I have a personal relationship with my sourdough starter. “Hermann” and I have been a couple for many months now, and having witnessed his fickleness first-hand, I have a thorough understanding of his needs. I almost wrote “feelings”, that is how close Hermann and I have become.

I feed Hermann regularly and lucky for me he is still a happy camper. Unbeknownst to him, a couple of his predecessors have simply died on me, mostly because I neglected the basics of sourdough starter care 101. Divide, feed, love.

I bake sourdough bread a lot, but not all the time. One of the consequences to this is that every once in a while I have a cup or so of Hermann Junior left over after a feeding that I have no use for. I do not share this with Hermann Senior – he would be heartbroken – but most of the time this has gotten discarded. Until I decided to turn it into snacks. Sourdough whole wheat crackers, to be exact. (The original recipe I'm using can be found here.)

If you, too, are hesitant to simply dump your “discarded” sourdough, here is something else you can do with it:

Sourdough Whole Wheat Crackers

1 cup “discarded” sourdough starter

1/4 cup room temperature butter

1 cup whole wheat or as much as you need to make a stiff dough

1/2 tsp sea salt

Olive oil for brushing

Coarse salt (such as kosher salt) for sprinkling on top

You can vary what goes on top as I have (I used herbs and coarse salt). Make a stiff dough, leave on the counter for at least three hours (I found seven, as the recipe I had originally found called for, too long). It is easiest to take a piece of baking parchment (1/2 sheet size) and roll the dough out on that (1/4" is the thickest I would go; use a rolling pin with spacer rings if you can), then transfer to a baking sheet and cut it into small squares/rectancles directly on there. Brush with oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt, herbs etc. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until the crackers are golden brown and crisp. If using a gas-fired oven, simply switch if off and leave the crackers in there for a little while longer.

I had to literally fight my family to be able to take photographs of the finished product, so ENJOY WHILE THEY LAST. :)