Homemade Wheat Crackers

We love crackers at my house. I buy Tricuits and Wheat Thins by the cartload when they're on sale. And, though Triscuits are pretty healthful, they're still not perfect.

Here is the listing of ingredients for them:

Ingredients: WHOLE WHEAT, SOYBEAN AND/OR PALM OIL, MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, SPICES (INCLUDES ROSEMARY), MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (FLAVOR ENHANCER), ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVOR, OLIVE OIL.

And the ingredients for Wheat Thins:

Ingredients: WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, MALT SYRUP (FROM BARLEY AND CORN), INVERT SUGAR, MONOGLYCERIDES, SALT, VEGETABLE COLOR (ANNATTO EXTRACT, TURMERIC OLEORESIN). CONTAINS: WHEAT. BHT ADDED TO PACKAGING MATERIAL TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS.

Of the two, Triscuits definitely wins the healthier challenge, but I still don't like the MSG and Maltodextrin they contain. Besides, I'm trying "why buy it when I can make it", so I gave wheat crackers a try.

I found several recipes, but used this one first. Here it is:

Wheat Thins
(recipe from Recipeland.com)

1 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (at room temperature)
2/3 cup milk
salt (or other dried herbs and seasoning) for sprinkling

1. in a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar and salt. cut in the butter and mix until you have a coarse meal.

2. slowly blend in the milk just until you have a dough that will hold together. divide the dough into 2 pieces for rolling.

3. roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thickness. sprinkle with salt and roll over lightly with the rolling pin again. cut the dough into 2×2 inch squares. poke each square several times with a fork.

4. transfer squares to an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes, until crackers are golden brown.

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We started by gathering all the ingredients:



And blending together the dry ones first:


DD carefully mixed in the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder (as a side note, I cut the sugar in half -- something I do in nearly every recipe I use):


Next, she used a pastry blender to cut in the butter:


After adding the wet ingredients, we used a wooden spoon to mix, because it's thick and bread-dough like:



Then we decided that they looked too bland, so we added some various things.

Parmesan cheese:



Garlic:



And Basil:



Then it was time to roll it out.



Cut it into little squares:



Poke air holes in it so they don't make huge air pockets when they bake:



Pop them in the oven:



The finished result:



DD did the taste test:



My overall observations...

I rolled the dough a little too thick, so instead of being crunchy, they were a bit chewy. That was entirely my fault, and easily rectified for next time.

Even with cutting the sugar in half, they tasted too sweet. We use our crackers with cheese or salsa (for dipping) or occasionally spinach dips, etc, and don't like the sweet flavor. I will probably cut the sugar again the next time.

Otherwise, they were very yummy and DD ate a handful every day. It was a snack I could be comfortable with (along with her apple!). The only drawback? Because there are no preservatives, they don't last very long without getting stale, even in a sealed container or a ziplock baggie. They are something I would need to make on a weekly basis.

The good part is that they're simple enough that DD could probably make them on her own without any problem -- so maybe she and I will swap weeks.

I'll also play around with different types of seasonings and see what we like the best. I'd rate this recipe a B.

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