Homemade Crackers
When you discover how easy it is to make your own homemade crackers, you might ditch the store bought ones forever! You’re not going to believe how simple they are to make, and they take about the same amount of time as it will take to assemble the cheese board you’re going to serve them with. Not only that, but making them is dirt cheap too. And with the price of store bought crackers sky rocketing along with most other groceries, you’ll likely be tempted to give them a shot!
Why Make Homemade Crackers?
There are so many advantages to making your own homemade crackers and the lower cost is only the tip of the iceberg! In addition to homemade crackers being much cheaper, store bought crackers are loaded with chemicals and preservatives. Yet these homemade crackers only use a handful of your pantry ingredients. That way you know what’s in them and they taste so much better too!
Best of all, making your own crackers means you can experiment and make any flavors you want. You can combine different kinds of flours for even healthier, grainier crackers. And you can add different herbs, spices and even cheeses to create any cracker under the sun!
Do I Have to Use Butter?
No you do not. If you don’t want to use butter in the recipe–or if you don’t have any–you can compensate it with the same amount of more olive oil. Alternatively you can also swap the olive oil for more butter if that’s the flavor you prefer.
How Can I Make Other Flavors?
It’s so easy to customize this cracker dough recipe and make any flavor you want. Simply use the standard recipe and just add some herbs or spices to the dry mixture. Any wet ingredients like cheeses and tomato paste you add after cutting in the butter and olive oil.
You can also mix in dried fruit pieces if you want a hint of sweet chewiness in your crackers. Just remember that when using dried herbs, use less than you would fresh herbs. This is because the flavor in dried herbs is more potent by virtue of their being dehydrated.
Here are a few ideas for different flavors of crackers you can make:
- Cheddar and Onion: Add 1 teaspoon of onion powder to the dry ingredients. Stir in 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese after cutting in the butter and olive oil.
- Rosemary Parmesan: Add 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary and 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese to the dry ingredients before cutting in the butter and olive oil.
- Zesty Pizza: Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes (optional) to the dry ingredients. After cutting in the butter and olive oil, stir in 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese.
I hope you’ll say goodbye to the store bought crackers you’ve been buying forever, and give these homemade crackers a try. They go beautifully with any soup; try them with the fasolada recipe on this blog! You won’t regret making them and you’ll be amazed by how good they are. And when you do, please rate the recipe and leave a comment about how they turned out for you!
Homemade Crackers
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4-6 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉/204℃. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine all purpose flour, sugar and salt.
- Add the butter and oil. Cut it in with your fingers until the fats are evenly distributed. The mixture should look like damp sand.
- Slowly sprinkle in the water a little at a time, mixing with a spoon. Before the dough comes together, begin kneading it by hand and adding more water necessary to make a soft dough. It should clean the sides of the bowl and not be too crumbly.
- Set the parchment paper lining the baking sheet onto the work surface. Roll the dough on the paper to form a rectangle of about 11 x 14 inches. The thinner you roll the dough, the crispier the crackers will be. Prick all over with a fork and using a pizza wheel, cut the crackers into as many squares as you'd like. Trim the edges. (You can leave them to bake and snack on them later.)
- Carefully slide the parchment paper back onto the baking sheet. Bake crackers for 8-10 minutes, rotating them around about halfway through. They should be slightly golden on the edges and not feel soft anywhere. If they need more time to bake, turn off the oven and let them continue to carryover bake for another few minutes.
- Cool crackers directly on the baking sheet when they come out of the oven. Store in an airtight bag or glass jar. Perfect with soup, on a cheese board or just for snacking.