gone crackers

I will start with this: there is no reason in the wide world to make your own crackers. Reasonable people don't. Reasonable people survey the extensive cracker aisle at the supermarket and avail themselves of sales on Big Wheat Thins, or Rye Triscuits, or other salty crackery deliciousness.

Other people look into a cookbook that they won on a food chat and say Ooh! I've never made these before!

 

The other thing that moved me to experiment with cracker-making was the economic factor. I'd try it out, and if it worked, great. If not, what was I out? 50 cents of pantry supplies (flour, salt, baking powder, olive oil) and an hour of my time? Pfft. This is how we roll.

 

And next time, speaking of rolling, I'll roll them thinner. I need those special awesome rubber-band-things you strap on your rolling pin to mark whether you're at half an inch or a quarter-inch or what-have-you. These were too thick. Especially the first batch. Too biscuity. The second batch, I did a little tweaking. (Tweaking is my business, and business is good.)

 

Fork-poking!

 

Oil-brushing! Salt-scattering!

 

Browning til mmmmmmm.

The nice thing about making them a little too thick is that they stood up very well to the moisture from the caramelized onions. Store-bought crackers wouldn't. So at least now I have some ideas on how to pursue homemade crackers in the future. And like I said: 50 cents' worth of pantry ingredients. Good to know.

Comments

[Russ Carr]

*sigh* I had a post typed in but the computer ate it.

In summation: How did the crackers taste? I want to find a pumpernickel cracker recipe since Keebler is no longer making their luscious pumpernickel crackers. Ultimately, I want to make bagels, and crackers will be my flavor training ground.

[Sarah]

I should pass this on to my friend who once made his own cheez-its (they were also on the thick side).

[jael]

Russ, pumpernickel crackers sound awesome. Maybe Pepperidge Farm still makes the stick version. As far as these, the taste was... not much. Biscuity. The batch I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt at least had something to them, but basically, these are blank canvas crackers, suitable only for topping. I'll try Bittman's recipe next, which has both butter and olive oil.