You don’t need sourdough starter discard to make this recipe, I’ve included a version below without starter. With the sourdough starter – it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Without the starter, it’s still great and will make better crackers than you can buy. The recipe is infinitely flexible; you can change the type of flour, the type of fat, the seasonings, the type of seeds and the toppings. I suggest that you make it as per the instructions the first time to get the technique down.

I made this several times, altering the seasonings each time until arriving at this recipe. The Davinator said ‘write that one down quick so you don’t lose it’.

Is this recipe easy? It requires some technique. This is a good recipe to practice your rolling technique and working with parchment paper because the ingredients are inexpensive. There are a couple of gadgets that make it easier and quicker. But you don’t need the gadgets. Useful gadgets for this recipe; a marble rolling pin, a spike dough roller and pizza cutter.

The good trick in this recipe – roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. You can roll thin and even and make lovely crackers.

Recipe

Ingredients (see all the flexes below)

• 350g sourdough starter discard
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 100g all purpose or bread flour
• 60 mls olive oil
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• Water – a couple tablespoons as needed to bring the dough together
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes, crushed ( I ground in a small mortar)
• 2 teaspoons of Italian herbs
• 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
• Salt grinder for topping
• All purpose flour for rolling out

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160C fan (180C with no fan) (350F)
2. Put all the ingredients except the water in a bowl that fits your mixer. Mix well, then use the dough hook and ‘knead’ in the mixer for 3 minutes or so. You’re not trying to develop gluten here so longer isn’t better.
3. If the dough has formed into a ball, you’re ready to roll out. If not, add cold water a tablespoon at a time and knead for 30 seconds until the dough comes together in a ball. Should take one or two tablespoons at the most.
4. Cut parchment to fit your baking sheets. I used four baking sheets to bake these crackers, you can rotate yours. You also need at least one additional parchment sheet to use as a cover.
5. Place a sheet of parchment on your rolling surface. Flour the parchment, place about 1/4 of the dough on the sheet. Flatten with your hands, and flour the surface. Roll the dough flat and as thin as your nerve will tolerate. This is where the heavy rolling pin comes into its own – focus on getting the middle part flat and then the edges.
6. Flip the parchment with dough over and peel off what was the bottom piece (easier than peeling off the top piece). Using a fork or your spiky roller punch a lot of holes in the dough. Puncturing the dough keeps your crackers from getting puffy. Take your pizza cutter or a knife and cut the crackers into pieces. You do not need to separate the crackers on the parchment.
7. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 20 minutes on the upper shelf. I put the first sheet in and then roll out the second. At 10 minutes, I move the first sheet to the lower shelf and put the new sheet in on the upper shelf. Or prep two, rotate them half way through.
8. 20 minutes is a guide – keep an eye on the crackers because the edges will usually be thinner (especially in the beginning) and will brown more quickly.
9. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets if you can so the crackers get just a little crisper. If the crackers feel soft or chewier – put them back in the oven for 3 minutes at a time.
10. Let cool before eating, In theory, these will keep for 10 days to 2 weeks. In this house, there have never been any left after 48 hours.

Flexing this recipe

There are so many ways to customise this recipe. Here are some suggestions:

1. No sourdough starter? Use 175 grams of flour (whole wheat, bread, all purpose) and 175 mls of water instead. You won’t get the sourdough tang but still really lovely crackers.
2. Vary the mix of flour in the recipe. Use rye, more white, less white, more whole wheat. I haven’t used any alternative flours like blue farina or spelt but it’s worth a try. Keep an eye on how much water you need.
3. Use different types of fat. I’ve used butter, bacon fat, sesame oil (very strong taste). We’ve settled on olive oil. Your fat should be liquid when mixing the dough so melt in advance.
4. Go wild with the seasonings. You can use up to 6 or 7 teaspoons of small seeds – sesame, black sesame, flax, hemp. Rosemary. Black pepper. Cumin. Oregano. Garlic or onion salt. Use combinations that you like and what you have in the cupboard. I found three open containers of chilli flakes – hence the chilli in this recipe.

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This recipe needs a good sourdough starter. And you need time and patience and to trust your judgement on the proving and rising. But it’s worth the effort. There are a number of links in this blog to other parts of the baking community; sources for baking stuff, detailed descriptions of creating a sourdough starter and a link to a really good book on bread but it does not start with ‘make sourdough starter’.

Try different types of chocolate chips and dried fruit. Two combinations that worked well for me; 1) milk chocolate chips and raisins and 2) dark chocolate and dried cranberries. The Davinator loved this bread so much he said ‘don’t leave any in the house, I can’t stop eating it’. And it even tempted the ‘no carbs’ crowd into trying it. It’s rich and tasty but it’s not sweet. There’s no added sugar, just some chocolate morsels and dried fruit.

Always use top quality cocoa and chocolate chips in baking. Cheap chocolate is waxy and unpleasant. A good European brand like Callebaut makes a difference.

This recipe is a little hard on the nerves but worth the effort. As the basis for my experients, I used a recipe from Emmanuel Hadjiandreou’s book ‘How to Make Bread’ .

The recipe calls for 200 grams of sourdough starter because it’s a heavy dough. You need to take a view on the strength of your starter; if it’s on the watery or weak side then use more. Adjust the amount of water so that you have, in total, 420 grams of starter and water. Here’s a good article on making and feeding your sourdough starter from King Arthur Flour. A great thing about King Arthur is that they have live on line chat during US east coast business hours. They’ve helped me unsnarl a couple of knotty problems in the past.

I’ve gone for kneading in the mixer, but you can also do ‘stretch and fold’ or traditional hand kneading. Don’t be tempted to make a double batch in your Kitchen Aid, it may burnout the motor.

Recipe

Specialist kit

Three pieces of equipment help with ‘traditional’ sourdough; a proving basket, a baking stone and a baking peel. None is mandatory. If you don’t have a proving basket, line your largest loaf pan and do the second prove in it. If you don’t have a baking stone, use your sturdiest baking sheet. The peel is generally useful and once you’ve got one you won’t know how you did without it but a lightweight tray or a big spatula can do the trick. One more link to an online source of baking equipment. – Bakery Bits.

Ingredients

200 grams (7 ounces) small pieces of dried fruit such as raisins, currants or dried cranberries

80 grams (3 ounces) chocolate chips; milk, dark, semi-sweet or white but good quality

330 (12 ounces) grams plain white flour

8 grams (generous teaspoon) salt

20 grams ( 3/4 ounce) good quality cocoa powder

200 grams (7 ounces) strong sourdough starter

220 mls (7 3/4 ounces) tepid water

Method

1. Combine the dried fruit and chocolate chips in a small bowl and set aside .
2. Whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder in another bowl (dry ingredients)
3. Put the sourdough starter and the water in your mixing bowl. Break up the starter so that it’s well mixed in with the water. Put the dough hook on your mixer.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the water and starter – start the mixer and let it run for 8 to 10 minutes. You should have a good elastic dough.
5. Transfer to a well floured work surface. Knead in the chocolate chips and fruit mixture by hand.
6. Put the dough in a well greased mixing bowl, cover the bowl with a shower cap and leave until it has at least doubled. I left mine to rise overnight in a very cool room. It can take four to eight hours
7. Once it has doubled, back to the well floured surface. Flatten to a rectangle and place in your well floured proving basket. If you’re using a loaf pan, line it with parchment paper. Leave the dough for the second prove. If you can be patient, you’ll get better risen bread. It’s hard to over prove sourdough. Try for doubled, although you might not get there.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 220C. One of the downsides of using a baking stone is that it takes longer for the oven to heat up. Place an old roasting pan on the bottom of the oven and put 250 mls (one cup) of water to one side.
9. Put a piece of baking parchment on your peel or on a lightweight baking sheet. Tip out the dough onto the parchment and slide on to the baking stone. Pour the water into the roasting pan. Bake the loaf for 30 minutes.
10. Test with your thermometer (>90c) or tap to see if your loaf sounds hollow.

I know it’s difficult but try and let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes before you cut into it and eat. Bake on, folks. Please ask questions via email, social media or the comment function.

Rye bread is not difficult to make. Nor is sourdough. You need time and patience and the correct ingredients. You also need bread consumers that like both rye bread and sourdough. A sourdough rye loaf might go over like a lead balloon with anyone who’s been brought up on sliced white loaf. However, if you have fans of rye and sourdough or adventurous eaters, bake away, I say.

This blog post does not have instructions on making or maintaining a sourdough starter. There are specialist blogs on that topic. I will confess to keeping 3 different starters in the fridge; white, whole wheat and rye. Mine are mature and I feed them once a week. I try to use at least one starter every week which means we eat a variety of sourdough breads and prefer the taste. Here is a link to the King Arthur Flour sourdough instructions.

The Davinator also loves rye bread – thus the sourdough rye recipes that follow. Plenty of recipes do not specify or require rye starter for rye bread. I’ve experimented a bit and I think it gives a better depth of flavour, particularly for breads that use a combination of white and rye flours. The first of two recipes is below. Its very reliable but patience is a key ingredient. Sourdough rises at its own pace. Leave it overnight for the first prove. You won’t be tempted.

Raisin & rye sourdough recipe

Ingredients

(For starter sponge)

100 grams of rye sourdough starter

150 grams of rye flour

200 mls cold water

(Remaining ingredients)

200 grams rye flour

6 grams of salt

200 grams of raisins

150 mls hot water

Instructions

1. Combine sourdough starter, 150 grams of rye flour and 200 mls of cold water in a larger bowl than you think you need. Mix thoroughly, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Cover with a shower cap. Leave to rise overnight. An overnight rise means you don’t need to find a warm draft free spot to accelerate the rise.
2. Wait.
3. Prep a large loaf pan (2 pounds or 900 grams). Either line with parchment or vegetable oil. I’m a fan of parchment but both work.
4. Boil your kettle. Put 150 mls of hot water in a measuring cup. Now make a cup of tea while your hot water cools slightly. When you can drink the tea (even with milk) it’s time to go to step 5.
5. Combine the remaining rye flour, salt and raisins and stir well. Dump the dry ingredients on top of the sponge. Pour the hot water over the top and stir quickly to combine the ingredients.
6. Spoon the dough into your loaf pan. Smooth the top with a scraper. Cover loosely with a shower cap.
7. Allow the dough to rise for two hours.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 240c degrees and put a shallow roasting pan on the bottom.
9. When oven comes up to heat, place the dough in the oven, lower the heat to 220c and pour 200 mls of water into the roasting pan.
10. Bake for 30 minutes. If you test with a thermometer, it should be over 90c. Or the loaf will feel hollow when tapped.

A few thoughts on this recipe: use the darkest rye flour you can find. It makes for great flavour. And like all ‘true rye’ recipes, there’s no kneading. The hot water step is important. It seems fiddly but if you don’t do it, your bread goes mad and overflows the pan during the second rise.

It’s worthwhile having a good book or two on bread. It helps with various forms of bread anxiety. One of my favourites in Emmanuel Hadjiandreou ‘How to Make Sourdough’.

What is your favourite?

Sourdough starter – 3 different flours.

Two sticks rubbing together make a spark. Two casual questions gave me an idea. Someone asked me a great question – what ‘order’ am I going to cook the recipes in.  And then my stepdaughter Faye asked about sourdough bread because it’s the artisan bread of the moment and she said ‘the best bread I’ve ever eaten was sourdough’.  My daughter Clare (when she eats carbs) also loves sourdough.  So I’m starting with the sourdough.

Sourdough is bread made from a live ‘starter’ as the leavening agent rather than using purchased yeast or a chemical leaven like baking soda or baking powder.  It is the heritage of bread.  Yeast occurs in nature. Before yeast came from the store in cakes or a tiny tin – cooks had a ‘starter’ for bread.  It’s flour and water that has captured wild yeast and started to ferment.  There a lots of good blogs on sourdough starter.   Here’s one from Kitchn that worked for me.  I also carefully read the King Arthur Flour Sourdough Guide.  There is a good section in cookbook on working whole grain levain (the fancy name for a starter).

I’ve jumped in with both feet and have white, rye and whole wheat starters on the go.  It’s a hurry up and wait feeling though – it’s a week before there will be any bread.

Does that mean there hasn’t been any baking? Get away.  I made these Champagne Strawberry Cupcakes and the brioche recipe of the Tour de France food blogger, Jonathan Harris-Bass.

Technically ‘strawberry prosecco cupcakes’ but you get the idea.

Yes, there is a sports writer and foodie who is blogging a recipe a day for the duration of the Tour de France.  I can’t ‘cook along’ with him and actually have any kind of normal life or doing any of my own baking.  But he’s making me so homesick for France that I’m resolved to try some of his recipes.  This brioche recipe got the thumbs up from the Davinator.  Brioche is the best way to misuse eggs, butter and flour.

Brioche and it’s not burnt, it’s glazed on top.