Thin Wheat Crackers

Bread Challenge Week 11

Crackers. We go through so many crackers in the Evolving Mommy house. Maddy loves them, in a sort of obsessive way. Luke love crackers because they make such a great vessel to get peanut better to this mouth and I love them because they are so portable and easy. Crackers and cheese, crackers and peanut butter, crackers and hummus, crackers and lunch meat. Easy. Fast. Yummy.

Crackers are a thin, crisp and flaky flat bread. Crackers can come in a wide variety of shapes, size and flavors. Since crackers have a tendency to have a long shelf life they have been used for centuries as easily stored and transported staple food.

Peter Reinhart’s Thin Wheat Cracker recipe immediately jumped out at me, while searching for this weeks recipe. For one it is a very basic recipe. For two, it is whole wheat and for three he readily offers up both information about crackers and simple ways to make a variety of crackers with this simple recipe as a base. In short recipe is a winner. It is simple, easy to follow and yummy.

Because there would be so many crackers made fro this recipe I decided to go ahead and make a variety right off the bat to test out the recipe to the fullest. Using the basic dough as our base we made teddy bear and star shaped cookies with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top for Maddy and Boo, plane squares, salted rectangles, and square sesame topped crackers. I decided to get my helpers involved in the cracker making process this week. We has a great time mixing the ingredients. rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes in the dough with small cookie cutters.

Even with the girls helping cracker making took a little over an hour total. If I had been solely in charge of the cookie cutters it would have gone even faster, but it would not have been nearly as fun. Bake time is about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven, baking pans, and how thin you roll out the dough. Some of our crackers baked on a darker cookie sheet and they turned out quite a bit darker than the crackers baked on a lighter cookies sheets.

The Cinnamon sugar bears and starts were a hit with the girls. My favorites were the sesame seeded crackers and Luke liked the salted crackers.We tried our crackers out with sliced cheese, peanut butter, cream cheese and hummus. The flavor is similar to that of a Wheat Thin although the texture is a bit more dense. I would suggest that you make sure to roll the dough out so that it is definitely thinner than an 1/8th inch thick. The thinner the cracker the crispier and crunchier it was.

These whole wheat crackers are very versatile. Beyond the varieties we tested out this week there are dozens of ways I can think of to change up these crackers using different seasonings, spices, seeds, shapes and sizes. Thin Wheat crackers are a new favorite around here and we will definitely be making more crackers in this house. Homemade crackers cost way less than store bought crackers even when using great ingredients. I love saving money, while eating healthy and delicious food.

Flavor: 4
Hands on time: 4
Total time: 5
Recipe: 5
Versatility: 5
Make it again: 5
Catherine: 1
Luke: 1
Maddy: 1

Total Score: 31
(what is this Bread Challenge and how are recipes scored?)

Previous Bread Challenge reviews and scores:
Irish Soda Bread – Week 10
Double Blueberry Muffins – Week 9
Oatmeal Batter Bread – Week 8
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls – Week 7
Cheesy Pretzels – Week 6
Light Rye Bread – Week 5
Country-Style Whole-Wheat Pita – Week 4
Carrot Raisin Quick Bread – Week 3
Potato Bread – Week 2
Focaccia – Week 1