An Easy and Fun Skill to Develop That’ll Save You $$
From the website www.food52.com comes some great tips on how to make your own homemade crackers. This is an easy and fun skill to develop that’ll also save you a lot of money. Store-bought crackers are stupidly expensive!
They’re such an amazing treat. Unlike store-bought variations, you’re in control of everything, from seasoning to level of crispness—plus, you can experiment with sizes, shapes, and flavors.
Now in case you’ve already tried making your own crackers, and was turned off by the tedious dough rolling to the cutting the shapes, take heart. There’s way more than one way to make a tasty cracker. Food52.com shared an especially easy idea that I’ll close with.
But first, here are their cracker-making tips that apply to any recipe you use:
Don’t skip the rest time. While not all cracker recipes require the dough to rest, when they do, don’t be tempted to skip it. Resting the dough—which usually after mixing and before rolling it out—helps relax the gluten that was formed during mixing. This makes the dough much easier to handle and roll out evenly.
If rolling, take care to roll the dough evenly. If the dough is thicker in some places and thinner than others, the crackers will bake unevenly, and some may burn or be not quite crisp enough. If you have a little unevenness, you can help compensate for it by putting thicker crackers around the outer edge of the baking sheet, and keep thinner crackers towards the center.
Don’t worry about spread. Most cracker recipes don’t spread much, so unless a recipe suggests leaving a certain amount of space between crackers for baking, you can keep them pretty close together on the baking sheet.
During baking, rotate baking sheets between racks and turn them around—this helps give you the best chance of all the crackers baking evenly. I usually only do this once, halfway through baking time.
To determining doneness, pay attention color. If a cracker dough is pale in color, an even level of browning is usually a good sign of doneness. But Food52.com also recommends touching the cracker (if your fingers can stand it). Properly baked crackers will feel dry on the surface and appear set—this equates to crispness once the cracker has cooled.
Now here’s the above-mentioned cracker recipe. The pros at Food52 love the simplicity of these crackers, which are made with yeast. After a brief mixing and a set-it-and-forget-it-rise time, the dough is rolled out into one piece the size of a baking sheet. This makes it perfect for finishing with a variety of tasty toppings with even coverage. The baked giant cracker eventually is broken into randomly sized pieces that are ideal for dipping.
Food52 explains that it can feel intimidating to handle a piece of dough as big as a baking sheet. So they suggest using the rolling pin to help you easily transfer the dough to the tray: roll the dough up onto the rolling pin (wrapping it around the pin), and gently unfurl the dough onto the back of the prepared baking sheet. Trim any excess pieces hanging over the sides of the baking sheet away using scissors.
3/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
1 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon pure honey
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more for brushing
Everything Seasoning as needed
Directions:
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They’re such an amazing treat. Unlike store-bought variations, you’re in control of everything, from seasoning to level of crispness—plus, you can experiment with sizes, shapes, and flavors.
Now in case you’ve already tried making your own crackers, and was turned off by the tedious dough rolling to the cutting the shapes, take heart. There’s way more than one way to make a tasty cracker. Food52.com shared an especially easy idea that I’ll close with.
But first, here are their cracker-making tips that apply to any recipe you use:
Don’t skip the rest time. While not all cracker recipes require the dough to rest, when they do, don’t be tempted to skip it. Resting the dough—which usually after mixing and before rolling it out—helps relax the gluten that was formed during mixing. This makes the dough much easier to handle and roll out evenly.
If rolling, take care to roll the dough evenly. If the dough is thicker in some places and thinner than others, the crackers will bake unevenly, and some may burn or be not quite crisp enough. If you have a little unevenness, you can help compensate for it by putting thicker crackers around the outer edge of the baking sheet, and keep thinner crackers towards the center.
Don’t worry about spread. Most cracker recipes don’t spread much, so unless a recipe suggests leaving a certain amount of space between crackers for baking, you can keep them pretty close together on the baking sheet.
During baking, rotate baking sheets between racks and turn them around—this helps give you the best chance of all the crackers baking evenly. I usually only do this once, halfway through baking time.
To determining doneness, pay attention color. If a cracker dough is pale in color, an even level of browning is usually a good sign of doneness. But Food52.com also recommends touching the cracker (if your fingers can stand it). Properly baked crackers will feel dry on the surface and appear set—this equates to crispness once the cracker has cooled.
Now here’s the above-mentioned cracker recipe. The pros at Food52 love the simplicity of these crackers, which are made with yeast. After a brief mixing and a set-it-and-forget-it-rise time, the dough is rolled out into one piece the size of a baking sheet. This makes it perfect for finishing with a variety of tasty toppings with even coverage. The baked giant cracker eventually is broken into randomly sized pieces that are ideal for dipping.
Food52 explains that it can feel intimidating to handle a piece of dough as big as a baking sheet. So they suggest using the rolling pin to help you easily transfer the dough to the tray: roll the dough up onto the rolling pin (wrapping it around the pin), and gently unfurl the dough onto the back of the prepared baking sheet. Trim any excess pieces hanging over the sides of the baking sheet away using scissors.
Everything Sheet Tray Crackers
Ingredients:
3/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
1 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon pure honey
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more for brushing
Everything Seasoning as needed
Directions:
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, mix the cornmeal, flour, yeast, and salt to combine.
2. Add the water, honey, and oil and mix for 3 minutes on low speed. Raise speed to medium and mix for 1 minute more.
3. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
4. When the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the back/bottom of a 13x18 inch baking sheet lightly with olive oil.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick – it should be about the size of the baking sheet.
6. Roll the dough up onto the rolling pin (wrapping it around the pin), and gently unfurl the dough onto the back of the prepared baking sheet. Trim any excess pieces hanging over the sides away using scissors.
7. Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle generously with everything seasoning.
8. Bake until the edges of the cracker are golden brown and the center has browned slightly, 17-20 minutes.
9. Let cool completely before breaking into pieces as desired.
2. Add the water, honey, and oil and mix for 3 minutes on low speed. Raise speed to medium and mix for 1 minute more.
3. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
4. When the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the back/bottom of a 13x18 inch baking sheet lightly with olive oil.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick – it should be about the size of the baking sheet.
6. Roll the dough up onto the rolling pin (wrapping it around the pin), and gently unfurl the dough onto the back of the prepared baking sheet. Trim any excess pieces hanging over the sides away using scissors.
7. Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle generously with everything seasoning.
8. Bake until the edges of the cracker are golden brown and the center has browned slightly, 17-20 minutes.
9. Let cool completely before breaking into pieces as desired.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
Sources:
- www.feedthemwisely.com
- www.forksandfolly.com
- www.yestoyolks.com
- www.thesimpleveganista.com
- www.dinnerwithjulie.com
