Sourdough Lavosh Crackers
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These sourdough lavosh crackers are made from sourdough discard and pretty much any flour you like! You may also know them as lavash or lavosh flat bread. Sourdough lavosh are perfect for charcuterie boards when entertaining - they're so simple to make yet provide that wow factor. This recipe uses whole wheat flour, but you can use bread flour or a mixture of both - or whatever you have in the cupboard.
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
Dairy Free - The recipe is dairy free (because it uses olive oil rather than butter). You could also make it vegan by swapping out the honey.
Versatile - This really is a versatile recipe that you can change to suit what you have on hand or what you fancy on the day. Change up the flour, the seeds or even add a flavored olive oil.
Ingredients
- Sesame Seeds - I've used black and white sesame seeds but you can use whatever you like. Nigella seeds are also a lovely alternative.
- Sourdough Discard - you can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough discard for this recipe with no issues.
- Whole Wheat Flour - Use whatever flour you'd like to use. I like to use whole wheat because it gives them a nice color and a rich flavor. You could even add some rye flour. You can also successfully make these using all purpose flour if you prefer, they just won't get the rustic color that you see in these photos.
- Salt - I've used regular salt for the dough and then topped the lavosh with flaky sea salt.
- Olive Oil - Brushing them with flavored olive oil is lovely too - garlic, sun dried tomato or rosemary work really well.
- Honey - Swap the honey for maple syrup or rice malt syrup if you prefer (this is good if you're looking for vegan sourdough lavosh).
What is Sourdough Lavosh?
Lavosh (or lavash as it's sometimes spelled) is a type of flat bread that is baked until it's crispy. It's generally made of wheat flour, water and salt and served thin and crispy. It's a part of many middle eastern cuisines. Lavosh is made without yeast or leaven so it's typically seen as a type of flat bread. As an unleavened bread, it's perfect to make using sourdough discard.
Lavosh has been adopted by many other cuisines and can today be found on many a charcuterie board or cheese platter. You'll find these super thin crackers sold in many supermarkets and gourmet stores. But it's so easy to make at home, particularly if you have a sourdough starter.
How To Make Sourdough Lavosh Crackers
Making sourdough lavosh could not be easier! In fact, it's a great recipe to get the kids involved in (especially if they love to roll and sprinkle). Mine love to snack on these whenever we make them, even with the seeds!
Combine sourdough starter, flour, salt, honey and olive oil to a mixing bowl and bring the ingredients together to a shaggy dough. Gently knead the dough for a few minutes to form a smooth ball.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out wafer thin. Parchment paper is also helpful here because you can then lift the cracker dough straight onto a baking sheet.
Brush with olive oil and top with seeds and flaky salt and bake until golden brown. Once they're cool, you can break them into smaller pieces. So simple! Yet oh so good! And so delicious when served with homemade Boursin cheese or whipped ricotta dip.
Kate's Recipe Tips
- Lavosh is best when rolled really thin. You can use a pasta machine or pasta roller if you have one to get them super thin. But if you like keeping things simple, a rolling pin is just fine.
- Low and slow is the best way to cook these crackers - if the oven is too hot they will burn very quickly. Avoid placing them in the top part of your oven, better to position oven racks lower down for these.
- If you find the edges are done before the middle, break the edges off and then break the slightly under done bits into pieces and place back into the oven for a few minutes.
Flavor Variations
- Add seeds into the actual dough if you like. Sesame and flax are great for this. You could even add bigger seeds like pumpkin. I love topping mine with poppy seeds too when I have them. If seeds are your thing, you might also enjoy these seedy sourdough crackers.
- Spices like fennel, paprika, pepper and garlic work well too. I love mixing through some homemade Everything Bagel seasoning. You could even try these cranberry & pistachio sourdough lavosh crackers.
How To Store + Freeze
Like most sourdough crackers, these sourdough lavosh store well in an airtight container. I prefer to store mine in a glass canister or jar because I find plastic can make them go softer more quickly.
I don't recommend freezing these sourdough lavosh crackers, make them fresh when you need them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can hold the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours, whether it's a dough ball wrapped in plastic wrap, or the dough is rolled out nice and thin ready to bake. You'll get a deeper flavor from fermenting them in the fridge overnight.
No, you don't need to pierce these crackers with a fork. The bubbles and rustic edges give them the character they are known for.
Sourdough Lavosh Crackers
Equipment
- Digital Scales
- Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Trays
Ingredients
- 100 g Sourdough Discard (unfed sourdough starter)
- 60 g Whole Wheat Flour
- 3 g Salt
- 20 g Olive Oil
- 15 g Honey
- 20 g Olive Oil (for brushing)
- 10 g Sea Salt (for topping)
- Sesame Seeds (for sprinkling)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
- Add sourdough discard, flour, olive oil, salt and honey to a mixing bowl and bring the ingredients together to form a shaggy dough.
- Knead the dough in the bowl until it forms a smooth pliable dough (it is a soft dough and will be slightly sticky, but still very easy to handle). If it's too sticky, add a little more flour.
- Place the ball of dough onto a piece of parchment paper and push into a rough rectangle.
- Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough.
- Now roll out to a thin sheet of dough using a rolling pin. You want it around 1/16" or 1.5mm thick. The thinner you can get it the better.The parchment paper on top will stop the dough sticking to the rolling pin.
- Place parchment paper with dough on top onto a baking sheet.
- Brush dough with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Top with seeds of your choice.
- Bake at 350F/180C for around 25 minutes or until lavosh is golden and crisp.
- Let the piece of lavosh cool on a wire rack before breaking into pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
These are great! I have my second batch in the oven now(I have a bunch of discard! Haha). What do you think the best way to store these crackers would be? Thanks for the recipe!
The recipe was great, subbed about 10G of the whole wheat for rye and the flavour was terrific. My only issue is that despite brushing with olive oil before sprinkling the seeds on, they all fell off once cool. I think I'll try lightly rolling them in once topped and see if this helps this issue.