Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Norma Sutton" <sweetspringfarm@gmail.com>]

Make Your Own Country Crackers

Crackers are a lost art. But they are not hard to make. Usually they are thinly rolled and then cut out with a knife or cutter. In this recipe, the dough is made into a log and refrigerated just as you would refrigerator cookies. Thin slices are baked until dry.

Country Cracker Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons oat bran
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 tablespoon baking powder

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup water

1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
coarse salt
sesame seeds

Directions

1. Sauté the onion until tender.
2. Mix the flour, bran, two tablespoons sesame seeds, salt, mustard, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Add the cream cheese and cut with a pastry knife until the dough resembles kernels.
3. Add the water and mix first with a fork and then kneading with your hands, until the dough forms a ball. Squeeze into a log to 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Place the log in waxed paper and roll on the counter until smooth. Refrigerate for about two hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.
5. Cut the log into 1/8-inch slices. Place them on the baking sheet. Whisk the egg with the water. Brush the tops of the crackers with the egg wash. Sprinkle salt and the additional sesame seeds on the tops of the crackers.
6. Back for 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges are brown. Remove the crackers to a wire rack to cool. As the air circulates around the crackers on the rack, they will become crisper.

Baker's Note: The secret of crisp crackers is a low moisture content. Thoroughly baking the crackers will help them become crisp. Because of the cheese in these crackers they will not be as crisp as some.

Sesame and Oat Cracker Recipe

You make these crackers just like sugar cookies except that you don't have to decorate them. Roll out the dough, cut them into rounds or shapes, and place them on the baking sheet.

For this unusual cracker, you grind roll oats in a food processor or blender—two cups coarse ground oat flour for one cup wheat flour. No wonder it's a wholesome cracker.

The secret of crispy crackers is a long bake, long enough to drive the moisture from the crackers.

Ingredients

2 cups quick rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup cold butter
1/2 cup ice cold water plus one tablespoon if needed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1. Grind the oats about 1/2 cup at a time in your blender or food processor. Do not over-process. Your oats should be coarsely ground.
2. Add the flour, sesame seeds, granulated sugar, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine.
3. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the mixture is granular.
4. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and pour the cold water into the well, first the 1/2 cup and then the extra tablespoon if needed. Stir with a fork until the mixture comes together then knead it on the counter just until you have a ball of dough.
5. Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thick. Cut crackers with a cookie cutter or bottle lid. Place the crackers on an ungreased cookie sheet. Prick the crackers in two or three places with the tines of a fork.
6. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until the crackers are baked and dry. Let sit on the cookie sheet for five minutes and then remove them to a wire rack. Serve with a dip or spread. Makes about 5 dozen 1 1/2 inch crackers.

On 1/1/02, Desert Eagle <jimi@hdc-nm.com> wrote:

Does anyone have a recipe for making homemade saltine crackers?
Thanks.
Jimi
USCG ITWPATWT 100% Vet
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-- 
I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more.

~ John Burroughs

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