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Say goodbye to store-bought crackers and hello to these homemade Sourdough Discard Butter Crackers. This quick and easy recipe uses just four simple ingredients, including that extra sourdough discard sitting in your fridge.
My kids absolutely love the buttery richness and tangy sourdough flavor of this sourdough cracker recipe- they’re hard to resist. Serve them with dips, pair with cheese or add them to a charcuterie board – pair them with my crispy sourdough crackers for two incredible homemade cracker recipes.
These crackers are the perfect easy snack. And the best part – you can whip them up and bake them in less than an hour!
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Why You’ll Love Discard Crackers
- 4 Simple Ingredients – Just like my Beginner Sourdough Bread, this recipe only uses a few simple ingredients.
- Buttery Flavor – You’ll love the flavor of these crackers—they have the same buttery flavor as my favorite Sourdough Discard Drop Biscuits.
- Easy to Roll Out – These crackers are so easy to roll out, just like my Sourdough Sugar Cookies. Plus, like those cookies, you can cut them into any shapes you want. I usually do rectangles, but you can get creative!
I love baking with sourdough! If you’re interested in baking sourdough bread and aren’t sure where to start, use my free guide to make a sourdough starter from scratch, or start with my Beginner Sourdough Bread recipe. You’ll be baking delicious sourdough in no time and using all your discard in incredible recipes like these discard crackers!
Important Ingredients
- Sourdough Discard – I use 100% hydration sourdough discard in discard recipes. You can also use fresh, bubbly sourdough starter or discard that’s been in your refrigerator for a week.
- Butter – I always bake with unsalted butter so that I can better control the salt content in my bakes. You can substitute salted butter if you prefer. Because this recipe is only four ingredients, using a good quality butter will make a difference in taste.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Amy’s Tip: Keep a jar in your refrigerator to store sourdough discard. Discard is a by-product of your sourdough starter and there is no reason to throw it away. Instead, use it in incredible sourdough discard recipes, like these discard crackers, where it adds moisture, fermentation benefits and great flavor.
Substitutions
- Unsalted Butter: Use salted or a dairy-free alternative (olive oil would also be a good substitution).
- Whole Wheat Flour: Substitute whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour in this recipe. My favorite is soft white wheat, freshly milled in my grain mill. If substituting flour you may need 1-2 Tablespoons extra flour or water – depending on what flour you use. If the dough is crumbly, add more water. If it’s too sticky, add some extra flour.
- Gluten Free Flour: I have not made this recipe with gluten-free flour, but I think it would work well using a gluten free sourdough starter and flour blend.
- Flavor Variations: Add in a hard flavorful cheese like parmesan, asiago, gruyere, or any favorite herbs or seasonings (I like rosemary, thyme, oregano and everything bagel seasoning).
How to Make Butter Crackers
Mix the Dough and Rest
Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Step 2: Use a dough whisk to combine the dough until the dough mixture comes together and feels tacky but not overly sticky.
Long Ferment Option: This dough can be long fermented for up to 2 days to give more sourdough benefits to the crackers. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, let the cracker dough warm back up to room temperature before rolling out.
Roll Out and Cut
Step 3: Dump dough onto the counter.
Step 4: Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a large rectangle.
Step 5: Use a pizza cutter to cut dough into rectangles. Sprinkle with sea salt, parmesan cheese or any other desired toppings (or leave them plain)!
Step 6: Prick each cracker with a fork to let the steam come through when baking.
Bake and Store Crackers
Step 7: Carefully transfer the crackers to a parchment paper lined pan or baking sheet.
Step 8: Bake crackers at 375ºF for about 15 minutes.
How to Store Leftovers
Leftover crackers should be cooled completely and then stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Crackers can last for 5-7 days if stored this way.
Amy’s Recipe Tip
Don’t forget to prick the crackers before baking them! The pricks actually cause the crackers to stay flat and crispy and not puff up quite as much in the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sourdough discard can stay in the refrigerator indefinitely as long as it doesn’t have mold on it. It can last that way for a very long time. My preference, however, is to use sourdough discard frequently. The longer it sits in the refrigerator, the more acetic acid it produces which makes it very, very sour/vinegary.
In savory recipes like sourdough discard crackers, I use discard that is about 1-2 weeks old. For sweeter sourdough discard recipes, like my sourdough chocolate chip cookies, I prefer to use young/fresh discard or active starter for no sour flavor. There is no right or wrong way – it’s up to personal preference.
These crackers use some fermented flour (sourdough discard) in the dough, so they have some of the benefits of long-fermented sourdough. If you want more of those benefits, long-ferment the dough in the refrigerator for a few days. Check the nutrition facts in the recipe card for specific nutrition information.
Yes! You don’t need to let the discard warm up to room temperature, just dump it into the bowl and mix it up with the melted butter, salt and flour.
Easy Sourdough Recipes
If you tried these homemade Sourdough Discard Butter Crackers or any other recipe on my website leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Happy Baking!
Sourdough Discard Butter Crackers
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Equipment
- pizza cutter
Ingredients
- 200 grams sourdough discard, 100% hydration, about 3/4 cup
- 180 grams all-purpose flour, about 1 1/3 cups
- 113 grams unsalted butter, melted, about 1/2 cup
- 5 grams salt, about 1 teaspoon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- To a medium-sized bowl, mix together the sourdough discard, all-purpose flour, melted butter and salt. It will come together and form a ball.
- Cover the dough and let rest for about 10 minutes to relax the gluten.
- Lightly flour a countertop and roll the dough out into an 18 by 14 inch rectangle. The dough will be rolled fairly thin. Add flour as needed throughout the rolling process so the dough doesn't stick to your rolling pin.
- Using a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle into 4 rows of 15 crackers, about 60 rectangular crackers total.
- Line two pans with parchment paper. Transfer the cut crackers to the pans, about 30 crackers per pan, leaving a little space between each cracker.
- Bake for about 15 minutes until puffed up and browned. Let cool completely so the crackers have time to crisp up. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Amy thank you for this delicious recipe. Mine came out perfectly. I’ve tried other cracker recipe and they never came out sooo good. I made them exactly the way it was written. For me this is a keep and will be making this over and over again.
Thanks for the review! I’m glad it turned out great!
I don’t understand what 100% hydration means.
100% hydration means the sourdough starter has been fed with equal parts water and flour. The ratio of starter to water & flour can vary as long as the flour and water are fed in equal parts.
I thought I’d try to use up the discard and chose your cracker recipe. I used salted butter and NO EXTRA SALT. They were fantastic! Finally a success as a beginner sourdough baker.
I’m glad they were a big success! Enjoy!
Such a simple and delicious recipe! Thank you for helping me rescue my discard and giving an alternative, healthier option to store bought crackers. I added some black and white sesame seeds to the top, which were delicious 😋
Yum! That sounds delicious.