| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 9 hr 40 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | about 50 crackers |
Ingredients
- 60 grams unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 20 grams Cheddar cheese powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and divided
- 125 grams discarded Sourdough Starter (unfed), recipe follows
- 125 grams all-purpose, unbleached flour
- 125 grams filtered water, room temperature
- 100 grams all-purpose, unbleached flour
- 100 grams filtered water, room temperature
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cheese powder and salt together in a small bowl.
- Place 3 tablespoons of the butter and the starter in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and work on low speed until creamy and homogeneous, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and sift the flour mixture over the creamed starter, return the mixer to low and work until a soft dough forms, about 1 minute more.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Press each piece into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle and wrap in individual pieces of plastic wrap. Refrigerate between 8 and 24 hours (see Cook’s Note).
- Place two racks nearest the center of the oven and heat to 350 degrees F. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Retrieve one piece of dough from the refrigerator and dust both the dough and your pasta maker with flour. (Continue to dust the pasta roller and the dough as needed to prevent sticking.) Starting on the widest setting, typically labeled “1,” feed the dough through the roller. Then fold the dough into thirds, as you would a letter, turn 90 degrees and run it through again. Fold the dough into thirds again, turn, and pass it through the roller.
- Adjust your pasta maker to the next setting and roll the dough through 3 times without folding. Repeat this step 3 times more on both the 3rd and 4th settings. Transfer the dough to one of the prepared half-sheet pans and repeat the process with the remaining dough, arranging two sheets of dough per pan.
- Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and brush onto the dough. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of kosher salt. Dock the dough thoroughly with a fork and cut into 1-inch squares with a pizza wheel.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the pans 180 degrees and rotate from top to bottom. Continue baking until the crackers just begin to brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes more.
- Remove from the oven and immediately transfer the crackers on the parchment to a rack to cool completely before serving, about 20 minutes.
- Lid tightly and store at room temperature.
- To begin: Mix together 125 grams flour and 125 grams water with a clean hand in a medium glass bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let sit undisturbed at room temperature until the mixture is full of bubbles and has nearly doubled in size, usually 2 to 3 days. During this time, yeasts and bacteria from the air and from the flour and probably from you will set up housekeeping in the bowl (see Cook’s Note).
- For daily feeding: Peel back any crust that may have formed and transfer 20% of the culture (50 grams) to a clean, wide-mouthed jar. Stir in 100 grams flour and 100 grams water, loosely screw on the lid and stash at room temperature for 24 hours. (The culture will have a stinky-sour smell at this point.) Discard the rest of the original mixture.
- Repeat step 2 every 24 hours for 5 days. By then the culture should smell yeasty-sweet-sour, which means you’re ready to put the starter to work. The cheese crackers are to be made with the discarded percentage of starter.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 50 servings |
| Calories | 31 |
| Total Fat | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Carbohydrates | 4 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Cholesterol | 3 mg |
| Sodium | 12 mg |
Reviews
Delicious and versatile no cheese powder ok…no butter ok…just starter, fat of your choice, flour and salt…perfect
These are AMAZING! The whole family loves them! Thin, crisp and cheesy! Way better than store bought. Only thing that I had an issue with was the cook time, they browned a little too much even before the time was up.
Made twice now, they turned out great but I would like to up the cheeseness a bit. Two minor things I changed: I used the back of the sheet pan – easier to cut the dough with the wheel knife, and one time through is sufficient on settings 2 – 4. I also threw some garlic powder in the second batch.
After failing in spectacular fashion the first time I attempted this recipe I made another run at these crackers, starting yesterday.
What I learned: Don’t use whole wheat. Period. If you want to make these crackers, move your sourdough starter into an AP environment, and use AP flour per the recipe. Possibly using a lot less WW flour can be successful. The “soft dough” should be more like “tight batter” after mixing. It will require speed and a sure hand to get it turned out, divided, patted into shape and wrapped before it oozes all over your board. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour during the divide-and-shape steps.
The pasta machine is 100% optional. Divide your dough into 6 pieces, and use your rolling pin to do the lamination. I laminated each piece 5x (not the 12x called for in Alton’s recipe). Finished crackers are a little thicker than commercial Cheezits but much lighter and much flakier.
Taste testers at my house voted the OEM crackers to be “edible, not not cheesy enough”, so in the next iteration I’ll use maybe 75g of cheese, and 130g of starter.
These crackers are absolutely amazing. They are my new favorite discard recipe.
I got a lighter cracker with some air pockets if the dough was allowed to rise in the sheet pan for an hour after rolling and cutting. It doesn’t show a visible change in volume, but the textural change in the end product was terrific.
Also, here are a couple of possible variants that I have tried.
1) Sprinkle with garlic salt instead of kosher salt before baking.
2) Sprinkle with a mixture of salt and cayenne or chile powder instead of just kosher salt. I use “Slap Ya Mama” seasoning.
3) A couple of squirts of Siracha in the dough with a commensurate amount of flour.
Have fun!!!
honestly i like these more than regular cheez it’s. they taste better and are really easy to make. i don’t have a pasta roller so i just hand rolled them and it was still super easy. i’m making the second batch now!
My family loved the crackers. It’s a fair amount of work as I don’t have a pasta machine and had to roll the dough with a rolling pin. It went fast though. They are very good a very natural tasting. The sourdough flavor really blends well with the cheese. Excellent. Next time, I’m going to make a double batch.
Made this today, was a big hit with the wife and the 5 year old. I put them in for the full 20 minutes and they came out a bit dark but still tasted great. It made me glad I did my sourdough starter
I wanted to dislike this recipe, because I have learned use of a pasta machine is not my forte. It is however excellent!!! Much better than the popular boxed cheese crackers, in my opinion. I had to adjust rolling with the pasta machine slightly, but I assume that is in part because my machine is different than others (1 is the thinnest setting on mine). Rolling through three settings was plenty thin; going through the 4th would have been see-through thin, which is not necessary here. Light, crisp, and a light sprinkle of powdered cheese at the time of salting made them deliciously cheesy! Highly recommend this recipe and will definitely make again. I look forward to trying the pasta machine technique with my other plain sourdough cracker recipe. Thanks again, Alton Brown, for another awesome recipe! Now and forever a huge fan!!!