I’ve jumped on the sourdough wagon, along with so many others. Besides bread, what to make? I found the answer with sourdough crackers.

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To start with, there are many websites teaching how to make sourdough starter. Yes, it takes a couple of weeks to get it strong enough to use. Yes, it involved “feeding” it daily to keep it active on the counter. It also goes in the fridge and is dormant until taken out and fed with flour and water again. I’m even trying to dehydrate some today to keep in the pantry.

Some websites make the starter processor so complicated. I learned that it doesn’t matter if I use whole wheat, regular, or bread flour. The main thing is to let some air get to it (so yeast in the air colonizes it – I’ve even seen food TV shows showing chefs walking around in Europe carrying their starter outside) and, if it’s out on the counter, make sure to feed it regularly so the carbon dioxide is produced making it all bubbly. Once it’s going strong, then you can keep some in the refrigerator.

What is sourdough starter? Flour and water. That’s it, though I admit to adding a pinch of yeast to mine every few days early on to get yeast cultures going. Initially, part of the mix is discarded daily to add more flour and water until enough yeast from the air cultures & grows. After it’s bubbly and active, some of the mix is “discarded” routinely to add more flour and water. “Discard” is what is used for baking. Or like me, the starter is moved to a larger container, and I just keep adding flour and water to it without discarding any.

I’ve made bread so far, and it’s so good. And English muffins are just wonderful. It seems to have even helped my GI tract. I’ve read sourdough is easier to digest, and its active culture of beneficial yeasts and bacteria helps maintain a healthy gut and is more nutritious. It may even help regulate blood sugars.

Now, I thought, it’s time to try crackers. I picked cheese crackers – a copycat recipe of the ones that come in boxes and bags in the store. Homemade is so much better! And they taste just like the “real thing”!

One of the things I learned with the first batch is that the dough requires cutting in butter and needs to be rolled thin. Every recipe for crackers says this, but it’s really true. Rather than cut in butter by hand, I used my food processor, just like I do for pie dough.

I also found it beneficial to let the dough sit on the counter or in the refrigerator for half an hour or so. This allows the flour to fully absorb moisture from the wet ingredients and distribute moisture evenly throughout. The gluten relaxes, so no tough dough. Wrap in a beeswax or plastic wrap and set aside for half an hour.

The first batch tasted great, but some were chewy rather than crunchy. I even re-baked some of them to get the right texture. It’s hard to tell when the sheet is first removed from the oven, because the crackers won’t get crunchy until they are cooled. I also found I could not use a French rolling pin – I need to use a more traditional rolling pin that would be straight all the way across. By the second batch, I got it right. Cook for the required time as per the recipe and leave them in the oven for another 5 minutes.

So roll thin, less than pie crust thin. Keep the rolling surface lightly floured underneath the dough. I use a silicone mat to make cleanup easy, but the counter or a board will also work.

I made them with yellow cheddar, so the crackers were yellow, but without all the food coloring—no messy yellow fingers either. I used a ravioli cutter (a pizza cutter also works) to cut squares, and I even bought a little fish cut out to make the crackers like the store brand. Very cute. But I found it too labor-intensive for me. Just cutting all the squares and moving them to the cookie sheet was too much.

I’ve found that if I move the whole sheet of dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, then pull the sheet out and cut it, they cook up just fine and are easy to break apart once cool. Many just come apart to individual crackers by themselves.

Today, I used white cheddar (because it’s what I had on hand). I made a double batch because we can eat them so quickly. I filled a gallon-size zip-lock bag, plus a few in a small bag (plus what I ate as the taste tester). Flavor comes from smoked paprika, garlic powder/granulated garlic, and some grated Parmesan—real Parm, not the powdery stuff in a shaker jar. Trimmed pieces of dough can be re-rolled and put on another baking tray. Absolutely no waste.

These crackers are just the bomb! Now that I have the process down, they:

• Taste terrific
• Are shattering-ly crisp
• Very easy to make

Watch in the coming columns for the English Muffin and bread recipes, even cookies!

What kind of sourdough items do you want to bake?