A lot has happened on the sourdough front over the last few weeks. While I published my guide to gluten free sourdough starter last year, I had planned to tinker with the gluten free sourdough recipe at my own pace. Needless to say, 2020 threw those plans out the window. The gluten free amongst us need bread (and a time consuming activity) too, you know. However, my only personal gripe with sourdough is the wastefulness of the discard process, particularly when flour is scarce. Enter: gluten free sourdough starter crackers.
These gluten free sourdough crackers are the PERFECT no-waste solution. They’re outrageously delicious and offensively easy to make. I’m going to say it: I almost enjoy them more than the bread itself.
Gluten free sourdough crackers
The crackers are gluten free, nut free, FODMAP friendly and made with (gluten free person) pantry basics. They can be made vegan (see notes) and can have endless flavour varieties, depending both on the flours used in your starter and the ingredients you add.
Tips for your gluten free sourdough crackers
You can use a starter for crackers whether it has been fed recently or not. The only difference between the two (considering we don’t need the gas) is how sour the crackers will taste. Using a starter that hasn’t been fed recently will result in a more tangy and pronounced flavour. Personally, I prefer it this way – they taste kind of cheesy. Plus, there’s no real point wasting a fresh feed on it (but you do you).
On the note of starter, I’d recommend using one once there’s some bubble action for a more pronounced taste. However, you can probably get away with a starter that isn’t quite ready for bread yet, as long as it’s thick enough.
I have read that a lot of people ‘save up’ their sourdough discard in a container in the fridge. This is an option if you’d like to make a lot of crackers, but don’t want to deplete your starter. Personally I like to whip up some crackers every time I have some errant discard. They’re a delightful little snack.
The ideal consistency of the starter, as mentioned in the sourdough starter guide, is a thick paste without a crunchy looking top. If your starter is runny you might need to add a bit extra psyllium husk.
Although I haven’t tried it, you could experiment with using a vegan butter for this recipe. I’d recommend cutting the gram weight by about 10g (to account for the browning process). I would also suggest using a good quality vegan butter with as high fat content as possible.
You can flavour them with anything you want! I like the plain version, but literally anything would work. Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, oregano, paprika – the world is your oyster.
More gluten free sourdough recipes
- These sourdough brownies
- Sourdough pancakes
- Sourdough cinnamon rolls from my cookbook, Intolerance Friendly Kitchen
- These sourdough pizza bases
- Sourdough brownie cookies
Gluten free sourdough starter discard crackers
Ingredients
- 130 g (1/2 cup) thick sourdough discard, used before feeding (mine is 110% hydration white rice flour starter)
- 25 g butter dark browned
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon psyllium husk
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt I use table
- Flavourings of your choice see notes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large rectangular baking tray with baking paper.
- To brown the butter, place it in a small saucepan over a low heat and allow to cook until nutty in fragrance and dark brown in colour.
- Whisk together all the ingredients until smooth and set aside to thicken for 5 minutes.
- Once thickened slightly (the consistency of a thick crepe batter) pour onto the lined baking tray. Use an offset spatula or a flat knife to spread the batter across the baking paper. How thin you want to go is up to you – I normally just spread it enough to cover the majority of the sheet.
- Place the baking tray in the oven. If you’d like to score the crackers, set the timer for 5 minutes before using a pizza cutter to slice. They’ll contract and split from each other so you don’t need to worry about getting right to the edges. If you’d prefer to snap them (makes for more rustic crackers) just leave them in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until completely cooked through and lightly browned.
- Store in an airtight container.
those crackers are sooooo amazing! I’m currently making my fourth batch. as someone who cannot tolerate too much aged cheese, I’m awfully happy about the cheesy taste of those crackers.
And by the way, thank you, thank you, thank you for those sourdough bread recipes. they’ve literally changed my life. thank you!
Such good crackers. Be warned these are addictive! I had a heap of left over starter so tried a few variations including olive oil and another batch with coconut oil and a sprinkle of nigella and cumin seeds. The olive oil ones worked really well! Very tasty with some rosemary and flaky salt. Only thing i learnt is dont add too much tapioca (and ensure the mix isnt too thin) otherwise they can become super sticky on your teeth and become unpleasant. Thankyou so much for the recipe!!
these work great for an easy way to use up discard, made a double batch the second time. i used brown butter the first time and coconut oil the second time, i’ll have to try olive oil next. the coconut oil batch was a really different texture than the butter one and i was worried it wouldn’t work but it did, they were just thicker and took longer to bake up but turned out really nice and crunchy. there seems to be excess oil that leaks out of them during baking onto the sheet pan so i may try less oil next time. i used the trader joe’s everything but the elote spice the first time and everything but the bagel spice the second time – i haven’t gotten the ratios quite right to be as flavorful as i want but they have still been delicious. thanks!
I actually have a question – is there something I could substitute for the Psyllium as I react to it. They sound great and I would like to try them Thanks!
Hi Anne, at the moment I have no substitute for psyllium husk in any of my sourdough things. You could potentially try flaxseed meal or ground chia seeds but I don’t work with those ingredients much (they don’t agree with me) so I can’t say for certain how much to sub in. Let me know if you try it!
If the psyllium is used to hold things together, could you use Besan (chickpea) flour? I use this instead of an egg in pancakes and it is amazing. Although too much might be bitter?
Hi Sally! I don’t work with besan flour much because it’s higher FODMAP than other flours and I try to develop mostly low FODMAP recipes.
Because of this I actually don’t know much about it’s consistency or how it works in conjunction with other flours so I’m not much help unfortunately.
If you try it let me know know how it goes! 🙂
Did you try substituting anything? I was going to ask the same question.
Crackers turned out great! Made one batch with butter and another with olive oil. Both were very tasty but the one with butter matched better with the sourdough flavour. Thank you for the recipe
I’m glad you enjoyed them Maria! 🙂
So easy and delicious! I made a rookie error – I mixed the other ingredients while the butter browned, and the psyllium thickened while I waited. I just added some extra water to thin the mixture a bit and baked for a little longer on a lower temperature. I added some hot paprika. Thank you Georgia for all the information you’ve shared.
It’s now part of my weekly bake routine! Simply delicious and my 2 year old grandson’s absolute favorite snack food. I have a fussy digestive system and this is like soul food ….
I’m so glad you enjoy them Leanne! 🙂