as i've mentioned, d and i are on a mission to eat through our pantry full of dried goods (and our freezer too!). in the effort to make it happen, we've given up the purchase of most groceries other than fresh produce and dairy. one of the things we noticed pretty quickly was a HUGE lack of quick snacks.
crackers fell highest on that list of snacks we were experiencing withdrawals from - because, well, who doesn't love grabbing a handful of crackers when hunger strikes? enter this lifesaving cracker recipe. a batch that will last us at least a week or two can be whipped up in about an hour, including baking time and clean up. so the minute i notice we're starting to get low, it's easy to find the time to make another batch. and of course, i'm always making little tweaks.
best of all, this recipe is super forgiving in the use of whatever flours we have on hand. for the crazy wheat lovers out there - try making these with 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup buckwheat for a dense and flavorful cracker! i topped those with poppy seeds for something new - holy yum!
i've been making these with amazing whole wheat flour from ernst farm, which we picked up at argus farm stop in ann arbor. if you've never been, i highly recommend stopping by if you're ever in ann arbor! they have an incredible selection of local produce and other products, and a business plan every producer can get behind. with farmers setting their own prices and making an 80% profit, i've heard so many farmer friends say it's their favorite place to sell.
ann arbor visitor or not, i encourage you to look around for locally grown flours in your region. grains are a huge place where we can work towards building a more local food system. fresher flour grown on a smaller scale is likely to spoil you as the flavors are leagues beyond the commodity grains you purchase from most stores. you may find that local wheat is difficult to find, depending where you live. asking for it from farmers and other folks involved in the local food system will help drive the demand and make it more available for everyone!
for those traverse city folks following along, grand traverse culinary oils is now also selling locally grown and milled whole wheat flours.
i've tried a few different cracker recipes over the past few months but this recipe is the simplest of them all, and produces great results every time! if you love whole wheat, you can use it for all of the flour, but you'll end up with a denser cracker than if a little white flour is added to the mix.
adapted from the kitchn's basic cracker recipe
ingredients:
2 cups local whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp cane sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup water
few pinches rubbed dry sage
fennel seeds
flax seeds
sesame seeds
instructions:
in a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and sage)
add the oil and water to the flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft, slightly sticky dough. you may need to add a little more flour depending how your wheat flour absorbs water (the joy of working with fresh, local whole grains!). divide the dough in thirds.
flour a silicone baking mat or parchment paper (cut to the size of your baking sheet), and roll one third of the dough out to the edges of the paper, it should be about 1/8 inch thick. brush the top lightly with water, and sprinkle the seeds on top to your liking. cut the dough into squares the size you want your crackers to be (i use a pizza cutter for this, but you could use a knife as well!). do the same with your other two thirds of the dough.
bake for 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees. they'll brown quickly, so keep an eye on them! if your crackers are slightly different thicknesses, some may brown faster than others. you can always pull those from the pan and let the rest cook a bit longer.
cool crackers on a cooling rack until completely cool, then enjoy!
store crackers in an airtight container.