Sourdough Graham Crackers

Homemade Sourdough Graham Crackers will take your s’mores and graham cracker crusts to the next level! These crisp crackers are made with 100% whole wheat flour, honey, and cinnamon for a gourmet version of a classic.

The crackers are another fun and easy way to use sourdough discard. They can be made ahead by chilling the batter until you’re ready to bake.

In the recipe guide below, you’ll find lots of tips to help you make the best homemade graham crackers and how to bake them into crisp sheets that you can break apart just like the store-bought versions!

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👍 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Easy to make and perfect for gourmet s’mores.
• Can make the batter ahead and chill overnight and up to a few days.
• Honey and cinnamon flavor just like store-bought graham crackers.
• Made with 100% whole wheat flour.
• Makes crisp cracker sheets that you can break apart.

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🔍 Tips for Making Sourdough Graham Crackers

• Use a ruler and pastry wheel for equal-sized graham crackers and sharp, squared edges.
• Roll the dough thinly to about ⅛” (3mm) thick.
  • The crackers will rise slightly in the oven, but how thinly you roll them will affect the baking time and their crispness.
• Bake until the tops are dry and the edges just start to brown.
  • This will help ensure the graham crackers come out crispy as they dry.
• Score the crackers so you can easily break them apart into sheets and squares.
• Use a fork to dock (poke holes) into the crackers.
  • Like other pastries, such as Sourdough Pie Crust and Sourdough Pop Tarts, docking the crackers will help release steam and prevent them from puffing up while baking.

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🛠 Tools Needed

See below for my tool recommendations and substitutions.

• Baking scale
  • Ingredients like flour and sourdough starter weigh differently from person to person when measured by volume. For the best results, I recommend using a baking scale.
• Stand mixer (recommended but optional)
  • Helps mix the batter easily, but you can use a hand mixer too.
• Rolling pin
• Ruler (recommended)
  • Assists with getting equal-sized crackers and cutting out straight edges.
• Pastry wheel (or pizza cutter or knife)
  • I like using a pastry wheel for better control of straight-cut edges and corners for the crackers, like making homemade Sourdough Croissants.
• Half sheet pans lined with parchment paper

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for my ingredient recommendations and possible substitutions.

• Whole wheat flour
  • Graham crackers are made with graham flour, a coarser ground whole wheat flour. If you mill your own flour, you’ll get a similar product without sifting it! But for most, store-bought whole wheat flour will work.
  • Whole wheat flour gives graham crackers their signature hearty flavor, tanned color, and chew, but you can substitute all or some with all-purpose flour, spelt, or einkorn flour.
• Baking soda
  • A small amount of baking soda adds a bit of leavening to the cookies so they’re still tender and assists with browning.
• Salt
• Cinnamon
  • The warming spice gives graham crackers some of their signature flavor, but if you’re sensitive to cinnamon, you can omit it.
• Unsalted butter, room temperature
  • Use softened butter to easily combine the butter, sugar, and honey together.
• Light brown sugar
  • Contributes to the color, moisture, sweetness, acidity, and texture of the crackers.
• Honey
  • Adds sweetness to the crackers with that distinguishing graham cracker flavor so they taste like store-bought crackers.
• Sourdough discard (or active starter)
  • Sourdough discard is unfed sourdough starter that you can use in sourdough discard recipes. When I feed my starter, I store the discard in the refrigerator so there’s no waste. Learn how to make sourdough starter from scratch and my top sourdough starter tips.
• Vanilla extract
  • Enhances the earthy flavor of the whole wheat flour and gives a bit more depth.

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How to Make Sourdough Graham Crackers

Follow this visual recipe guide as you make the sourdough graham crackers with additional tips and photos to help you throughout the process.

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Set aside as you mix your wet ingredients.

2. Mix the Wet Ingredients

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand electric mixer), combine the softened butter, light brown sugar, and honey.

Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure all the butter is incorporated. We’re not really creaming or incorporating much air into the butter because we don’t want the crackers to rise too much. But you do want to make sure the fat is evenly combined.

Then, pour in the sourdough discard and vanilla extract and mix until the batter is pale and lighter, a minute or two.

3. Mix the Graham Cracker Batter

Turn off the mixer and dump all of the dry ingredients into the bowl. Then, carefully pulse to combine and turn on low to bring the dough together.

Mix just until no floury spots remain and don’t overmix. It should appear a little dry and crumbly like if you were making shortbread cookies.

4. Chill the Batter and Overnight Option

At this point, the batter is still too crumbly to roll out. Chilling the batter will allow the whole wheat flour to further hydrate, let the flavors meld, make rolling easier, and allow you bake on your own schedule.

Cut out a large piece of plastic wrap (or other reusable dough wrap) and turn out the dough onto the surface of the wrap.

Then, cover it with plastic wrap and use the palms of your hands to press it down into a rectangle about ¼” thick, pressing the dough together.

Transfer the slab to the refrigerator to chill at least an hour and up to a few days in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can freeze the dough for up to three months.

5. Roll Out and Shape

Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the graham cracker dough in half.

Use a rolling pin to roll out one half of the dough at a time between two floured pieces of parchment paper (image 1 below). Try to evenly roll it out so it doesn’t have thicker or thinner sections.

Roll the dough out into a thin rectangular slab (image 2) about ⅛” thick and slightly bigger than 9×11″ (23x28cm).

Trim the edges and sides to a 9×11″ rectangle (image 3).

Cut out and score the dough to make 16 equal-sized rectangles.

Finally, dock (poke holes) in each cracker square at least three times with a fork (image 4). Transfer the dough on parchment to a half sheet pan.

Repeat with the other half of the dough, transferring both sheets to the refrigerator or freezer to chill while you preheat the oven to 325ºF (163ºC).

6. Bake

Bake one sheet at a time at 325ºF (163ºC) for about 20-25 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown and crackers are dry to the touch.

It’s actually better to slightly overbake these cookies so you get that crispy, break-apart texture for the graham crackers.

However, the timing can vary baked on your own oven and how thinly you rolled out the crackers.

Cool completely on wire racks and break apart into 16 graham cracker sheets (2 crackers per sheet). If the crackers cool and still aren’t crisp enough, you can continue baking them a few more minutes if needed.

Use the crackers to make gourmet s’mores, a sourdough graham cracker pie crust, or use to make the streusel in a recipe like my Sourdough Apple Butter Muffins in place of Biscoff cookies!

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How to Store

Homemade graham crackers crackers are best the day they’re made, but they do store well.

You can break the crackers apart and store them in an airtight container for 4-5 days. If the crackers soften, reheat them in an oven or toaster oven for a few minutes to re-crisp them.

For freezing, I recommend freezing the dough before baking for up to a few months. Then, thawing overnight in the refrigerator and baking them following the same instructions above.

You can also use any leftover graham crackers for pie crusts, crumbles, streusels, or other desserts calling for graham crackers.

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❓ FAQs:

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Other Sourdough Dessert Recipes You May Enjoy:

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