Baking Class: White Whole Wheat Crackers

Here's one more item to add to the "I make my own" list. I have always been intrigued by the idea of making crackers, but it seemed impossible to me that I could come up with anything that would come close to the crackers that I grew up eating. Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Ritz, even the generic saltine - how could I make anything that would come even close?

But over the years I realized that I rarely bought crackers and when I did, it was with a specific purpose in mind. And when I did buy the crackers I liked as a child, I found that I did not enjoy them as much as I did in memory. They had no substance and were overly salty. And they all had a similar after-taste to me, no matter their flavor or type.

I have come to recognize that after-taste as the flavor of processing. Processed foods leave a coating in my mouth that affects the feel and taste of everything else I eat, and the thought of eating beans, fruit or vegetables no longer appeals. And maybe I am overly sensitive to it, but there is a certain flatness of texture and muting of flavor that comes with processed, pre-packaged foods that just does not satisfy either my appetite or my hunger. Eating these foods just makes me want to eat more of them, but never makes me feel like I have eaten anything. It is a vicious cycle that can be difficult to break.

And so it has become with crackers. As much as I love the memory of Wheat Thins, Triscuit, Ritz, and Chicken in a Biskit (at one time my hands-down favorite snacking cracker), they no longer taste good to me. And looking at the ingredient lists, I can see why. For Chicken in a Biskit:

Ingredients: UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, SALT, EMULSIFIERS (MONOGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN), DEXTROSE, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (FLAVOR ENHANCER), ONION POWDER, BAKING SODA, DEHYDRATED COOKED CHICKEN, HYDROLYZED CORN AND YEAST PROTEIN, SPICE EXTRACTIVES, DISODIUM INOSINATE AND DISODIUM GUANYLATE (FLAVOR ENHANCERS). CONTAINS: WHEAT, SOY.

Now a lot of those chemical-sounding ingredients are no doubt the "chicken" flavoring. How about a plain old Ritz:

Ingredients: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, SALT, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), NATURAL FLAVOR, CORNSTARCH.

Not that much better.

Here are the ingredients in these white whole wheat crackers:

WHITE WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR
MILK
BUTTER
SUGAR
SALT

Huge difference, right? These are delicious with peanut butter, pimento cheese, plain cheese, and baba ghanouj. I suspect they would be just as good with hummus and any other spread you would eat with crackers, and they are delicious all by themselves.

I will be honest, it did take me a while to get these right. If you roll them out too thick they do not get crisp; too thin and they burn. But I was able to eat all of my efforts, so it was worth the time it took to get it right. One trick I learned after I converted the recipe from all-purpose to white whole wheat flour is to let the dough sit for half an hour (I let the oven preheat during this time) before rolling out the crackers. This allows for the flour to soak up more of the liquid and it rolls just a little more smoothly.

Here is one of the batches ready to go into the oven. As you can see, after I have trimmed the edges I just leave them on the baking sheet. Those scraps make for excellent snacking. As you can also see, I do not trim all of the edges, just the ones that stick out the most. I use a plastic ruler that is about 1-1/2-inches wide as a guide for cutting the lines. When I went freehand, I ended up with irregular, mismatched crackers and it drove me nuts.

Be sure to score deeply enough when you are cutting out the squares, or the crackers will not break easily. You could cut the crackers all the way through, of course, but that would make it extremely difficult to turn them over halfway through baking, and that is a necessary part of the process.

These are supposed to last for a few weeks in an air-tight container. I wouldn't know, as they have not lasted me more than a week. But they have stayed crispy for as long as they have lasted, I can say that.

This recipe looks long and involved, but the actual making of the crackers is fairly simple and straightforward. They might not (probably will not) turn out the way you would like them to the first time or two that you make them, but after a few times, you will figure out how to tweak production to get them to come out just the way you want them.

Home Cookin Chapter: Breads and Muffins

WHITE WHOLE WHEAT CRACKERS

Makes about 5 dozen crackers, depending on thickness

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling on top of the crackers
2 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
2/3 cup milk, plus droplets more if needed

Preheat oven to 425 deg. F. Use ungreased cookie sheets.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk together to blend the mixture well. Add the butter cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or the tips of your finters until the mixture looks like damp sand.

Pour the milk into the mixture in a slow, steady stream while stirring constantly until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it is too dry, add just enough milk to get the right consistency. It should be soft and pliable, but not wet. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 425 deg. F.

Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces (depending on the size of your baking sheets). Place one of the pieces on a lightly foured surface and roll out in a rectangle that will fit into your baking sheet. Roll
the dough to the desired thickness, making sure that it is less than 1/8 inch. Lift the rolled dough into the baking sheet and trim the edges to make a rectangle. Take a sharp knife and, going almost but
not all the way through the dough, cut the dough into 1-1/2 to 2-inch squares, or your desired size and shape. Sprinkle the top with salt and lightly press it into the dough, but be sure that the dough is then not sticking to the baking sheet or you will have trouble turning it over halfway through the baking time.

Bake the crackers for 5 to 7 minutes, until the surface has just
started to brown. Remove the sheet from the oven and turn the square
over, loosening with a spatula if necessary. Return the crackers to
the oven and bake for another 4 to 5 minutes, until well browned, being
careful not to let it burn.

Remove the crackers from oven and slide the sheet of crackers onto a cooling rack. When they have cooled completely, break them apart and place in an airtight container. The crackers will keep for weeks, but if they start to go stale reheat them in a 350-deg. F. oven for a few minutes.

adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, by Marion Cunningham (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998)

Exported from Home Cookin 6.46 (www.mountain-software.com)