These ultra thin and delicately crispy parchment crackers are made with semolina flour and sourdough starter for a yeasty, buttery flavor that's perfect for your next charcuterie board.
Yield: about 20 crackers
Cook Time: 3 minutesminutes
Total Time: 2 hourshours
Ingredients
1cup/ 200gmature sourdough starter*, at 100% hydration
1teaspoonfine sea salt or kosher salt, not iodized
Instructions
In a bowl, combine sourdough starter with semolina flour, olive oil, salt, and 1 tablespoon warm water. Mix to combine, kneading until the dough comes together, adding a bit more water if needed to produce a firm dough that' still slightly tacky (but not sticky). Continue to knead for 3 to 5 minutes or until very smooth (unless you used a coarser semolina flour, the dough should feel soft like the skin of your earlobe).
Wrap ball tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
Place a pizza stone on oven rack positioned in the lower third of your oven. (If you don't have a pizza stone, you can use an upside down sheet pan, just be sure it is rated for high temperatures as many coated/nonstick cookie pans are not). Turn on oven to 475 degrees F and allow to preheat for at least 45 minutes.
Heat 1/2 cup water in the microwave or in a saucepan with 1 teaspoon of fine salt, stirring until salt is completely dissolved. Transfer to a clean spray bottle with a fine mist nozzle. You can also brush the salt water on with a fine bristle pastry brush.
Divide dough into small balls weighing approximately 18-20g each (you should have about 18 to 20 balls). Dripe a piece of plastic wrap over top to keep them from drying out as you work.
Flatten one ball of dough with your palm; lightly flour both sides. Run through a pasta roller, increasing the thickness setting one notch each pass, dusting with more flour as needed. Rotate the dough 1/4 turn between each pass until the dough is as wide as the pasta roller, then continue in the same direction (this will keep the dough as round as possible rather than a long thin oval). You want to roll it as thin as your machine will go (for me this was #8).
Lay the round of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it even thinner using a rolling pin, working in short, firm strokes from the center out. (You can also skip the pasta rollers and just roll the crackers completely by hand.) Continuously move and rotate the dough on the counter to keep it from sticking, dusting with more flour as needed. You're looking for a super thin piece of dough that, if you placed it on top of a sheet of music, you'd be able to see the black and white contrast through the dough (though probably not the individual notes).
Spritz a light layer of salt water over the top of the dough. Carefully transfer to the hot pizza stone, spritzed side up. Bake for 90 seconds or until puffed and bubbly, then flip and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes more, or until cracker is crisp (it will not 'droop' when you pick it up with the tongs), and edges and bubbles are light golden brown but areas in between are still pale. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
Crackers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one month.
Notes
*See notes in post for a non-sourdough version and about substituting different flours.