Crunchy Crackers
Crunchy Crackers
(18)
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| dairy free, whole grain | |
| Hands-on time: | |
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| Baking time: | |
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| Yield: | two 16" x 11" sheets of crackers. |
Ingredients
Crackers
- 7/8 to 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 1/2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder or sugar
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons whole milled flax or whole flax seeds, preferably golden*
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds or whole flax seeds, preferably golden*
- *Substitute 1/4 cup golden flax seeds for the flax and sesame, if desired.
Topping
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, midget preferred*
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds*
- 1/4 cup whole flax seeds,* golden preferred
- sea salt or your favorite flavored salt, if desired
- *Substitute 3/4 cup artisan bread topping + 1/4 cup whole flax seeds for the sunflower, sesame, and flax seeds, if desired.
Directions
1) To make the dough: Mix and knead together all of the cracker ingredients (except the seeds) to a smooth, fairly stiff dough. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of water if the dough is dry.
2) Knead in the seeds.
3) Let the dough rise, covered, for 60 to 90 minutes, until it's expanded a bit.
4) Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a rectangle approximately 14" x 9", a generous 1/8" thick. This will probably require you to roll the dough until it fights back; give it a 10-minute rest, then come back and roll some more. It may need two rest periods to allow you to roll it thin enough.
5) For easiest handling, turn the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Spritz the dough with water. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the topping seeds, lay a piece of parchment on top, and press the seeds in with a rolling pin. Turn the dough over, peel off the parchment, and repeat. Set the seeded crackers on a baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining piece of dough.
6) If you don't have parchment, roll on a rolling mat or on a very lightly floured or lightly greased work surface; and transfer the seeded crackers to a lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle each sheet of crackers with some sea salt or flavored salt, if desired. Crush the sea salt between your fingers or grind it in a salt mill if it's very coarse.
7) Prick the dough over with a fork, and cut it into rectangles, whatever size you like. Pull the crackers apart just a bit; you don't need to separate them completely. Let the crackers rise for 30 to 45 minutes. while you preheat your oven to 350°F; they'll get just a bit puffy.
8) Bake for 20 minutes, until the crackers are a medium brown. Turn off the heat, wait 15 minutes, then open the oven door a couple of inches and let the crackers cool completely in the turned-off oven. When they're completely cool, break apart, if necessary, and store airtight.
Yield: two 14" x 9" sheets of crackers.
Reviews
01/09/2012- I tried this receipe two times. The first time, the dough was so sticky that it became glued to the parchment and I had to throw it all away (my bad). I tried again and added more flour when kneading and followed all the directions for baking and even measure the height of the crackers with a ruler. The appearance of the baked crackers was great and the flavor was good but they were NOT crispy. My husband is a huge Patrick O'Brien fan and kept asking for another piece of hard tack! Obviously, they needed to dry out more but they were a lot of work to make and I am not sure that I have the energy to try for a third time and keep adjusting the baking/drying times.
I'm sorry this recipe did not meet your expectations. Please give us a call on the Baker's Hotline and we'll be happy to help troubleshoot. ~Mel
- 10/29/2011
- Good flavor, mine were on the tough side....I don't know what I did.
I am pleased the flavor was good. If the texture was a bi tough it may be because the dough was too dry or you did not roll it out thin enough. Try again! Elisabeth
03/05/2011- I made two batches of these crackers this evening. The first batch I made exactly as written (with the additional 2 tablespoons of water) and the second batch I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead of the 2 tablespoons of water. I can appreciate both recipes but the batch with olive oil is a little bit more short and less hard. On both I also sprinkled a bit of sea salt along with the seeds - that must have prevented what others described as cardboard flavor. I do admit to using my pasta roller attachment on the KitchenAid mixer, which I'm sure made them thin enough to be crispy without being tough. If you have a pasta maker, I recommend you use it. I divided each batch in to 4 pieces and rolled it though twice - first on setting 1 and then on 2. I could probably have gone to 3 without any trouble. I baked two trays at once, reversing them after 10 minutes and baking them about 8 minutes longer. The bottom tray was definitely darker. I used the milled flax in the dough and love the earthy, nutty flavor without anything on them. Good with a beer, to be sure. My book club will enjoy these, too!
- 11/15/2010
- I have made these twice...cardaboarda!! I've added seasonings,etc. They have no flavor. They are just hard, very hard..maybe they're only to be eaten with a dip to give them some nice flavor. Should they be flakey at all? They have an awesome aroma while baking. But no flavor and are just hard. Ros T
Yes, these are crunchy, not flaky, crackers. As written the flavor comes from the seed blend. If you would like to add more punch to the dough, try adding pizza dough flavor, or Vermont cheese powder. Frank @ KAF.
09/04/2010- Like almost everyone else, 30 minutes too long (first batch), 20 was perfect and 15 more after shutting the oven off.
I used the Artisan bread topping in and on the crackers - great flavor and fun to make these.
Crackers take a bit of time to perfect - in terms of how thin to roll them to meet your expectations, and how long to cook them. Watch them as they bake - as soon as they brown, it's time to consider taking them out of the oven. Strive for browned in the center as well, not just the edges. Irene @ KAF
- 08/18/2010
- These tasted good, but they were extremely crunchy and hard to bite. I may have baked them too long, but they seemed medium brown to me when I turned the oven off. So, maybe try turning the oven off when they are more of a lighter golden brown. Also, a fair number of my seeds fell off... some stuck, but when transporting them between rolling and cutting, the seeds really made a mess. Overall, they were fun to make, and they were generally liked.
- 08/09/2010
- Who knew crackers could be so easy? And healthy and delicious? Excellent recipe that goes in a different directionl
- 08/09/2010
- I agree with Katherine from Arizona - the crackers were very dark at the 20 min mark: would this be because I was baking them directly on a stone rather than a pan on a rack? I found that in my oven 16 min baking plus 10 min with the heat off was sufficient to give them what I think is considered "golden". I ate the overcooked ones anyway: with a good heavy hummous, they were still fine.
Baking on your stone definately was the reason these baked so quick. Stones afe a very hot surface and tend to dry out the crackers quicker. This is the reason they work so well for pizza. So the baking time will be much shorter. JMD@KAF
- 07/25/2010
- I did not have seeds but a lot of "gourmet" salts around the kitchen and they worked quite tastily! Also, from the ingriedients, they seem to be FAT-FREE!!! Other than the seeds that is. They are almost gone and am getting ready to prepare the second batch this weekend.
- 06/14/2010
- Super easy to make and very delicious and crunchy. I followed the other reviews and only baked for 20 minutes and then 15 minutes more with the oven off! Perfectly crunchy and tasty. I doubled the recipe too because I love crackers.
