With this new medically dictated lifestyle of mine, I haven’t done any real baking for the last two months.  Most of my “baking” was for sweets and well, that’s kind of at an end now.  I want to get to a point that I can bake goodies for my girls now and then, but right now, I’m still trying to adjust down.  It’s hard, but it’s tolerable.

Since we have done away with a lot of white flour stuff, like mindless bread choices at all meals, and gone more to meats, cheese, eggs, veggies and fruits, I have been missing that bit of crunch, that savory taste and smell of baking bread, things like that.  I know I can have some, but I want it to be healthy good choices.

Somewhere in there I got to thinking, crackers!!!   Yes!!!  Savory little crunchy bits that can go great with a soup or salad, or heck even with a lovely scrambled omelet!!  Yum!

So here are our first three attempts!  We made three recipes for our party tomorrow evening!  Cheesy Crackers, Wheat Thins and a Herbed Flat Bread.  Now, you may have done these all the time, and think, crackers?  Why doesn’t everyone make their own healthy lovely little crackers?  Well, this hillbilly momma has NEVER made crackers before!  So this was fun and I am sure we will be doing thing again and again because they are awesome!  And best of all, we know everything in them!!!  That cool.

 

 

Cheesy Crackers

1 – 8 ounce package of shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 stick of butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon of Kosher salt

1 cup flour  (we used white flour this first time but I think wheat would be fine!) 

2-3 tablespoons of ice water

 

Mix the cheese, butter and salt together.  Add the flour slowly.  Stir until it’s all mixed nicely.  Then add the water a tablespoon at a time.  You might need a wee bit more or less, depending on the humidity and your flour and all that stuff.  We ended up with almost 4 tablespoons to make a nice dough that stayed together.  Mixing with your hands was really the easiest way to get it into a nice dense dough.  Cut into two balls and pat down to a disc about oh, 1/2 inch thick.  Lay on some wax paper and chill in the frig for at least an hour.

Dust your counter or board with a bit of flour and then roll out the disk with a rolling pin.  You want the dough very thin, about a 1/8 inch thick or less if you can.  Cut into shapes… squares or little diamonds or little fish!  Have fun.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 17 minutes…  watch carefully.  Crackers will be not done one moment and burnt the next!  You can sprinkle with a bit of extra salt before baking if you really want!  And I suppose you could use any sort of hard cheese and a sprinkle of spices like garlic or herbs too!  Go nuts!!!  These are SO GOOD!  The best of the three we think!

 

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Wheat Thins

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon of paprika

4 tablespoons of butter – cold

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

 

Mix flour, sugar, salt, paprika in a bowl until nice and incorporated.  Cut in thin slices of the cold butter.  Add water and vanilla until a smooth dough forms.  You may have to add a little less or more water depending on the humidity and your flour.  Mix with your hands… it’s easy.

Break dough into 4 balls and pat into thin disks about a half inch thick.  Chill for about an hour in the frig.  Once chilled, roll thin on a flour dusted board, and cut into the shapes you want.  Make them very thin, about 1/8 to 1/16th inch thick.  Sprinkle with a bit of Kosher salt if you wish.  Layer in a dish or pan closely together and bake in a 400 degree oven for 5 – 10 minutes.  Watch carefully!  Crackers burn easily!

 

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Herbed Flat Bread Crisps

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon chopped herb  (Rosemary, oregano, thyme, anything you like!) 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon garlic (optional) 

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup olive oil

sea salt or Kosher salt for sprinkling before baking

 

Mix flour, herbs, spices, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Add oil and half of the water in a little well in the flour mixture.  Stir until a dough starts to form.  Add more water as needed until you have a nice solid dough.  Not too sticky, but not too crumbly.     Knead the dough 4 or 5 times.

Divide into 2 balls and let chill in a frig for about an hour.  Roll out in a dusted board to about 10 inches round, like a pie crust.  Brush with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with more salt/herbs if you wish.

Bake in a 350 degree oven, 8 – 10 minutes.  Watch carefully!  When it is brown and bubbly, and smells wonderful, remove from oven.  Tear into quarters and serve as it or with a salad or dip!  Yum!!!

If you would like them to be a little more like a flat bread, then don’t cook as long.  If you’d rather they are like a cracker, then cook longer.  Varying the dough thickness will help to make the final product as you want.

 

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Over all, these were so easy to make and fun too!  And ooooh…. so good tasting!   We really liked the cheesy ones the best, just a good taste and very much like the commercial Cheez-its…  but you are in control of the ingrediants!  And I imagine the price as well!  Ours did disappear pretty quickly!   The flat bread crisps were good as well and I’m pretty sure you can play around with that recipe a lot… different flours and herbs and all.  In fact, that is what I have been reading is neat about crackers… you can really customize them to the way you want them to be!  How cool is that????   FUN!!!!  

 

 

 

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