The Fresh Loaf

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Sourdough Parmesan/herb crackers

Grumio's picture
Grumio

Sourdough Parmesan/herb crackers

Favorite use so far for "discard" starter:

2.5 oz AP flour

2.5 oz WW flour (I've been using atta)

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp herbes de provence (or rosemary, or what you will)

3 oz butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces

1 oz Parmesan cheese, shredded

8 oz leftover 100% hydration starter (add water as needed if you use a lower hydration starter)

I use a food processor for this; it's dead easy. A whisk, a pastry cutter & a wooden spoon should work too.

Pulse dry ingredients to mix. Add butter & cheese, pulse until the butter is cut into the flour & has a coarse-sand texture. Add starter & process until it just comes together as dough. Don't over-process.

Turn out, knead very briefly to form a ball. Put in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, let sit at room temp for 8-12 hours. It should rise 50-75%. 

Cut dough ball in half, lightly flour  your work surface, & roll out each piece of dough very thin. Each piece should more than fill a 10" x 15" baking sheet (I usually have some left over).

Score with a pizza or pastry wheel, dock, cover with plastic wrap & let sit at room temp for 2-3 hours. Bake @ 350°f for about 20 minutes, turning sheets as needed for even baking. Towards the end you will probably need to take the done ones at the edges of the pans out & let the middle pieces finish. Keep a close eye towards the end of baking; they go from done to burnt very quickly.

They are ridiculously good.

 

 

MichaelH's picture
MichaelH

They sound ridiculously good, will try them this weekend. Thanks!

cranbo's picture
cranbo

Looks good enough to try! Thanks for sharing.

Crackers from sourdough discard is a great idea. I've done crepes from discard too: just an egg, butter, milk, maybe some more flour if you want, dash of salt.  

Question about your recipe: can you explain why  to process the flour + butter + cheese? Is there a reason to do this instead of  just melt the butter, and then just wazz everything in the processor? 

Grumio's picture
Grumio

You could melt the butter first; I've made these crackers with olive oil instead of butter. I think I did it this way because when I first made crackers, I realized, hey, crackers are sort of just lousy pie crust! So I cut the butter in à la pie crust. But this ferments at room temp, and I don't think the butter really stays in little chunks like it would in pie crust.

It's quite a flexible recipe. Another thing I like to do is dose it with Indian spices (turmeric, garam masala & cayenne) & top it with black cumin seeds.

FoodFascist's picture
FoodFascist

Hi there,

just wondering, what flour do you feed your starter? Mine is a WW, so does that mean i'll need to add less WW flour and more plain flour, or stick to the same proportions as per recipe?

Many thanks

Grumio's picture
Grumio

My starter is AP flour. I'm sure it would work either way. The first version of this I made was with 2.5 oz white whole wheat & 2.5 oz atta (finely ground whole grain durum), olive oil instead of butter, & no cheese. The recipe above is the rather more decadent version.