sourdough crackers
I am very open about the fact that I am lactose intolerant, but don’t always have the willpower to deny myself a box of extra toasty Cheez-Its when i’m at the grocery store. They’re so addictive. (Why do we do things when we know they’re so bad for us? I guess that’s another blog in and of itself.)
One late night when I couldn’t sleep and was scrolling through sourdough discard recipe land, I found a recipe that I had been wanting to try. I started to read the comments for flavor inspiration, and there it was: someone was claiming that the combination of sourdough starter and curry powder produced an uncanny resemblance to Cheez-Its.
Could it be true? A dairy-free cheese cracker hack? I had to find out for myself.
I made them this morning and have already eaten half of the batch. They are freshest within the first three or so days... I’m doing myself a favor, right?
I sometimes cut recipes in half because I am only cooking for two, but these make a scant sheet tray of crackers. You wouldn’t want to make any less.
Close your eyes and think of cheese as you take a bite. You may even fool yourself.
sourdough crackers (a weird cheez-it hack)
Yield: 60-70 crackers
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp kosher salt
1 Tb curry powder
1 cup sourdough starter, unfed/discard
¼ cup olive oil
Sesame seeds for topping, optional
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients except the sesame seeds to the dry ingredients. Mix until you have a cohesive, smooth-ish dough. Place a large piece of plastic wrap on your counter. Dump the dough onto the plastic sheet and knead a few times to bring it completely together. (There is turmeric in curry powder. The plastic wrap will protect your counter from staining.)
Take a piece of parchment paper the size of your baking sheet (13x17) and place on top of your dough ball. Roll with a rolling pin into a large rectangle the size of your baking sheet. You want your dough to be at most ⅛” thick. Any thicker and your crackers will come out too thick as they do puff up a bit in the oven. If you look at the picture at the top of the page, I didn’t roll my quite thin enough. Don’t make this mistake! While they are good, they don’t have that snap you want in a cracker. Roll away.
Flip the dough so that the parchment is now on the bottom. Peel off and discard the plastic wrap. With a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut your sheet of dough into 1.5“ squares. Be sure to cut all of the way through but do not cut the paper underneath. You will have some scrappy pieces along the edges. Transfer the parchment/dough to your baking sheet. Lightly oil the tops of your crackers if topping with sesame seeds or sea salt. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top if you are using them. Place your baking sheet on a rack in the middle of your oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the pieces on the edges are starting to brown.
Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the whole parchment sheet onto a cooling rack. The squares will have separated a bit in the oven but be sure none are sticking together. You want them to cool spaced apart so that they stay crisp. Be sure to snack on a few warm crackers-these are yummy. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
If you don’t have curry powder, these still make a lovely cracker with other spices. Use up to 2 Tb of any spice mixture you like (Poppy seed! Onion and nutritional yeast! Chili powder and garlic! Za’atar! Old Bay!) Just be aware if there is added sodium- you will want to adjust how much kosher salt you put in your dough.
