Saltine Crackers Recipe

Kevin and I have been making a conscious effort to eliminate over-processed foods from our cupboards. This is mostly an issue for me, as I am somewhat of a pretzel fiend and must keep crackers of all kinds around "just in case." Maybe you can related. In an case, we opted to try to make our own homemade crackers. With just a few basic ingredients, I know have a 7-cup-container filled with soda crackers that taste EXACTLY like the storebought saltines. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to make the dough, roll, and get into the oven--much less time than going to the store! And no artificial preservatives that make the crackers last for 2 years. (weird, right?)

I am loving the More-With-Less Cookbook
That's where this recipe is found! 

Saltine Crackers Recipe

aka Soda Crackers

Makes 7 cups of crackers

recipe adapted from the More-With-Less Cookbook

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp margarine

2/3 cup soured milk or buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Cut in margarine until evenly distributed. Stir in the soured milk. 

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and kneed gently into a ball. Separate into 3 sections. Work with the first section and roll as thinly as possible (adding flour to keep dough from sticking). Transfer to a baking sheet (ungreased). 

Sprinkle with addition salt. Prick with a fork across the surface of the dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut into 1-1/2 inch squares (it's totally ok if some pieces aren't square. That's the beauty of homemade). 

Repeat the process with the remaining 2 sections of dough. 

Bake each tray separately for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden. (At this point you can let the crackers cool on the baking sheets or place them back in a 250 degree oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp up. This may be necessary if you didn't roll it out as thin as it needed to be. I speak from experience.) 

Store in an airtight container.

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Homemade Wheat Thins

Confession: I have a teensy obsession with wheat thin crackers. 

These crackers are like dessert to me, and I give myself permission to overeat them because they're classified as "healthy." Unfortunately, eating half a box goes WAY beyond healthy. But that's beside the point. 

I love the hint of sweetness. The salted top. The crispness. The melt-in-your-mouth-ness. 

When I saw this recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod, I knew right away I had to try it. These crackers are simple to make and totally worth it. They give you the whole wheat goodness that you can't get from the store-bought variety and you know exactly what you've put in each cracker. The only problem is keeping myself from eating half a batch.

Homemade Wheat Thins 

recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Yields 6-7  dozen crackers

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt, plus extra for topping

1/4 tsp paprika

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup water (you might need to add a little more)

1/4 tsp vanilla

sea salt, for sprinkling 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

Add the flour, sugar, salt and paprika to a medium bowl and whisk to combine.  Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the bowl.  Using a pastry blender, mix the butter into the dry ingredients thoroughly. The dough should be evenly crumbly. Combine the water and vanilla in a small measuring cup or bowl.  Add to the butter/flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. If the dough is still dry, add a little more water.

Divide the dough into 3 pieces.  Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others covered with a towel to keep them moist.  Lightly flour your work surface and the rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangle, sprinkling with additional flour as needed.  Be sure to keep the surface lightly floured to keep the dough from sticking. You want to roll the dough as thin as possible, try to make sure it’s 1/16-inch thick at most.  If you want all of your crackers to be perfect, trim the edges of the dough so you have a rectangle with even sides.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the rectangle into squares about 1 to 1-1/2 inches wide.

Transfer the dough squares to the prepared baking sheets. Arrange them close together as they will not spread. Sprinkle the squares lightly with sea salt.  Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.  Save all of your scraps under the towel to keep the dough from drying out; reroll them all at once to create a final batch of crackers.

Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, about 5-10 minutes.  Check the crackers at 5 minutes, and if some of the thinner ones are browning too quickly, remove them from the oven.  The crackers can burn quickly so you want to keep a close eye on them.  Remove crackers from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  Store the crackers in an airtight container.

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