Cracker Recipes

Graham Crackers

Recipe By: King Arthur Whole Grain Baking

Ingredients:

1 cup (4 oz.) whole wheat flour, regular or white wheat

1/2 cup (2 oz.) whole barley flour

1/2 cup (2 1/8 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (1 7/8 oz.) dark brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled

1/4 cup milk

cinnamon-sugar, optional

Directions:

Combine flours, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a mixing bowl.  Cut the chilled butter into the dry ingredients until very crumbly.  Add the milk and combine until you have a stiff dough - you may need to add a bit more or less milk.  If using white whole wheat flour, use a little less milk because the flour will absorb less.  Knead the dough lightly to be sure its smooth, cut it into two pieces and flatten each into a rectangle.  Wrap the pieces in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour - or overnight if more convenient.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, turn it out onto a floured surface and roll it till it's about 1/16 inch thick; the thinner you can roll it the crispier the crackers.  Be sure your rolling surface and pin are well floured; you may want to roll this directly onto a piece of parchment paper, as its difficult to transfer it to your baking sheet.  When you're done rolling, and you've trimmed the edges, you should have a piece of dough about 9 x 12 inches.  The scraps may be rerolled into a third rectangle.

Cut the dough into 3-inch squares, then cut each square in half.  Prick the dough several times with a fork and place the crackers on prepared baking sheets.  If you've rolled onto parchment paper, this step will be a breeze.  If you like, sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar.

Bake the crackers until they're lightly browned (they'll brown more quickly with the cinnamon sugar on top!), 12 o 15 minutes.  Remove the crackers from the oven, transfer to a rack, and let cool completely before serving.