Sourdough Gourmet Crackers are the best way to use sourdough discard: they're a great addition for a cheese plate, have that delicious crack and make the perfect gift during holidays.
Looking for more edible holiday gifts? This onion chutney is perfect to have in a cheese board! Sourdough French toast is also a must for all sourdough lovers all year round.
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🍘Why make this recipe
- These fruit and nut crackers will be the star at your Thanksgiving party and Christmas dinner. They're just delicious with dips or by themselves, and are the best crackers for cheese!
- Baking these is way cheaper than buying at the store!
- If you’re looking for a homemade gift, these crackers make an excellent present for family and foodie friends;
- You can easily customize this recipe by adding your favorite ingredients and flavors to it.
If you’re looking for more sourdough discard recipes, these vegan sourdough pancakes and my easy sourdough discard tortillas are my two most popular discard recipes!
📃Ingredient and substitutions
Flour. You can make this recipe using whole wheat only, or all-purpose flour only.
Milk. You can use dairy or any plant-based milk.
Sourdough starter. Both discard and active sourdough work for this recipe.
Rolled oats. I prefer to use rolled oats for the appearance, but quick oats are just as good.
Baking soda. Don’t forget the baking soda: the ingredient is responsible for the dough to rise on the first bake.
Pumpkin puree. Can be substituted for unsweetened apple sauce, or Greek yogurt.
All spices can be substituted for your favorite combination, or even omitted completely - but you'll lose flavor if leaving them out. Same for pecans (chopped almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts can be used), dried cranberries (you can try dried apricots or even coconut flakes), and sunflower seeds (try using pumpkin seeds for a change).
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and substitutions.
🥣How to make them
These gourmet crackers are not hard, but can be time consuming. Just let me tell you one thing: every second is worth it! Follow my step-by-step, and I promise you’ll get an amazing gourmet cracker.
Start the recipe by preheating the oven to 350°F.
Step 01. In a large bowl, mix milk, discar, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, thyme, sunflower seeds, chopped pecans and dried cranberries.
Step 02. Add all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, rolled oats and baking soda to the wet mixture, stirring until well combined.
Step 03. Distribute the batter evenly into a loaf pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean.
Step 04. Let the loaf cool completely before wrapping it with plastic wrap. Freeze for 40 minutes to 1 hour.
For the second bake, preheat the oven to 250°F.
Step 05. Unwrap the loaf. With a sharp knife or sharp bread knife, slice the loaf as thinly as you can. Aim for 2mm slices.
Step 06. Place slices on a lined baking sheet. Bake sourdough crackers for 50 minutes, flipping each cracker after 25 minutes.
Place crackers on a cooling rack, and let them cool completely before serving. They will get harder as they cool, so don’t worry if they’re still a bit soft when out of the oven.
✔️Expert tips
- Don't try to finish it in one day if you are in a rush! This sourdough cracker recipe is time consuming. You can start in one day and finish the morning after, and that’s ok - I did it and that did not mess up the recipe, so don’t worry about that.
- Use sourdough starter or discard. These crackers are made with sourdough discard, but you can make it with a fed starter. It won’t really make a difference, as you mix everything together and bake it straight away.
- Use a sharp bread knife for cutting these crackers. A sharp knife will make cutting these crackers much easier! You can see in the video how I struggle to cut the slices - that bread knife was far from sharp!
- The slices must be thin. Aim for about 2mm thick - you can see the thickness in the video and photos below. If you cut them too thick, they won’t get as crispy.
- Don’t try cutting a completely frozen loaf. If you freeze the loaf for over 2 hours, let it thaw for at least 1 hour before cutting, or it will be very hard to do so. Don’t skip the freezing process, or it will be harder to get thin slices.
- Yes, you need to bake them for 50 minutes the second time you do it. After 25 minutes, flip the crackers so they bake and crisp evenly on both sides and don’t burn on the bottom. I've baked a batch without doing so, and the difference was significant.
🍪How to get crispy crackers
Are you having a hard time getting crispy sourdough crackers? Let's make sure you did everything listed in the checklist below:
- Cut loaf into thin slices. If they're to thick, crackers won’t get crispy!
- Flip crackers over after 25 minutes when baking for the second time.
- Do not add more liquid than the recipe calls for. To avoid it, make sure you're using a 100% hydration sourdough starter.
🧀What to serve with it
These are the best gourmet crackers for cheese! Serve them along a cheese board to impress guests and family! They're packed with Thanksgiving and Christmas flavors, so having them during the holidays is a must.
🫙Storing and freezing
As soon as they cool, store them into an airtight container away from sunlight and any heat source. They will keep crispy for about 1 to 2 weeks. But they won’t last that long, especially if you have guests.
You can freeze the loaf for up to 1 month. I don’t recommend freezing it for longer because the ingredients will start to lose flavor, and you’ll get a less flavorful cracker.
🥖More discard recipes
If you tried this Gourmet Fruit and Nut Sourdough Crackers Recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below!
📖 Recipe
Sourdough Fruit and Nut Gourmet Crackers
Equipment
- Loaf Pan
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅓ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon thyme
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line with parchment paper a 8X4 inches loaf pan. I usually use a 8X4, but it can be done in a 9X5 inches, it will only affect the final size of the cracker.
- In a large bowl, mix the milk, sourdough discard and pumpkin puree.
- Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and thyme and mix to combine.
- Add the sunflower seeds, chopped pecans and dried cranberries and mix until incorporated into the batter.
- In a medium bowl, mix both the all-purpose and whole wheat flours, rolled oats and baking soda.
- Add the flour mixture on the batter and stir until everything is well combined.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the lined loaf pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean.
- Let the loaf cool completely on a rack before wrapping it with plastic wrap. Freeze for 40 minutes. If you freeze it for longer than 2 hours, let it thaw for 40 minutes to 1 hour before cutting. If the middle is totally frozen, it’s harder to slice the crackers.
- Preheat the oven to 250°F.
- Unwrap loaf. With a bread knife or any serrated knife, slice the loaf as thinly as you can. Aim for 2mm slices.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, before placing the slices. Bake sourdough crackers for 50 minutes, flipping each after 25 minutes.
- Let them cool on a cooling rack before serving. They'll get harder as they cool, so don’t worry if they’re still a bit soft when out of the oven.
- Store sourdough crackers in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Rose
I made these and they are so delicious as you suggested I did not have pumpkin purée and used Greek yogurt ! Perfect use of sourdough disc.!! I will defynske these again! Thank you!!!
Milk and Pop
Hi Rose, thank you for trying them!
cheers 😉
Pam
Hubby says these are the best things I've made with sourdough in a while! most excellent!
Milk and Pop
So glad to hear that, Pam! Hubby here loves these crackers too 😉
Lenore Sparkes
I cooked these today with great success and they are delicious. Recipe easy to follow and not too hard, I used your exact ingredients except the thyme because I didn’t have it. Thankyou for your recipe, I will definitely make them again.
Marisa
Absolutely wonderful recipe with great flavors! The first few times I made it as written with pumpkin puree and with almond milk. I saw someone's comment about substituting greek yogurt or applesauce for the pumpkin and I knew I was back in business since Trader Joe's doesn't always have pumpkin on hand during the summer months. I use 2 mini loaf pans and the size of the crackers are perfect for a slice of brie or manchego. I'm now a bit more confident about experimenting with other add-ins and flavors such as using raisins and rosemary for the cranberry and thyme. Last note, I finally purchased a good bread knife, and that makes a huge difference in able to slice the crackers thinly. Thanks for the recipe!
Milk and Pop
Hi Marisa!
So glad you like it! These crackers are a favorite of mine 😉
Yes, a sharp bread knive makes all the difference!! And I also love trying new combinations for this recipe <3
Thanks so much for sharing this! Cheers!
Elinor L.
I haven’t made these yet, but I WILL today! I’ve used my food slicer and used the same concept but with banana nut bread, as a sweet snack/cracker yet not eating a thick slice of banana bread!
D
This recipe has instantly become a favorite! Great way to use up discard, and the hardest thing about the recipe is cutting the slices evenly(but even that wasn’t so bad!).
I substituted the pumpkin puree with yogurt, added a bit of molasses, and used dried jujube as the dried fruit component.
I also did the second bake for slightly less time because I like my crackers to be crispy-chewy.
Joyce
How long did you bake it for in your mini loaf?
Kirsten
I made these delicious crackers last week and they are SO delicious! I can't wait to make more! Thank you so much for posting this!
Milk and Pop
Hi Kirsten! So glad you liked them, these are a favorite of mine! 💗
Laurie J Norman
I originally made these with walnuts (because that is what I had) and they were fantastic! The second batch was with walnuts and I also substituted dried figs for the cranberries and that was equally incredible. For one batch, I just used rosemary and salt with the figs and we couldn't decide which one we liked better--that one or the original.
I also froze a large batch (I used up all the pumpkin) and did the second baking step whenever we ran out. These are INCREDIBLE! My only warning is that they are hard to resist.
Vanessa
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long in the freezer?
Milk and Pop
Hi Vanessa,
Loaves keep in the freezer for about 1 month. After that time, nuts can start losing their flavor.
Cheers!