Homemade Crackers

Crackers cooling on the inside surface of a paper shopping bag.

I secretly love that everyone is cooking and baking right now, and while I realize that not every situation is easy or cozy, there are some upsides to being cooped up. Like making crackers.

We haven’t been stocking any junk foods during our quarantine - to keep our immune systems strong and to keep our food budget focused on real food - but sometimes you just need something crunchy and snacky. I usually love making wheat-free crackers loaded with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and oats, or making an almond flour GF cracker - but all of those things are impossible to source (for us) right now, so I went back to the basics.

These are extremely easy crackers to make, but they do require that you hang around the kitchen for about 45 minutes. Best not to multitask because they bake quickly and the minute you check your phone, a batch has burnt. I think of it as a kind of a meditation. A cracker meditation. Totally of the moment. A moment that is infinitely repeatable in quarantine.

Homemade Wheat Crackers

Makes about 55-65 crackers
Dairy-Free

1 3/4 cups flour (whole wheat makes them nuttier, white flour makes them a little more neutral)
1/4 cup quick-cooking oatmeal, or regular oats, ground to make smaller pieces (can omit and just use all wheat flour)
1 rounded teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
2-3 teaspoons organic sugar, maple sugar or honey
Optional add-ins: 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon granulated garlic or onion powder

Preheat oven to 375°F. Get out 2-3 cookie sheets and set them near your work surface.

Pulse flour, oats and salt in a food processor to combine. Measure water, olive oil and sugar or honey in a liquid measuring cup. With motor running, add water mixture to dry ingredients and continue to pulse until a ball of dough forms around blade, a few seconds longer.

Turn dough out onto a work surface. Divide in thirds. Place one third on a well-floured board and cover the remaining dough with a bowl. Dust the dough on your work surface with flour, then roll on the floured board into a thin rectangle about the size of your cookie sheet. Carefully transfer to one of the cookie sheets and repeat with a second ball of dough. Using a pizza cutter or sharp paring knife, cut each rectangle of dough into cracker size squares. Trim any dough that doesn’t fit and add it back to the last ball of dough waiting to be rolled.

Bake crackers, rotating sheets halfway through and checking for doneness frequently until slightly brown and crunchy, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on the inside surface of paper shopping bags or on a wood cutting board. Roll and bake the remaining dough into crackers. Crackers crisp up as they cool. Store them in a metal tin for the longest shelf life.