Crackers!

Yesterday I made hummus. But we didn't have any crackers in the house and I don't have money in my food budget to go and buy some. So I decided to make my own! I searched online and found a great article with tips and a couple of recipes. I decided to try the basic whole-wheat ones but, as with almost any recipe, I had to give it my own touch. So, I reduced the whole wheat flour by 1/4 c and added 1/4 c each of ground flax seeds and quinoa flakes (found at the discount food store).


I mixed the milk, honey and oil in my trusty Pyrex liquid measuring cup...


...and poured it into the dry ingredients.











It didn't take much stirring before the dough came together in a soft ball, which I turned out onto my lightly floured counter.

I kneaded for a minute or two, til the dough was soft and elastic ("like modeling clay" is what the original recipe called for), then pressed it down with my hand and rolled it flat and thin, turning every once in awhile to make sure it wasn't sticking. Once it was rolled out, I used my pizza cutter to make the sizes I wanted. Easy peasy!



This dough was a delight to work with - soft but not sticky, sturdy but not tough, smooth, elastic, and incredibly easy to handle, even when it was rolled very thin.

Once the crackers were cut I transferred them to a parchment-lined baking sheet and popped them in the oven, which was preheated to just below 300. Here are my first and second trays before going in the oven.









While the dough was easy to handle, transferring all those little crackers to the baking sheet was a tad tedious. Also, Clara woke up early from her nap in time to "help." So, with the 3rd sheet, I got smart - I simply rolled the dough out on the parchment paper, cut it with the pizza cutter, and popped it in the oven. Nothing easier! (I started cutting them on the diagonal, but it was taking too long and the dough was lifting up, so I switched to plain squares.)

The sheets got rotated every 8 minutes and cooked a total of 22-24 min. apiece. Here they are beautifully browned and crispy after coming out of the oven.






Ohhhhh my, these crackers are addicting! They are completely delicious and go beautifully with the hummus I made yesterday. They only took 25 minutes or so of active time (and next time even less since I'll cut all the crackers directly on the cookie sheets) - less time than it takes to run to the store and buy crackers, and MUCH easier than making that store-run with a 6 month old! I will be making these again soon!