Sourdough Discard to the Rescue – Scallion Soda Crackers
They’re delicious, easy to make, and a great way to use up your sourdough discard. By delicious I mean they genuinely taste better than the store‑bought ones, imported or local. These crackers actually came about by accident. Here’s what happened... I feed my starter twice a day and I’m pretty generous with it, tossing in dozens of grams of flour each time. Before I knew it, I had built up quite a stash of discard. Then it was market day again, so I thought I’d make some crisp crackers to use up the discard. I checked the fridge and, whoa, there was almost ten kilos of starter in there 😨 Fine then, let’s make a lot. When I’d made about four kilos’ worth, I felt I couldn’t go on, like my hands were about to fall off, because crisp crackers have to be rolled super thin! So I figured I’d just make thicker biscuits instead 🙄, but thicker ones tend to be hard, and that tangy sourdough flavor from crisp crackers doesn’t seem to go that well with them. So I added a bit of baking soda... And it turned out amazing! This is the recipe after I’ve tweaked it. If you want to reduce the oil, I suggest making it once as written, then adjust to your taste. * This recipe is better suited to “cellared” starter that’s been sitting for a while, say more than two weeks. If your discard is quite fresh, reduce the amount of baking soda. * It’s a very relaxed formula. You can mix and match the flours as you like, but note that too much whole‑grain makes it drier, so if using whole‑wheat flour, reduce the total flour a bit. * If you cut back on the oil, you also need to cut back on the flour. * If you make a sweet version, lower the baking temperature. I divide this dough into three sheets. If you’re good at rolling evenly, you can do two sheets instead. ✨ I sold a batch of these crackers last year when we were stuck during the pandemic, and came up with lots of new flavors too. I’ll update those later.
Ingredients
Steps
First, take out that jar of starter you stashed in the very back of the fridge... As long as there’s no mold, it’s fine. There may be a dark layer of liquid on top, that’s okay—pour it off, give it a stir, no problem.
Put it in a bowl. – Add the baking soda first, straight into the starter and stir until evenly combined. It will foam up at this point.
Then add the ingredients in this order: – Add the oil (olive oil, scallion oil, onion oil, chili oil—any you like). – Add salt and dried herbs/spices, mix well. – Add the flour and mix until combined. Knead just until it comes together into a dough. Don’t overwork it. * When making scallion oil, adding a tiny pinch of baking soda helps keep the scallions bright green.
My baking tray is 30×40 cm. I roll about 95–130 g of dough per sheet. More dough makes a thicker sheet, less dough makes it thinner. After trying a sheet or two you’ll know how much you like to use.
Roll the dough out directly on a silicone/oiled mat. I recommend a mat—parchment doesn’t work as well. Don’t roll it too thin; if it’s too thin, you lose the flaky, tender texture. Use a metal ruler to press in score lines. If you want to cut out ducks or whatever with a cutter, go for it 😜 * I don’t recommend cutting all the way through the dough. Since it’s baked directly on a baking stone, if you cut all the way through, the pieces will separate during baking and be harder to remove. If you’re baking on a regular baking tray, you can cut all the way through.
Preheat the oven, with the baking stone inside, to 200°C. Slide the dough sheet together with the mat onto a rimless baking sheet, then slide it onto the stone to bake. Watch the first couple of sheets to learn the timing; I can’t give you an exact time since I don’t know your oven 😜. I bake mine for about 5 minutes or so.
Take them out, let cool, then break along the lines. Store in a zip‑top bag or an airtight jar.
Play with different shapes however you like. When I sell at the market, I cut them like this, because the irregular shapes and sizes actually look nice 😂