Turn Your Sourdough Discard Into Crispy Crackers

If you're an amateur or professional baker who likes to make fresh-baked sourdough bread, then you are well aware of the bits of starter that are typically removed each time you feed it. This sourdough discard is just part of the process of pulling off a homemade loaf of sourdough, but you don't have to resort to throwing it in the trash can — what a waste! Instead, turn it into crispy crackers that you can snack on this week or serve with hummus and your other go-to dips for your guests on their way over.

Making crackers is just one of the best ways to use sourdough discards, and it's one of the easiest too. Crackers are ideal, because you can make the crunchy snacks as big or small as the discard allows. And it doesn't take much effort to transform the sourdough starter into crackers with just a few other simple ingredients like salt, butter, and spices. Some recipes will call for extra flour, but it's not always necessary.

The fun part, other than eating the crackers, is experimenting with different seasonings. Take inspiration from your bagel order and use everything bagel seasoning for bites of salty garlicky notes in each cracker. Dried herbs like rosemary, thyme, or herbs de Provence easily give a boost of flavor to these crackers. Meanwhile, sesame seeds or flaky sea salt will give crunch and flavor to the top of each sourdough cracker. You can also keep it simple with ground black pepper, make them spicy with cayenne pepper, or give them a cheesy touch with freshly-grated parmesan or cheddar. Any of these seasonings can be mixed into the dough or sprinkled on top of your next batch of sourdough discard crackers.

You can find many recipes online for crackers made with sourdough starter discard, but there are some tips that apply to any version. First, consider using discard from later in the process, because the bits from early in the process don't have much flavor and might even smell bad. To make it worth your time, wait until you have a full cup of mature sourdough starter, which can make up to 100 small crackers. You'll need to add melted butter to transform the discard into dough, but be sure to use unsalted butter so you have full control over the flavor of the crackers.