Inspiration: On a week where the temperatures ventured down into the low 70s for a whole week, I decided to bake….Because, well, frankly, I missed mixing things up! (I also find all the measuring and assembling of ingredients calming.) So whilst baking bread, buns, cookies, and frying tortillas, I had the show Good Eats (the newer episodes) playing in the background. During a lull, my ears perked up when Alton Brown started talking about his take on sourdough cheese crackers.

Now, for whatever reason, I’ve always found sourdough intimidating. You’ve got to start the starter, feed it, and then, after an appropriate amount of time you use it (well, at least the leftover bit). Then there’s the generally slow rise time associated with these breads….And well, the whole sourdough business kinda seemed like a faff.

But I really, really missed baking.

(Summer is not my favorite time of year.)

(Alton Brown’s cookbook which contains the cracker recipe.)

So I decided to give it a go. Whereupon I discovered, much like hummus, constructing a sourdough starter is easier than it looks. You just need a bit of patience because it just takes time.

(How the starter started vs. how the starter looks now.)

So after a week and a day, I was ready to make the sourdough cheddar crackers….Mine aren’t as brightly colored as the one in Alton Brown’s cookbook or show — due mainly to the mild cheddar cheese powder I used rather than the sharp cheesy powder called for in the recipe. (Hey, it’s what I could find at my local grocery store).

Additionally, I didn’t read the recipe as closely as I should have (that’s on me for not wearing my glasses), so I added all the butter listed in the ingredients list rather than only a portion. (As a part is used in the dough while the rest is brushed onto the cracker later.) So, they didn’t rise as well overnight and had an almost greasy feel.

They tasted great. They just looked a bit….special.

In any case, I cannot wait for the mercury to dip back into the low 70s (or, even better, the low 60s) so I can have a do-over on these crackers!

Christie: I can see most of Christie’s main characters eating these at one point or another in their lives and liking them — except perhaps for Hercule Poirot and Mr. Sattersthwaite, who possess far more particular culinary objectives.

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2023