Homemade Wheat Thins Recipe
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. They were dense and seedy and, good in a different – hippy – kind of way. 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.
- 1 Cup Wheat Flour
- ¾ Cup All Purpose Flour (I use unbleached)
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Paprika
- 6 Tablespoons Chilled Butter (cut into pieces and throw in the freezer for a few minutes)
- ⅓ Cup Water (or more if kneaded, hehe)
- ¼ Teaspoon Vanilla
- Cut butter and place in freezer
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Sift dry ingredients into food processor (or you can ignore my sifting ways)
- 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
- Add liquids and knead slightly (it only seemed to take a couple times of forming and kneading the ball out to mix)
- 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
- 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
- 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!)