batch now and just had to leave a comment. The texture is superb and I’m in love with the flavor. I’ve made many things with my sourdough starter for quite a awhile and this is my new favorite recipe. Thank you.
Hi
You mention the ingredient as ” mature sourdough starter (100% hydration)”
Can we use the discard which was stored during the making of the sourdough starter? Will that work?
Or should I discard this initial “discard” during the process of making the starter?
Yes, that’s what I mean here! Just starter left over from the bread baking process. :)
This recipe is fantastic! What an amazing use for discard. The batch I made with Herbs de Provence was delicious, and now I’m baking one with an Italian/Mediterranean blend. Thanks for sharing this!
Yes it’s wonderful
One week??? You´re mistaken lady… Mine were gone within the time it took me baking 4 trays! We couldn’t stop eating them! Thank you so much for such an amazing recipe :-)
Great recipe! I didn’t have a pasta roller I rolled this in between 2 pieces of baking paper that are folded into rectangles to fit the baking tray and the recipe worked well. The sides tend to bake faster, so focused to even out the rolling in the middle.
Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad to have this tasty recipe for my discard! I followed the recipe exactly and the dough worked beautifully in my pasta maker (Atlas 150), going all the way to #6. I cooked for 12-14 minutes and they are perfect – golden and crunchy. I can’t wait to try out different seasonings! Parmesan cheese sounds wonderful. Thanks for a great recipe!
What a great recipe! So excited as we have been looking for the perfect cracker recipe to use up our discard. Had to substitute the herbs for what we had in the cupboard and I played around with toppings – Nutritional yeast – truffle salt – lemon and thyme salt etc – all worked great and super quick!
Love this recipe! I’m on my second batch in less than a week. The first batch flew with homemade hummus. This batch has black sesame seeds, black pepper and chopped fresh rosemary from my garden. I will put them back in the cooler oven on a rack to dry the rosemary and make sure they are ultra crisp. I used my pasta machine on 5 of 6 thickness. Thank you!
We LOVE these crackers!!! I’ve made them in multiple ways, with multiple different variations of flour and herbs. It’s so easy and makes me feel like I’m not wasting that great starter!!
AND they are very pretty stacked on a plate! :)
We eat them all the time!
Thanks!
These are absolutely fantastic! I made them fully intending to share, but they were just too good and I ate the entire batch myself over the course of the week. I currently have another ball of dough in my fridge and that one I am determined to share. I highly recommend these crackers! What better way to use some thing I would have otherwise thrown away.
After combining ingredients can you leave it out on the counter instead of placing it in the fridge? I totally misread that and it’s been out at room temp for 24 hours, should I throw it away and start again?
I think you’ll be ok. :) If the dough is too soft just knead in a bit more flour.
Great receipt, will use it again but found the crackers inflated in the oven if you didn’t prod the dough on the tray with a fork.
If I use regular dried yeast, instead of starter for this recipe, how much water should I add?
These came out beautifully! This is a single bowl recipe that packs in all the great flavors. The crackers have the perfect crisp and texture and the recipe couldn’t be easier to follow. Thank you!
This recipe is amazing. Healthy yummy crackers & it’s so versatile. Can play around with different herbs. This is definitely a keeper! Tq.
Tried these for the first time they are very tasty.My family loved them.Will be making them regularly now.Thank you for the recipe :)
This was the first discard recipe I tried when I started my sourdough, Miss Mabel Corona Dough, back in March. I never thought I’d be the girl making my own crackers, but here I am! Miss Mabel’s crackers are now a pantry staple in my house. I think I’ve probably made a dozen or more versions and we’ve plowed through every one (even the ones my husband burned, lol!). If you’re looking for a great discard recipe that’s super simple and quick, this is it. Word to the wise-if you add sugar to make a sweet cracker, use a more neutral oil like butter or canola and don’t roll them super thin. Today’s versions are roasted red pepper garlic and graham cracker. I’m. In. Love.
I’ve made these twice in the span of one week, to say that my family loves them is an understatement!! Super simple recipe, and I love that I’m not just throwing away the discarded starter. Home run!!
Just took these out of the oven and they look fabulous! Can’t wait to try them!
This was so good and easy to make. Even my pickiest eaters loved them!
I am currently working on my third batch of these. This one has chives and minced garlic. They are addictive!
Finally, a leftover starter recipe that is actually good. In reality, these simple crackers are amazing. I made a batch for a family function to go with a cheese plate. Everyone loved them! There were 2 other types of store-bought artisan crackers on the plate, but no one ate those after trying these.
So simple to make. Thank you so much!
Made these recently. They are delicious. I eat them on their own. My husband can’t eat ordinary bread but sourdough is fine and these too. Roughly how many calories a cracke please?
I cant find whole wheat flour anywhere these days. Would it ruin the taste and texture to use 100% AP flour?
I’m getting ready to make these for the second time. The first batch didn’t last very long! I used only all purpose four and they were delicious. I haven’t been able to find other flours (except bread flour – I had to buy 25 lb of that but it’s easy to share with the neighbors). Anyway, the all purpose worked fine. I did everything else the same, even rolled them out paper thing with the rolling pin. Delicious!
Wow these were amazing. I was baking the batches and then breaking them up when cool but the pile was not getting any higher. They were being sampled as fast as they were stacked! We used chopped fresh rosemary rather than the French herb mix. Yum!
How easy and fun! I hate throwing sourdough starter in the compost pile when we can eat it! Thank you for giving me another reason to break out the pasta roller!
I have just made these again for the second time. I managed to roll them a lot thinner this time. I just love them so much. They have a kind of cheesy taste to them probs due to the sourdough discard but as a vegan, this is great for me.
I read the comments where someone made them with chilli and lime (I assume the zest only) so that is my next attempt when I accumulate enough discard.
I know they keep for a week but in this house they are more or less eaten as soon as they are cool enough!
Perfect with some creamy homemade hummus.
I will put a photo on Instagram and tag you, cheers for such a brilliantly easy recipe
Pasta machine=brilliance
One word for you, by way of giving back: zaatar!
This recipe is awesome! I am new to sourdough and have been maintaining a fairly small starter in the fridge and baking once a week. This week while I was bringing her back up to bake with I made a point to save the discard after seeing this recipe. It could not be easier especially with your genius pasta roller method and rusting breaking vs. cutting. I love the look of these crackers – almost like restaurant flatbread crackers!
P.S. I was out of some of the dried herbs but actually used some high quality poultry seasoning and it was a perfect substitute. THANK YOU!
These were so good! This was the first recipe I made with my sourdough starter. I only had a cup of discard, so this was the first thing I found that used that amount and would give me something somewhat healthy that wouldn’t have me eating a ton of carbs in one sitting!
I didn’t have herbs de Provence, so I just dumped in some rosemary, thyme and marjoram. The kids and I love them and they’ll be great with hummus!
Just made them today! Oh so delicious! Thanks for the amazing recipe. Now I am officially on board the SD train! Can’t wait to bake more. Thanks again.
Love these crackers! Can hardly leave them alone
These were amazing, couldn’t believe how tasty they were.
These taste delicious but it took much longer than 15 minutes to dry out and brown
I made these and they were very good. I appreciate having something to do with my discard besides making bread or cake. Excellent instructions!
I made these and love it. My second batch is in the fridge now. They are so atomic and tasty and easy to make. Mix them up then roll them out later or the next day. Even my husband likes them!!
These crackers are delicious, I followed the recipe exactly and wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve used my pasta maker for cracker making before but the addition of sourdough starter makes for a sturdy dough that was easy to roll out so thin. They’re so light and crisp with the lovely tang of the starter, thank you for the recipe.
Love these! Great way to use up a decent amount of starter and super easy and tasty!
I’d love to try this recipe but I don’t have sourdough starter.
Is the fermentation important to the crackers, or could I just use 100g of each flour and water?
Excellent recipe!
I didn’t think it was salty enough after baking, so I rubbed in a little olive oil and salted again. This worked very well. My oven took much longer to get them toasty brown and crisp, maybe 20 minutes or more. I will add a little more herbs de Provence next time too.
I have just finished making these they cooked very quickly 8/10 mins and are very nice they are a little bit sour for me can I put less starter in? I do I sub some water.. 😊
Starters will impart vastly different flavors depending on how old they are (a starter that’s been stored in the fridge for 2 weeks is going to be much more sour than a freshly fed one). Also depends on what flours you use to feed your starter (AP being more mild that whole wheat or rye), and even the individual wild yeasts in your area will affect the flavor of a starter.
If you want to reduce the starter, you’ll want to increase the water and flour so the overall weight is equal. So if you used 100g of starter, you’d need to add an additional 50g water and 50g flour (starter being equal proportions of each by weight).
You could also add a tablespoon of honey if you wanted to make the crackers a bit sweeter too!
Hi, I just made these and ended up with big air pockets during the baking process. Should I have rolled them thinner? I don’t have a machine or pasta roller so I used the good ole rolling pin. Oh, I use wax paper as the liner.
Your dough was probably thicker than mine would be my guess. Hopefully they were still delicious even with bubbles! If you try it again, dock it a few times with a fork all over the surface of the dough which should help prevent big bubbles. Also – you can use waxed paper to help you roll, but definitely don’t bake on waxed paper, it’s not oven safe!
Thank you for your very fast reply and thank you I am gonna make these tomorrow for sure I have only just in the last few weeks ventured into making a sourdough starter and it’s now active, I’ve made a couple of loaves and they taste great but I will need a lot of practice to make them look as nice as they taste, look forward to using your recipe.. by the way I found you and your recipe via google 😃
Hi ya, this recipe looks great.. I havent and can’t get any rye flour can I just top up with the wholemeal flour? I thanks in advance
You can really use any kind of flour in this recipe as long as the total weight is the same. :)
Loved these! Came out really well and used all my extra mother without needing to add much else. Keep really crisp in a tin. Highly recommend. Thanks!