Sourdough Fruit & Seed Crackers [Gourmet Sourdough Crackers]

You just have to make these sourdough fruit and seed crackers! They are absolutely perfect for gourmet charcuterie boards or cheese plates and make a lovely homemade Christmas gift.

Packed with nuts, seeds and colorful dried fruits, these gourmet sourdough crackers are not only a joy to eat, they're also so pretty! Fruit and seed crackers can be really expensive to buy (especially at the moment), but these sourdough discard crackers cost pennies to make and use up your sourdough discard too!

If you've got some sourdough discard leftover from sourdough bread baking, why not give this sourdough discard recipe a try.

If you love sourdough crackers, you might also like to check out this collection of sourdough cracker recipes including seedy sourdough crackers, sourdough bread sticks and sourdough crackers with parmesan and rosemary.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Customise To Your Tastes - you can add whatever dried fruits, seeds and nuts you have on hand, making these sourdough fruit and seed crackers totally customisable. Whether you've got a few sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds that need to be used up or you just love sesame seeds, grab them all and crate a batch of cracker magic.

Perfect for Gifting - these sourdough homemade gourmet crackers make the perfect host gift or home baked Christmas gift. Bake a batch and pop into a special tin, mason jars or cellophane package for something truly bespoke.

Natural Ingredients - these homemade sourdough crackers use only natural ingredients to create something truly special. There's no hidden ingredients and you know exactly what's in them, unlike the crackers you buy from the store.

How To Make Sourdough Fruit & Seed Crackers

When I first thought about making these gourmet sourdough crackers, I thought, nah too hard. But then I thought about it a bit more and decided that they would be much like making sourdough biscotti, so why not give it a try. And to my surprise, they were surprisingly easy! I think it's just the long list of ingredients that make them seem difficult. But in fact, they are really, really simple. 

Because the crackers are baked twice, they are also easy to make in two sessions. You can even leave the baked "log" in the freezer for up to 3 months, creating an emergency cracker stash. I love this for the festive season! No last minute trips to the store for crackers.

You can use either sourdough starter discard or active starter to make these crackers, it won't make too much difference to the final outcome.

If you don't have a sourdough starter yet, use these instructions for making a sourdough starter.

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and line a small loaf pan with parchment paper. The pan I've used is 24cm x 10cm x 6cm (9.5" x 3.9" x 2.4").

In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, brown sugar and sourdough starter and whisk together until it's light and foamy.

In a separate bowl add all other dry ingredients and stir through until they are all well distributed.

Now, place the dry ingredients on top of the liquid ingredients and bring together to form a thick batter (it will be a bit like a thick muffin batter).

Spoon the batter into the loaf pan you've prepared and bake in the oven for around 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the loaf pan and allow to cool on a wire rack until cool to the touch.

Now, wrap the loaf in parchment paper and aluminum foil and place in the freezer for around 2 to 3 hours. You could leave it in the freezer for up to 3 months (perfect if you're preparing early for the festive season).

Once the loaf is frozen through, remove from the freezer and allow to sit at room temp for around 20 minutes or just until the sides aren't rock hard.

Now, use a serrated knife to slice the loaf into 2mm thin slices. Be patient, use a good bread knife and you'll be fine.

Lay the slices onto a large baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for around 1 hour at 120C (250F) or until the sourdough gourmet crackers are dry and crispy and can be broken in half with a "snap".

Let the crackers cool on the tray before enjoying with your favorite cheese. The crackers will become more crispy as they cool, so don't worry if they are still a little chewy when you first take them out of the oven.

Long Fermented Gourmet Sourdough Crackers

If you would like to increase the sourdough benefits of these gourmet sourdough crackers, you can ferment the batter overnight in the fridge.

Mix the batter according to the recipe and then place the bowl of batter into the fridge for up to 12 hours. When you're ready to bake, place the cracker batter into your prepared loaf pan. The mixture will thicken in the fridge, but it won't affect the end result.

Flavor Va​riations for Sourdough Fruit & Seed Crackers

There's really no limit to the nuts, seeds and fruits you can add to these crackers. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• Pumpkin sees, flax seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, chia seeds
  
• Pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios, cashews
  
• Raisins, cranberries, dried apricots, dried blueberries, dried figs, dried cherries
  
• Black pepper, cinnamon, rosemary, all spice, Everything Bagel Seasoning

I've used a combination of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour. I've also added a teaspoon of dark malt powder for added color (this is totally optional). You can use all whole wheat flour if you prefer. This will give you a more nutty flavor.

How To Freeze + Store

These delicious gourmet sourdough crackers have a long shelf life! You can store them in a tin or glass jar for up to a month before they even begin to stale. They are much like sourdough biscotti - because they are twice baked there is little moisture in them to spoil.

I find these last longer in a glass jar or biscuit tin than a plastic container. The plastic tends to make them go soft.

You can freeze the first part of the recipe for up to 3 months. This means that you can do the first bake, wrap in foil and place in the freezer and then leave it until you need it. So handy to have in the freezer for those cracker emergencies!

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