Homemade Crackers

So, this weekend I went on a rampage through my kitchen and threw out every prepackaged boxed good. I'm over it. Done. I have 2 small kids, so it was a bit daunting. Most of the food they consume every day is a basic snack - pretzels, wheat thins, cheese sticks, oranges, apples, peanut butter, bananas, cherry tomatoes, hummus, carrots, green beans... They are kids, they love snacking and I can't blame them. Crunching on things is one of my favorite things to do, too, after all. I easily cut out things like cereal bars and potato chips - but what about pretzels and crackers? I couldn't just deny them.


And, I couldn't deny myself. I mean, it's a fabulous vessel for things, such as cheese and tapenade. Now, I've made crackers before. But I must say, they were the complete opposite of what you'd want in the box of crackers you bought at a grocery store. So, I went on the search for what makes that amazing flavor in Wheat Thins and tweaked the flour I used a bit. I didn't use spelt flour like I have in the past. I didn't even use all whole wheat flour.


These are so addicting and surprisingly on par with a packaged cracker. You might not even be able to go back once you see how simple, fun and satisfying they are. This is a perfect project for kids and you'll find yourself going back to make more almost instantly.


Homemade Crackers

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Wheat Flour
• 3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour (I use unbleached) 
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Paprika
• 6 Tablespoons Chilled Butter (cut into pieces and throw in freezer for a few minutes)
• 1/3 Cup Water (or more if kneaded <--- funny typo :)
• 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Cut butter and place in freezer
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Sift dry ingredients into food processor (or you can ignore my sifting ways)
4. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms into small clumps (or cut in using fork or pastry cutter into a mixing bowl) and transfer to mixing bowl
5. Add liquids and knead slightly (it only seemed to take a couple times of forming and kneading the ball out to mix)
6. Grab a baseball sized chunk and roll out the dough onto pizza stone or parchment paper, making sure to use plenty of flour (use either kind) - You really can't go "too thin" on these
7. Cut using pizza or cookie cutter - (weird ends just get gobbled up, no problem!) and transfer to cookie sheet if you're not doing it on the pizza stone
8. Dust very lightly with sea salt (I do one gentle dash) and bake for 10-12 minutes (this is the only tricky part -the edges may burn and you may want to play around with which rack you put them on - Keep close watch!)

I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for homemade graham crackers!