Saturday, August 22, 2009

Crunchin' Away


Crunchin' away with crackers!

With sliced avocado, dipped in hummus or salsa, or to crave those munchies, don't you agree that crackers are a tasty crunchy treat?!

Not so much a treat, when a small 8 oz box can be $4.00 at the store (Mary's Gone Crackers, Doctor Kracker, Back to Nature, Annie's Homegrown...).

Instead, get out your flour and spices, and be creative! Make some homemade crackers. And each time you make a batch of crackers, change up the spices and flours and make them unique.

Here's what we've been crunchin' on this month!

LK's Easy Whole Grain Crackers

Makes 35-45 small crackers.

Basic cracker ingredients:

1 1/4 cup whole grain flour**
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp, optional baking soda
1/3 -1/2 cup water
1 Tb oil
1 tsp, optional Dijon mustard

Spices to add:

Cheesy-garlic-flavored
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp turmeric (for color)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
3/4 tsp Garlic granules/powder

Onion-pepper-flavored
1/2 tsp Onion granules/powder
1/2 tsp Black pepper

Curry-pumpkin-flavored
3/4 tsp - 1 tsp Curry powder
1/4 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Corriander
2 Tb Pumpkin puree - in place of some water

Herb-flavored
1/2 - 3/4 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Dried Basil

1. Preheat oven to 375 - 400 degrees F.
2. Combine dry ingredients (including spices of choice) in a large bowl
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mix bowl, and mix until combined. The dough will be a tad sticky.
4. Sprinkle parchment paper with some flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
5. Roll it out very thin, trying to make it as even as possible, and then cut it into cracker sizes.
6. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 18-25 minutes, flipping half-way, and baking until they start to brown just a little bit. Let cool.


**In regard to the choice of flours, try Bob's Red Mill whole grain flours, such as Kamut, Triticale, White Wheat, Barley, Oat, Spelt, or gluten-free flours like Teff, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Amaranth, or Millet. Each grain gives a unique flavor, so we enjoy trying different flours to get different flavors, such as nuttier or butterier or wheatier flavor...

What's your favorite cracker flavor? We welcome any tips or comments on crackers and delicious new unique flavors.

Update 8/24/09: Thanks for all the great comments and ideas. Cornmeal would be a nice addition for flavor and crunch. Adding some oat bran, wheat germ, or flaxmeal would also be a healthy addition. And more flavors we thought of - cinnamon or spiced cracker, spicy Mexican cracker, or chocolate cracker!

Have a great weekend!

6 comments:

Amy said...

I love this idea! As well as being super expensive, store bought crackers are often overflowing with unneccessary fats.

These variations all sound fantastic!

Andrea said...

This looks like a really good recipe collection to keep on hand. My favorite cracker that I made was lavash (or something like that) from Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." But since I left that book in Wisconsin, maybe I'll try your recipe instead!

The Voracious Vegan said...

This is an AWESOME post! I love the twists you added: I think I would go with either the cheesy type or the onion pepper....Oh who am I kidding?! I would make them all!

This is so clever and creative, thank you very much for the recipe.

Mihl said...

Wow, I love all of those options! What a versatile recipe.

aTxVegn said...

I've still never made crackers, but I would love try your recipe with some GF grains, maybe even some cornmeal???? All your variations sound wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Homemade crackers are really good! So much better than ones from a box. I love the idea of the cheesy-garlic ones.

I made homemade crackers once, I think they were dill flavored. I bet some sun-dried tomato crackers would be tasty.