Tasty Tuesday - Sourdough Crackers

If you tried making the sourdough bread I posted about last week, you will find this recipe much easier. If you haven't tried any sourdough recipes yet, this is a great one to start with because it is so easy! These crackers taste just like Wheat Thins and I think they are so delicious. They usually don't last too long at our house!

Ingredients:
1 cup sourdough starter
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup white whole wheat flour, or as much as you need to make a stiff dough
1/2 tsp sea salt
Olive oil for brushing
Coarse salt (such as kosher or sea salt) for sprinkling on top

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the sourdough and the lard and mix thoroughly. Mix the salt in with 1/4 cup flour and add to the sourdough mixture. Knead it all together in the bowl, adding as much flour as necessary to make a stiff dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or put a lid on the bowl to prevent it from drying out. Leave the dough at room temperature for at least seven hours.

Seven or more hours later, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Take a small portion of the dough (about 1/4 cup) and roll it out on a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper using a rolling pin, until it is very thin. Sometimes my dough is a little to stick and I have to use a little flour on the rolling pin.

Pour a little bit of olive oil on the rolled out dough and spread it to the edges of the dough with a pastry brush or your hand. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

Cut the dough vertically and horizontally into squares with a pizza cutter. Transfer the baking mat or paper onto your baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until just golden brown. Repeat in batches. The crackers shrink a little bit in the oven, so when you pull out your baking sheet, they will already be separated.

I'm not very good at getting my dough rolled our evenly yet, so sometimes the edges are done before the middle. After I am done making all the batches, I go through and pick out all the pieces that aren't as crispy as I like and I put them all on one sheet and put them back in the oven. Then I turn the oven off and let the crackers sit in there until the oven is cool. They all turn out nice and crispy that way!

If you don't want to make all of the crackers in one day, the dough can be frozen in 1/4 cup amounts and then you can just pull out one or more and bake up a fresh batch when you want it!