For some reason the other day I decided to make whole wheat crackers. I had previously tried to make crackers at home when I was about 12 years old. My Dad had given me a great baking cook book with a cracker recipe (which I still have and use as a reference – its a great book!) At the time, though, I lived in a very humid climate (tropical) and my dough rolling skills weren’t exactly at a high level, so the crackers turned out with the consistency of cardboard – thick and damp cardboard. But now, 15 years later, I returned to the cracker to give it another chance, and this one was a success worthy of the blog, so here it is. The recipe came from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com, and I changed it a little as I am prone to doing (recipes are really a jumping off point, right?) I think that this is the kind of recipe that is super easy to make, but people will be really impressed when you bring it to a party with some spinach dip (that recipe will be blogged in the near future perhaps).

Seedy Crackers

Whisk together 5 ounces of whole wheat flour and 4 3/4 ounces of white flour and 1 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl (if you want to add sea salt as a garnish on the top of the crackers, cut this salt in half). Add about 1/4 cup poppy seeds (this amount makes for a pretty seedy cracker, so hold back on this if you aren’t the biggest poppy seed lover or if there is a drug test in your near future). Add 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder. At this point, you can also add some sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or any other seed that you like.

Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the flour mixture and whisk until combined. Then change from a whisk to a spoon and stir in 6.5 ounces of water. Turn the dough out onto a work surface (silpat mats work well, or a floured countertop) and knead 4-5 times. Then divide the dough into 8 pieces and cover it with a towel and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 450 degrees. After the dough is rested, roll each piece out on a floured surface (again, the silpat works great for this). For a regular cracker/chip to snack on, roll it as thin as you can get it without it tearing, about 1/16 inch. If you want to use the crackers for a dip or salsa, roll them out a little thicker, 1/8 inch. This dough is about the easiest dough to roll out that I have ever worked with. It barely resists rolling and doesn’t shrink back up like some pizza doughs I know. Just make sure your rolling pin is floured up well and you shouldn’t have any problems. If the dough is sticking, add a little more flour and knead it into the dough. Once it is rolled out, transfer it to a non-stick cookie sheet. At this point you can top with some sea salt if you want.

Bake each large cracker for 4 minutes, then rotate the cookie sheet in the oven and cook for another 3 minutes or until it is golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack, and then once it is cool break it into pieces and enjoy!  This basic flour/oil/water recipe can be modified in as many ways as you could think of.  You could add shredded hard cheeses, use different flours (corn meal, chickpea flour etc) and on and on.  Yay crackers!