A surprisingly easy recipe for sourdough discard crackers - mix, roll out, and bake in less than an hour. Made with whole wheat flour and cold or fed starter, these easy-to-make snacks will be devoured by everyone while also adding a nutritious touch to your meals. Perfect for snacking, picnics, or parties, this easy recipe will have everyone asking for more!

If you're looking for more discard recipes, be sure to check out this amazing list of 35 sourdough discard recipes!

Making crackers is something I never thought I'd do. If I could get them for a dollar a box, why would I take the time and effort?

Besides, rolling out dough is not one of my favorite things (pie crust and cut out cookies, I'm looking at you).

But when you start reading labels and caring about what's in the food you're eating, those cheap crackers don't look so good anymore.

Making Crackers with Sourdough Starter

If I was going to make crackers, I thought I should take the opportunity to use up the extra sourdough starter I often have on hand before and after feeding (the "discard"). And I found after making them that using starter brings a wonderful tang and flavor the crackers!

What's more, this recipe for sourdough whole wheat crackers is one of very few sourdough recipes that doesn't require an active starter.

Meaning, you can take your starter out of the fridge and make these right away. (Are the angels singing?)

It's a great way to use some starter before feeding it again - or any other time you have extra starter, which if you grow and use sourdough can be quite a bit.

What's Great About This Recipe

1. The dough is really easy to work with and rolls out beautifully without tearing.
2. The crackers take only about an hour to make- start to finish.
3. They are so delicious and my family LOVES them - they'd probably eat them all in one day if I didn't ration them a bit!

Plus, one sure way to impress people is to make something that most people have only ever bought at stores their whole lives - just like my other classic pantry basic recipes!

Biscuits (Premium Packaging)

Cracker Basket Gift Idea

Giving a container of these crackers along with cream cheese and a home-canned topping like Tomato Chutney or Honey-Sweetened Jalapeño Jelly would make a unique and yummy handmade gift.

If you keep them from being devoured by your family, that is.

Recipe Ingredients

Here are the basic ingredients you'll need for this recipe along with substitution options:

• Sourdough starter - fed or unfed, cold or room temperature.
• Butter or coconut oil - I prefer the flavor of butter, but using coconut oil keeps these dairy free.
• Honey - just a small amount to balance the flavors, if you need a substitute try maple syrup or cane sugar.
• Whole wheat pastry flour - you can also use whole wheat white flour (or even all-purpose unbleached flour, though of course they wouldn't be whole wheat anymore) - I've found regular whole wheat flour is a bit course, but of course you can try it to see what you like.
• Sea salt - you want a fine sea salt for this, even for the topping, as thicker salts make the crackers too salty in our opinion.
• Baking soda
• Olive oil - or other pure oil for topping like avocado oil.

How To Make Whole Wheat Sourdough Crackers: Step-By-Step

Step 1: Add sourdough starter. Pour 1 cup of sourdough starter into a large bowl. I always use my Kitchenaid stand mixer, but the dough can also be made by hand.

Step 2: Mix in butter and honey. Add the softened butter (or coconut oil) and honey and mix well.

TIP: If you like the flavor of coconut oil, feel free to use it in place of butter. Our family felt the flavor was too strong and we really like them with butter, but that's one of the joys of cooking your own things - adapt to what you like!

Step 3: Add dry Ingredients. In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup of the whole wheat pastry flour (made from soft white wheat, so finer with less protein than hard red wheat flour) with sea salt and baking soda. Add this to the starter-butter mixture and stir until combined.

Step 4: Knead the dough. Add the remaining flour to the mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. This "kneads" the flour into a smooth dough.

TIP: I have found that when my starter is wetter I need to add a bit more flour- 1 tablespoon at a time- until I have a smooth and stiff dough. Other times, 1 cup flour is enough. Adjust yours as needed.

Step 5: Rest the dough. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes and start the oven heating to 350 degrees.

Step 6: Divide the dough. Place the dough on a well-floured surface and divide into thirds. Roll out one portion at a time, while keeping the remaining dough covered with a towel.

Step 7: Roll the dough. Shape one portion of the dough into a circle with your hands and then start rolling it out on the floured board (or parchment - see update below), turning and flouring as needed to keep from sticking.

As you can see above, the dough can be rolled thin evenly and without tearing- it really is easy to work with. And it's okay to use as much flour as you need to keep it from sticking- it doesn't seem to affect the end product!

UPDATE: Following some advice from readers, I now roll this out right on parchment paper, then use the pizza wheel to score the crackers and lift the whole thing right onto a baking sheet - so easy!! (Don't try to use silicone liners, though, thinking you'll cut lightly - it doesn't work, lol. Stick with parchment.)

A good cracker is a thin cracker, so keep rolling until the dough is about 1/8- inch thick.

This is how thin you want to aim for- I'm guessing this is about 1/8-inch thick, but I didn't actually measure it (how?).

And it doesn't tear even doing this, though you can see everything's pretty well floured.

Step 8. Cut into squares. Use a pizza wheel (makes it so easy!) or a knife to cut the dough into square-sized crackers (the size is totally up to you- I was aiming for the Wheat-Thin size), trimming off any really ragged edges.

TIP: You can see above that I leave some of the larger edges and we have half-crackers as well as whole ones. The smaller, thinner edges do brown faster when baking, so you'll need to keep an eye on them.

Step 9: Top & Bake. Transfer the crackers to a silicone (black silicone liners are my favorite for better browning) or parchment lined cooking sheet with a little space between them (they don't spread) - IF you're not rolling and cutting on parchment like the updated technique.

Spray with a little olive oil, using a Mr. Misto or other oil sprayer.

TIP: I found that trying to brush each cracker took way too long and moved them all over the tray as I was brushing, so I just spray them. Make sure that each cracker gets some oil, but don't worry about each cracker being covered evenly (as you can see above!) - it doesn't seem to make a difference when they're cooked, so it's not worth the extra time it takes.

After spraying, lightly sprinkle them with fine sea salt. When I tried a coarser salt, they were just too salty, so I'm very careful with salting the tops.

As soon as one baking sheet is filled (this recipe makes three large baking pans of crackers), place them in the oven to cook while repeating the rolling and cutting with another portion of dough.

Bake the crackers about 8-9 minutes (rotated halfway through) until they are medium-browned.

Check the sheet and remove any dark crackers around the edges and place the sheet back in the oven for a few more minutes so the lighter colored crackers can get done.

The crackers that are lighter never crisp up and are chewy rather than crisp, so do take the time to cook them longer.

TIP: Leaning towards the side of too dark is better than too light, since crisper is better than chewy for crackers- just keep them from actually burning.

Step 10: Cool & Store. Remove the crackers to a metal rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, like these cute retro-style glass jars at a great price (which are actually called 'cracker jars!').

How long do the crackers last? The crackers stay nice and crisp up to a week when stored like this - the few times they've lasted that long!

More Sourdough Recipes To Try:

What readers are saying about this easy recipe:

"I just made mine and it was so successful! I sprinkle with salt and herbs, they are lovely! Your recipe is brilliant!!" -Zhi

"These are so good and so easy! I may never buy store bought crackers again!" -Courtney

"YES YES YES!!! I was wondering what I should do with my discard so I stumbled across your site. I tried this recipe yesterday and we were all eating them for dinner. I never even knew you could make your own crackers before." -Brandi

I hope you love these whole wheat sourdough crackers! If you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I know how you liked it!