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Thin wheat crackers

Time1 hour
YieldsMakes about 4 dozen crackers
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I’m ready to start a home-baked cracker revolution to match the bread revolution of the last 15 years. I’ve spent nearly two decades trying to convince folks to bake their own bread and, most recently, asked the nearly impossible: make 100% whole grain breads at home. It’s been a noble, uphill battle.

But I’ve encountered far less resistance in urging people to make their own whole grain crackers -- toasty, nutty, crisp, crackly crackers.

Why the receptivity? It’s probably because crackers are far easier and faster to make than breads. But I also think a deeper reason is that they are so versatile, so easily substituted for chips and other snacks. Whole grain crackers, at least the ones I’ve been teaching adults and kids to make (kids love making crackers, by the way -- a great family activity), are the perfect, guilt-free treat.

They get their satisfying, toasty, nut-like flavor from the deep roasting of the grains’ proteins and oils during the baking process. Crackers, properly made, have a long, loyal finish, with lingering, earthy flavors.

What I call four-seed snapper crackers are my all-time favorite cracker, made with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds and whole wheat flour. The sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds are finely ground, but the sesame seeds are left whole. Just a touch of honey or agave syrup adds the slightest sweetness.

A thin wheat cracker is made with 100% whole wheat flour -- not to be confused with enriched wheat flour, which is a tricky way of saying white flour.

Both are excellent for entertaining because, in addition to being easy to make, they’re impressive: homemade crackers to go with your cheese plate or other appetizers.

Crackers can be naturally leavened with yeast, like Armenian lavash, chemically leavened with baking powder or baking soda like many commercial cracker products, or totally unleavened, like matzo or Triscuits. They are usually crisp and flaky but don’t have to be. They can be buttery, or lean and mean, like saltines and other variations of “water crackers.” Whole grain crackers, regardless of the leavening method, have another major factor going for them: fiber, lots and lots of fiber.

The fiber in flour comes from the bran, the thin pericarp membrane surrounding the bulky endosperm of all grain, whether wheat, rye, oats, barley or even nongrain seeds such as sunflower, sesame and pumpkin. The fiber adds more substance and chew to crackers, but more important, it fills us up, decreases food cravings and has many other documented health benefits. It’s good stuff. Of course, in white flour there is no bran -- that’s why it’s white -- and that’s why it doesn’t do any of the good things that whole grain flour does.

Some quick tips when making crackers:

I have been teaching how to make the four-seed snapper crackers in baking classes all over the country and in kids cracker workshops. They have less oil than the thin wheat crackers that I also love to bake yet are extremely (and, yes, simultaneously) tender and crisp because the seeds contribute their own natural oils.

Both of these crackers are easy to make at home, even for those who have never baked a loaf of bread in their life. The thin wheat cracker is my own knockoff of the iconic Kraft Nabisco Wheat Thin -- only better (I’m being boastful -- I love those classic Wheat Thins and all their new flavors but love making my own even more). The four-seed snapper cracker is unlike any cracker you can buy anywhere, totally original, which is to say that the big cracker companies have not yet written the final word on how to do a cracker -- there are, I am confident, new frontiers yet to explore.

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1

In a mixing bowl, mix the salt with the flour. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, honey (or agave) and oil. Pour this into the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon until the dough forms a ball and all the flour is absorbed. The dough will be very soft.

2

Knead the dough for a few minutes on a well-floured surface, adding more flour as needed until the dough forms a smooth ball and feels soft and supple but not sticky, like modeling clay.

3

Heat the oven to just below 300 degrees. Line three baking pans with baking parchment or a silicone baking pad. Divide the dough into three pieces and form each into a ball. Set two of the dough balls aside and roll out the third. Dust the counter with flour and also the top of the dough, pressing it with your hand to flatten it. Use a straight rolling pin (not a tapered pin) to work the dough to a thin oval or rectangle less than one-eighth-inch thick. Every few seconds lift the dough and dust under it with more flour and dust the top as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter or the pin. If the dough resists and shrinks back, let it rest for a few minutes and move on to one of the remaining dough balls. Repeat the rolling process with each piece of dough.

4

Combine the egg with one-half cup water to make an egg wash. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash and lightly sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Cut the dough into desired size for crackers with a pizza cutter or with a knife or pastry blade (you can also use a small biscuit cutter). Transfer the crackers to the pans, placing them very close together (they will not rise or spread). Place the pans in the oven (you can bake them all at once or one at a time). Rotate the pans after 8 minutes (if baking multiple pans, switch shelves). After another 8 minutes, rotate again. Bake an additional 6 to 8 minutes until toasted and light golden-brown, 22 to 24 minutes total. If not brown, increase the temperature by 25 degrees and continue baking until the crackers are golden brown and stiff, not flexible. Remove from the oven and leave on the pan until cool and crisp.

Adapted from “Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor” by Peter Reinhart. For sweeter crackers, eliminate the egg wash and sea salt, and instead lightly brush the crackers with equal parts honey (or agave syrup) and water. Continue to bake as described. The crackers can also be baked plain.