Crackers are the recipe that turns a discard skeptic into a believer. They use a generous amount of discard, they keep for two weeks, and they cost a fraction of the fancy boxed ones — the kind with rosemary and sea salt that somehow run six dollars a sleeve. The only trick is rolling them thin. Genuinely thin. Thinner than you think.
🫓 Rosemary & sea salt discard crackers
Stir together into a shaggy dough:
- 1 cup (240g) sourdough discard
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Knead it in the bowl for a few seconds until it comes together, then let it rest 20 to 30 minutes — this relaxes the gluten so it rolls out without fighting you. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Divide the dough in two. Roll each piece directly on a sheet of parchment, as thin as you can get it without tearing — aim for about 1/16 inch, almost translucent at the edges. Brush with olive oil, scatter flaky salt across the top, and press it in lightly with the rolling pin. Score into squares or diamonds with a pizza wheel or a bench scraper so they snap apart cleanly later.
Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until deep golden and crisp through. Thinner edges brown first — if the outside is done before the center, pull the finished crackers off and give the rest a few more minutes. Cool completely; they crisp up further as they sit. Store in an airtight jar for up to two weeks.
🌾 Make them seeded
Same dough, bigger personality. Before rolling, work in 2 tablespoons of mixed seeds — sesame, poppy, flax, whatever's in the cupboard — plus a pinch of garlic powder. Brush the rolled sheet with oil, press on a few more seeds so they stick, and bake as above. These are the ones to put out with cheese and have people assume you bought them somewhere good. A jar of everything-bagel seasoning is a lazy shortcut that does the same job.
⚡ No-roll cheese crisps
No patience for rolling? Stir 1/2 cup (120g) discard with 1/2 cup grated parmesan or cheddar and a crack of black pepper. Drop teaspoons onto parchment, flatten each into a thin round, and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 10 to 12 minutes until lacy and brown at the edges. They're somewhere between a cracker and a frico, and they vanish immediately.
📝 Baker's note: the thickness rule
If your crackers come out hard instead of crisp — tough rather than snappy — they were rolled too thick, every time. Crisp comes from thin plus dry, not from longer baking, which just burns the edges before the middle dries. When in doubt, roll it until you can almost see the parchment through the dough, then go a little further.
Next Monday: pizza night. We turn discard into a same-day pizza dough with more flavor than the 24-hour kind has any right to skip.
See you next Monday morning.