Gone crackers!
I’ve written about making crackers and about making sourdough crackers.
Homemade crackers are so good and so much fun to make.
Just before Christmas, I saw this recipe and gave it a go … with my own modifications. (my recipe at the end of this post).
In addition to a new recipe, I’ve been using a pasta roller to roll the dough versus rolling by hand. The benefit is that the dough is rolled evenly and bakes evenly. If you have a pasta roller with the typical 0-9 settings, I roll to 4 for “saltine” thickness or 5 for very thin, “potato chip” crispy thickness.
…the assembly line.
I start with a golf ball sized piece of dough at setting 0.
After the roll at zero, I flour and proceed. I flour again between 3 and 4.
This is rolling at setting 3.
I score the dough with a pastry cutter. It does not really cut and does not harm the silpat. Then brush with a wee bit of olive oil and sprinkle some coarse Celtic salt.
After baking, the oblongs break apart at the score lines…
…and we have crackers!
My adaptation of this recipe: above photo is below recipe doubled.
Cracker mix:
75 grams Semolina flour
228 grams All Purpose White Flour (I use Wheat Montana)
1 T nutritional yeast (optional, but adds a bit of subtle “cheese” flavor and some extra nutrition)
Lemon pepper & rosemary (approx. 1 tsp lemon pepper and 2 tsp rosemary ground together) ***
2-3 T olive oil plus another T for rising
1/4 tsp sea salt (fine ground)
1 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup warm-hot water
Topping:
olive oil
coarse ground sea salt
more flour for rolling
Mix all cracker mix ingredients in medium-large bowl. Knead briefly until dough is smooth – it will be sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours minimum … I’ve kept it refrigerated for 48 hours with no problem. (put some olive oil in bowl and spread with hands – add dough and turn dough so it is coated with olive oil)
Remove dough from refrigerator 1 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 375F. When ready to bake, briefly knead dough – it will “collapse”. Prepare baking pan with a silpat liner.
Pinch off golf ball sized pieces of dough and roll in pasta roller to 4 (saltine thickness) or 5 (thin “potato chip” thickness”). Flour dough between settings as needed.
Place dough on silpat. Score dough with pastry cutter to desired size or leave unscored and break rustically after baking.
Bake for 9-14 minutes – time will vary depending on thickness and your oven. Make a small batch(es) until you know how long for your conditions. Crackers go from done to burned quickly so you need to watch carefully and test with your oven and your rolling thickness.
Transfer lightly browned crackers to cooling rack for several minutes and then break apart along score lines. Cool completely before storing in airtight containers.
I’ve kept these for 7 days and they were fine. I’m guessing they will go longer, but ???
***you can use any combo of spices/herbs that sounds good to you. Another favorite of mine is fennel and thyme. I grind them with together (mortar and pestle) and eyeball the amount depending on how much flour mix I’m making.