• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Start Here
  • Baking 101
  • Recipes
  • Shop

The Bake School

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Start Here
  • Baking 101
  • Recipes
  • Shop
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Start Here
    • Baking 101
    • Recipes
    • Shop
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » Recipes » Snacks

    Published on: September 29, 2022 by Janice Lawandi; Updated on: February 7, 2023 Leave a Comment

    Sourdough Discard Crackers

    22 shares
    • Facebook
    • Reddit
    • Flipboard
    Jump to Recipe
    A sheet pan of golden brown baked crackers topped with salt, spices and sesame seeds.

    Learn how to make crispy sourdough discard crackers. This easy recipe is a great way to quickly use up the discarded sourdough starter you accumulate from regularly feeding your starter.

    A bowl of homemade crackers served with cheese and charcuterie.
    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    If you are building up a new sourdough starter, you are likely feeding it daily (or even twice a day!), which means you are discarding often. Using the method for how to grow a new sourdough starter, you will discard 50 grams of starter every day. This means you will end up with 250 grams of sourdough discard in only 5 days.

    Cue sourdough crackers. They are easy to make and they are excellent to have on hand for snacking or if companies coming to serve with drinks!

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Substitutions and Variations
    • Instructions
    • Storage
    • Top tip
    • Sourdough Discard Cracker FAQs
    • Other Savoury Baking Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe
    • FAQ

    Ingredients

    You likely have all the ingredients you need to make sourdough crackers:

    Ingredients to make sourdough discard crackers with olive oil, measured out and ready to make the dough.
    • sourdough starter discard—this is the starter I discard every time I feed my sourdough starter. Do not use discard from a brand new starter that you are just beginning. Use starter from one that is established.
    • olive oil—I use the olive oil I cook with, which is an affordable extra virgin olive oil. Nothing too fancy.
    • flour—I use regular bleached all purpose flour for crackers.
    • salt—I use table salt in crackers because I want them to be salty.
    • spices—hot pepper flakes work great, though some people will incorporate garlic or onion powder.
    • toppings—coarse/flaky sea salt, as well as spice blends or za'atar make great toppings for crackers

    Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

    Note: The most "tricky" ingredient on the list is the sourdough starter discard because you will have to have sourdough starter leftover from multiple feedings to make this recipe. I like to store the discard in a clean 250 mL (1 cup) jar in the fridge. I add to it every time I feed my starter. When the jar is full, I promptly make crackers with it.

    Substitutions and Variations

    With a short list of ingredients, the substitutions are limited.

    • Flour - I use bleach all-purpose flour to make the dough, but you can use a combination of all-purpose with rye, whole wheat, or other whole grain flour. Replace up to 20 % of the weight of flour with your alternative. More may make the dough harder to work with.
    • Oil - you can replace the olive oil with canola oil or another vegetable oil. Use an oil you like to eat, but watch for oils that are very flavourful because they may impart a stronger taste to the crackers
    • Spicy - add chili pepper flakes to the dough and also sprinkle on top with salt before baking. I also like to sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper
    • Everything but the bagel - grab your favourite "everything but the bagel" seasoning mix and sprinkle generously on the crackers before baking them
    • Sour - sprinkle with sumac and salt before baking for a play on salt and vinegar crackers
    • Middle Eastern - sprinkle with za'atar before baking. It's a blend of dried thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, and sumac) and it's so delicious on crackers!
    • Italian - I'm obsessed with Trader Joe's "Spicy Italian sprinkle," which contains fennel seeds that add a really lovely flavour

    If you are using a spice mix or seasoning mix, if it's quite salty, you may have to pull back on the salt in the dough. You will have to do a little trial-and-error to find just how salty you want your crackers and what works with the seasoning mixes you are using.

    Instructions

    Crackers are easy. Mix the dough in a bowl, shape it into a disk to chill overnight, then roll it out and cut it into crackers. Season generously and bake them until golden brown and crispy!

    Dry ingredients plus olive oil and spices in a bowl to make dough for crackers.

    Combine all the ingredients (except for the garnishes) in a medium bowl.

    Combining dough in a bowl to make crackers.

    Use a dough whisk to mix the dough well.

    Kneading dough to make crackers.

    Knead the dough a little to bring it together into a smooth disk.

    Cracker dough stored in a reusable resealable sandwich bag.

    Wrap the disk of dough and chill it overnight in the refrigerator. I like to use a 450 mL Stasher bag to chill the dough overnight.

    Two sheets of cracker dough rolled out thin and placed on a sheet pan lined with parchment.

    Roll out the dough with either a rolling pin by hand, or you can use a pasta machine, gradually increasing the setting from 1 to 4 or 5 for crackers that are fairly thin, but not too thin (⅛–1/16" thickness or 1.6 to 3.2 mm thick). Place them on half sheet pans lined with parchment paper

    Sourdough discard crackers before baking in the oven.

    Use a pizza wheel (pizza cutter) or a knife to cut out crackers. Leave them where they are on the parchment paper because they are too soft to move around at this stage.

    Tip: If you plan on making crackers every week, I highly recommend trying to use a pasta machine to roll out the dough. You can use a hand-cranked model, but I love to use the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment for my stand mixer so all I have to do is guide pieces of the dough through the rollers, while the machine does the work.

    Sheets of rolled out cracker dough garnished with spices and salt, ready to be cut out and baked

    Make sure to season the crackers generously

    Bake the crackers until they are light golden brown. Honestly, it can be tricky because it seems they go from underbaked to burnt the minute you turn your back. Pay attention towards the end of the baking to make sure they don't brown too much.

    Freshly baked sourdough discard crackers on a sheet pan.

    Hint: if the crackers get too dark, immediately pull the sheet pan out of the oven and dump the crackers onto another pan quickly to get them cooled down as fast as possible. This will slow down any further browning.

    A sheet pan of golden brown baked crackers topped with salt, spices and sesame seeds.

    Storage

    Store the baked crackers in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to one month. They store very well as long as they stay dry.

    If the crackers are exposed to humidity, they will become chewy and the texture won't be as nice. If this happens, try to place them on a sheet pan at 300 °F and heat them in the oven to try to evaporate the water and recover that crispy texture.

    Top tip

    A bowl of homemade crackers.

    Keep your jar of discard in the refrigerator and every time you have enough to make crackers, do so. This way, it never goes to waste and you'll always have a snack on hand.

    Sourdough Discard Cracker FAQs

    Can I add cheese to sourdough discard crackers?

    I've been testing out versions with cheese, or dried powdered cheese (similar to the orange powder in boxed macaroni and cheese), but with mixed results. Powdered cheese tends to brown/burn too fast before the crackers are done drying out. So for now, I can't recommend using cheese as a topping or in the cracker dough.

    Can I use discard from a new starter that I've just started building up?

    No, you cannot use discard from a fresh starter before it's "established" and thriving. The pH of new starter is too high to store. It goes bad quickly as it is contaminated with microorganisms that aren't the good kind you find in sourdough starter yet. For this reason, you need to build up the starter first before using it to bake with.

    Other Savoury Baking Recipes

    Baking doesn't always have to be sweet! In fact, I love to bake savoury treats. Here are some savoury baking recipes to try:

    • A slice of quiche with rainbow Swiss chard in it, served with a small bowl of salt on the side.
      Deep Dish Quiche with Swiss Chard
    • Serving scones with cheese with pickles and spicy jam.
      Scones with cheese
    • Serving pizza muffins on plates with marinara dipping sauce and chilli flakes.
      Pizza Muffins
    • Baked savoury cheese shortbread biscuits shaped like oak leaves being transferred from a sheet pan to a ceramic plate
      Savoury Cheese Shortbread Cookies

    If you tried this recipe for the best sourdough discard crackers (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

    📖 Recipe

    A bowl of homemade crackers served with cheese and charcuterie.

    Sourdough Discard Crackers

    AuthorAuthor : Janice Lawandi
    Learn how to make the best sourdough discard crackers with this easy recipe. You can roll the dough for these olive oil crackers with a rolling pin, though I prefer to use a pasta machine to do the job quickly.
    5 from 1 vote
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe Saved Recipe
    Prep Time 25 minutes mins
    Cook Time 20 minutes mins
    Chill time 1 day d
    Total Time 1 day d 45 minutes mins
    Course Snack
    Cuisine American
    Servings 8
    Calories 160 kcal

    Equipment

    • Danish dough whisk
    • Rolling pin
    • Sheet pan
    Need measurements in CUPSUse the button options below to switch from Metric to US measurements! It's that easy!

    Ingredients
     
     

    Sourdough discard cracker dough

    • 260 grams sourdough starter
    • 60 mL extra-virgin olive oil
    • 156 grams bleached all-purpose flour
    • 5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
    • 2.5 mL freshly ground pepper
    • 2.5 mL crushed hot pepper flakes

    Finishing

    • Flaky sea salt
    • za'atar or your favourite spice blend

    Instructions
     

    Sourdough discard cracker dough

    • Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Use a Danish dough whisk or a wooden spoon to mix them well. The dough will be a little shaggy at first.
    • Knead the dough a few times to smooth it out, then shape it into a disk.
    • Cover the bowl in plastic wrap or place the disk of dough in a reusable sandwich bag.
    • Refrigerate the dough overnight or for up to 2 days.

    Finishing

    • Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
    • Roll out the dough until it is very thin. You can do this with a rolling pin between two sheets of parchment. I prefer to use a pasta roller to do the job, dividing the dough into 8 equal pieces and passing each piece through the machine from setting 1 to 4 until each forms a long, thin strip of dough.
    • If rolled out by hand on parchment, remove the top paper and transfer the parchment sheet with the dough to a sheet pan. If rolled out with a pasta roller, transfer the strips of dough to parchment paper-lined sheet pans.
    • Sprinkle the rolled out cracker dough generously with flaky salt and garnish with za'atar or your favourite spice blend.
    • Cut the dough into 1 inch squares using a pizza wheel.
    • Bake the crackers until golden brown. This takes about 20 minutes or so.
    • Let cool, then transfer to an airtight container to store for up to one month.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 160kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 3gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 21mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.1gCalcium: 3mgIron: 1mg
    Give backIf you enjoy the free content on this website, buy me a pound of butter to say thanks!

    FAQ

    Why is my cracker dough tearing and hard to roll out?

    I have noticed that if you store the cracker dough in the fridge for more than 2 or 3 days maximum, the structure within the dough (gluten) breaks down and the dough tears more easily when rolled. It becomes so delicate that it is too difficult to roll out with a pasta roller, and hard to manipulate when rolled thin. Make sure to roll out your cracker dough within a couple days of making the dough!

    Why are my crackers soft and chewy?

    You have to bake crackers for long enough to evaporate the water so that they dry out. If there's any residual water left in the crackers, they are chewy and bendable, instead of crispy and crunchy. Make sure to bake them until golden brown, but keep an eye on them towards the end of the baking time because they burn quickly!

    Why won't my crackers brown nicely in the oven?

    The crackers are baked in a moderate oven (350 °F) for approximately 20 minutes. It takes that long for the colour to develop in them because remember sourdough discard tends to be quite acidic! Sourdough starter has a pH below 5, so the dough tends to be quite acidic too and Maillard browning reactions will be slower. Maillard browning is faster at higher pH (more basic or alkaline).

    What is discard?

    Each time you feed your sourdough starter, you will remove a portion to use it to make bread, or you will discard it. This ensures you have a small, manageable amount of starter. If you don't ever discard or remove a portion and continue to feed it, you will end up with a huge amount of starter, more than you can use to make bread as a home baker.

    When can I use sourdough discard?

    When you first mix a new starter, throw out the discard every day for at least the first week, if not two weeks. On the first days of building a new starter, the lactic acid and acid-loving microbes aren't present or thriving yet. You'll notice the smell of your starter may be odd or cheesy. Throw out the discard every feeding until the starter smells sour or boozy, after a week to two weeks of consistent feeding. After this point, you can use the discard to make crackers and the starter to make bread.

    More Snack Recipes

    • A pink bowl of toasted pumpkin seeds with a pink spoon for serving
      Toasted pumpkin seeds
    • Candied bacon without a dehydrator
      Candied bacon jerky
    • Chili lime popcorn made with chili powder, lime zest
      Chili lime popcorn
    • maple nuts
      Toasted maple sesame nuts

    Baking resources

  • Baking conversion charts
  • Baking ingredients and pantry staples
  • Baking substitutions
  • Common baking conversions
  • Choosing baking pans
  • How to measure ingredients for baking
  • Mixing methods
  • Reader Interactions

    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    This is a picture of Janice Lawandi

    Hi, I'm Janice!

    I am a baking-obsessed recipe developer with a PhD in Chemistry who writes about baking and the science of baking.

    More About Me

    Join the Community

    If you enjoy the free content on this website or have questions, consider joining the Bake School Community!

    Easter Treats

    • Strawberry jam with rhubarb smeared on a piece of toast on a plate.
      Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
    • Freshly baked rhubarb crumble ready to be served.
      Rhubarb Crumble
    • Rhubarb upside down cake sliced to serve it.
      Rhubarb raspberry upside-down cake
    • Serving rhubarb muffins on plates with a side of butter.
      Rhubarb muffins with sour cream and streusel
    • Let's bake with rhubarb-best rhubarb recipes roundup
      What to bake with rhubarb
    • Bluebarb or blueberry rhubarb crumble with a marzipan oat crumble topping in a blue baking dish with a fluted edge
      Blueberry rhubarb crisp with marzipan crumble

    Berry Baking

    • Milk crumbs on a Momofuku Milk Bar style cake-layers of blackberry curd, almond cake, and almond frosting
      Blackberry almond cake — Milk Bar style
    • raspberry amaretti semifreddo slice
      Almond raspberry semifreddo
    • Vanilla cardamom tapioca pudding with strawberries
      Homemade tapioca pudding recipe with fresh strawberries
    • A pan of baked honey blueberry muffins with streusel topping.
      Honey blueberry muffins
    • A plate of raspberry financiers.
      Raspberry Financiers
    • Honey-kissed-strawberry-rhubarb crumbles
      Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble With Honey

    Eggless chocolate cake

    Chocolate layer cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate sprinkles on a cake stand.
    Learn to make an eggless chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting!

    Baking conversions

    Buy the baking conversion charts NOW!

    As seen on

    Logos of online and offline publications that featured the Bake School and Janice Lawandi.

    How to poach pears

    Poached pears on an enamelware plate.
    This easy poached pears recipe is simple and you can use the poached fruit for salads, appetizers, and desserts!

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Meet Janice Lawandi
    • FAQ
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and conditions
    • Accessibility
    • Press

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Services
    • Portfolio

    As seen on

    Logos of online and offline publications that featured the Bake School and Janice Lawandi.

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    COPYRIGHT © 2025 · THE BAKE SCHOOL

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.