Cheddar Cheese Sourdough Crackers
A nostalgic classic just got a sourdough upgrade. These Cheddar Cheese Sourdough Crackers are simple to make, have a great shelf life, and most of all, pack delicious cheesy flavor into every bite. If you’ve never tried making your own crackers before, these copycat Cheez-It sourdough crackers are a great place to start.
This favorite childhood snack just got a makeover.
I don’t know about you, but as a kid—and let’s be honest, as an adult, too—I could eat Cheez-It crackers by the handfuls. In fact, I could make an entire meal out of them. The crunchy, cheesy, flaky squares were a staple in my snack bags and lunch boxes growing up, and as with all foods I love, I wanted to find a way to make it at home.
Enter these Cheddar Cheese Sourdough Crackers, or as I affectionately call them, sourdough discard Cheez-Its. We have the brilliant Stella Parks (@bravetart on Instagram, long-time contributor to Serious Eats) to thank for the recipe inspiration here—she has a recipe for copycat Cheez-Its that will knock your socks off.
Loving the original and always looking for new ways to use my sourdough starter discard, I set out to modify the ratios in her recipe without changing the crunchy, delicate texture too much. The result is a crispy, intensely-cheddar-flavored cracker with an insane shelf life, so long as you store them in an airtight container! I’m pretty sure you’ll eat them all before they have the chance to stale, though.
How to make Cheddar Cheese Sourdough Crackers
If you’ve never made crackers before, you may be wondering how difficult they. Let me assure you, they aren’t difficult at all! I’ve broken down the steps below with pictures, and there’s a printable recipe card at the bottom of this page.
1.
Start by grabbing all of your ingredients. In this case, the cheddar cheese is grated finely and acts like a dry ingredient.
2.
Toss together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and cheese until the cheese is well-coated in flour and everything is combined evenly.
3.
Stir together the sourdough discard and the cream. This will make a very thick, gloopy mixture, so don’t be alarmed by its thick texture.
4.
Mix the cream/discard mixture into the dry ingredients until combined, then form the shaggy dough into a disc. Divide the dough in half, and set half aside (covered).
5.
On a lightly floured surface, roll one half of the dough into a rectangle, no thicker than 1/8 inch, then use a knife or bench scraper to cut 1 inch squares. It may seem as though the dough is too thin at this point, but the crackers will puff up in the oven.
Rolling the dough directly on parchment is my preference, because it makes transferring to the oven easy. Repeat with the other sheet of dough.
6.
This step is optional but fun: use a skewer to poke a hole in the center of each cracker. You might have some rough edge pieces that aren’t totally square—I call those the “chef snacks.”
You do not need to separate the squares—they will break apart later.
7.
Bake the crackers on a sheet pan to your desired doneness—I happen to like them pretty dark, but feel free to take them out of the oven once the tops are dry from the edges of the dough to the center.
8.
Let the crackers cool on the sheet, then break them up into individual squares. Store in an airtight container for up to a month
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Cheddar Cheese Sourdough Crackers
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes:
Use a cheddar cheese you love, since it's the predominant flavor here. Sharp, extra sharp, yellow, and white cheese all work.
This recipe is an adaptation of Stella Parks' Homemade Cheez-Its recipe.
