Sourdough Discard Crackers with Nutritional Yeast and Aleppo Pepper
Waste not!
Now that we've all joined Jake Gyllenhaal's sourdough cult, it's time that we learned what to do with the discard. And sure, you could make waffles, pizza, muffins, biscuits etc etc etc etc etc but if you're looking for something that takes the minimal amount of effort (and in my opinion, high reward) might I recommend you make these rustic, thin and flaky break apart crackers that don't NOT taste kind of like Doritos? They would look very cool on a cheeseboard at a party, but since we are on a party-hiatus, might I recommend you stick them in a gallon ziplock bag and eat them when you enter the "bored and looking for a snack" portion of your day or when you have a beer and were hoping for something savory and salty and crunchy to accompany it.
These are, as mentioned a recipe that takes minimal amount of effort as far as sourdough things go. A lot of cracker recipes have you cutting out little squares with a pizza cutter or fluted roller and sure, we have time for it, but let's keep the real effort and timesuck to the sourdough bread itself, not the bonus snack.
This dough is super easy to make, requires just a 30 min chill in the fridge (or up to a whole day), and is rolled out super thin and bakes up light and crisp and keeps that way for longer than you think it should. I used my pasta maker attachment on my Kitchenaid so if you have one of those, dust it off and make use of it! Otherwise you can roll them as thin as possible on a lightly floured board.
Once you've got your big strips of dough laid out on the baking sheet, it's time to think TOPPINGS. This particular recipe is my weird non-intentionally vegan Dorito-like recipe which is nutritional yeast, lots of flaky salt, a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper (or any red-pepper you like!) and for that extra hit, just a sprinkle (like, 1/8 tsp) of MSG over the top.
The result is this "cheesy", sort of smoky/peppery, salty savory cracker that is excellent with a cold beer on a warm afternoon.
The trick to getting the ingredients to stick to the dough is just a quick spritz of water over the top of them before they go in the oven, and the trick to getting nutritional yeast to stick (this applies to popcorn too!) is to take the yeast and give it a blitz in a spice grinder until it is a fine powder. While the flakes of nutritional yeast as they come in the container tend to fall off whatever they are sprinkled on, the DUST will stick to everything and if that isn't a pro-tip I don't know what is. I now keep a spice jar of the ground up stuff near my salt in case my popcorn needs it (it always needs it).
In case you aren't QUITE on board with my nutritional yeast, I've done the work and tried a variety of other toppings and guess what, they are all good. They are:
These are a fun and easy project and if you can't quite nail the sourdough just yet- this is a great and pretty failproof way to enjoy the discard while you work your way to bread Nirvana.
Sourdough Discard Crackers with Nutritional Yeast and Aleppo Pepper
Good for about 4 people as a snack, easily doubled!
Ingredients
100g (1/2 C) mature sourdough starter
34g (1/4 C) All Purpose Flour
30g (1/4 C) Whole Wheat Flour
16 g (1.5 Tbsp) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Maldon Sea Salt
Aleppo Pepper
MSG (optional)
Method
Add sourdough starter, both flours and extra virgin olive oil to a small bowl and using a rubber spatula, combine until a smooth dough forms. Wrap in plastic and stick in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
Adjust oven rack to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat to 350F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
When ready to make crackers, divide dough into roughly 4 equal pieces. Lightly flour a work surface, you'll want just a little bit of flour on each piece to help it roll and/or go through the pasta attachment.
If using a pasta attachment: Attach the pasta sheeter to the mixer, and gently flatten out the dough ball into a patty about 1/4 inch thick. Roll through on the widest setting, gradually going thinner. I usually start at 1, then do a pass or two on the third setting, and my final thickness is on level 6. This is for a KitchenAid Brand pasta sheeter, if you are using a different brand or a hand crack, please adjust accordingly. You want them to be as thin as possible without tearing.
If rolling by hand, pat each section into a flat pancake and then using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll, flip and roll again until as thin as you can make it.
This dough is very forgiving. Twice I ripped it and just balled it up and started over. No problem.
Lay the thin oblong dough pieces (it doesn't really matter what size they end up being, you'll break them up by hand later) on the parchment lined baking sheets. Spritz with water and season with flaky salt and nutritional yeast, Aleppo and a pinch of MSG.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until crispy, slightly puffed and brown switching and rotating halfway through.
Allow to cool slightly, then break into rough cracker shaped pieces. Once cooled these will keep in a ziplock bag for up to two weeks.