The second section of the King Arthur Baking School book is all about Sourdough baking, and I am so here for it! I have been baking with sourdough for quite a few years, so I have some OPINIONS on how things should be done, but I am trying to keep an open mind – who knows, I might just learn something new!
I started my sourdough culture back in the summer of 2019. I had bought Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson, and I was bought in to the idea of a sourdough lifestyle. My starter took close to a month to be fully established, rather than the 1-2 weeks you see in most books and online resources, and once she was established she was not very robust. I named her Constance in hopes that she would mimic her name. Later that year my husband and I went on a road trip across the country to visit family in Arizona and California, and I decided to bring Constance along. I set her out in a rainstorm to get some Arizona rainwater, and baked with her in California to get some California flour into her. When I brought her home, she was true to her name. She’s been strong and resilient since that trip. I adore baking with her.
The first recipe in this section is sourdough crackers. I gathered my mise en place:
First I combined the flour and salt,
then I added the butter and beat it all until sandy,
and finally I added the starter and mixed until the dough was fully hydrated and smooth.
I let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then divided it in half.
I rolled each half of the dough very thin. If you are making these crackers, you should transfer the rolled out dough to your baking sheet now. I learned this the hard way.
I sprinkled the dough with toppings (I used flaky salt for the first batch and sesame seeds for the second) and rolled those in, then docked the dough with a fork. Finally, I cut the dough into cracker shapes.
I baked the crackers until they seemed done. You can see that the crackers with salt are baked quite dark. This gave them a very nutty flavor and a bit of a crumbly texture. I didn’t bake the sesame crackers as long because I was afraid the sesame seeds would burn.
I loved how these crackers turned out! I ate almost all of them within a week. They are intensely snackable, but they still feel healthy because of the sourdough and the whole grains. Rolling out the dough is a bit annoying, but these crackers are worth the effort.
Until the next time: may your yeast always rise and your flour never run out.
A Baker's Education 