Rainy-day Sourdough Crackers

As I gradually woke up yesterday morning, I slowly became aware that rain was drumming soothingly. And it made me smile. When everything is parched and the earth is even more cracked than my dry hands, a little healing moisture is welcome.

Plus, it gave me an excuse to have a “rainy day”, which (on a farm) is a blessing straight from some benevolent agricultural deity. I took a nap, painted a sign for the upcoming farmers market season, finally designed some business cards, and made sourdough crackers.

I do not remember where I got this recipe. Somehow it turned up in my recipe box, tucked appropriately between “Sourdough Bread” and “Sourdough Focaccia”. I like these crackers because they taste like some upscale Cheez-it, despite the fact that they have no cheese in them. (They surely would be delicious with some parmesan mixed in the dough.) Also, they are easy to make, yet make me feel “fancy”. I’m a great believer in celebrating the little things that feel fancy.

Here’s how to bring the fancy into your own kitchen:

Mix (roughly) 1 cup sourdough starter and (also roughly) 1/4 cup lard or coconut oil. The sourdough needn’t be at its peak activity. Also, if your lard or coconut oil is very hard, melt over light heat first.

It should look exactly as you would expect a mixture of sourdough starter and lard would.

Mix in 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 teaspoon salt. The dough should be very stiff.

Cover well (airtight is best) and let it “work” (sit on the counter) for a while (3-7 hours). It shouldn’t change all that much in those hours.

Next, divide into two balls and roll each out on a baking sheet (rimless, if you want to be kind to yourself.) Drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt, put some herbs on, and slash them into what ever shape you wish. Have fun with it! I like using a pizza cutter to make straight-ish lines.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Tah-dah! See, isn’t it cool that they shrink when they bake, so you don’t have to painstakingly separate them before baking? Once the crackers cool off a bit, they come off the sheet easily.

Feeling fancy yet?

By the way, I just looked up the definition for fancy. Among many other wonderful meanings, it means created from the imagination rather than from life.

Isn’t that inspiring? Find the extraordinary in the ordinary. See the imaginary in the physical. Recognize the fancy in the crackers.