Homemade Saltine Style Crackers

I made some chili the other night in my crockpot and realized (after it was finished, of course) that I had no crackers to eat with my chili.  I don't know about you, but I have to have crackers with my chili.  I do.  I'm a scooper...I scoop a spoonful of chili on my cracker and then eat the cracker.  Some people do the crumble thing (crumble crackers into their soups), but I've never been able to handle the soggy cracker texture that happens.  So, I scoop.  Like every bite.  And when I don't have crackers to scoop, I can't eat chili.  It's that simple.

Of course, I'm also lazy.  Which means that I didn't want to go to the store and buy a box of saltine crackers.  Plus, my family eats saltines like starved people!  I bought a huge box from Costco (equivalent to 3 or 4 boxes) and they were finished within a week!!  Craziness!  So, I decided to make my own.  It does take a bit of time...mostly the rolling of the dough, but it's worth it.  These are soooo inexpensive to make and I like them a lot better.  They are harder than store bought saltines, which means they can hold a mean scoop of chili without breaking apart and getting crumbs into my chili!  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Homemade Saltine Style Crackers

4 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1 1/3 cup milk

*For salted topped crackers, mix 1 egg white and 1 tbsp water, brush over the top of the unbaked cracker and sprinkle with salt.*

Preheat your oven to 325F.

I love this cracker recipe because it takes such few ingredients and comes together very easily, making it a fun, inexpensive option to store bought crackers.  Take your flour, baking soda, and salt and mix together in a large bowl.

 

Cut up your butter into small slices and, using a fork or pastry cutter, cut into the flour mix until you get coarse crumbs.  Don't worry if there are a few larger chunks.  Try to get it crumbly as best as you can, but it doesn't have to be perfect.  You could also use a food processor if you want.

 

Add the milk and mix with a wooden spoon until it starts to come together as a dough. 

 

Use your hands and pull the dough together until it becomes a ball.  It's ok to knead it a few times, but it's not bread, so don't go crazy.  Tear the dough into 4 fairly equal sections.  You will roll out the dough by section (it makes a lot of dough/crackers).

 

Now comes the hardest part...roll out the dough.  I won't lie, the dough is a bit hard to get rolled out...it's a tough dough.  But keep at it and once it gets rolled to a certain point, it becomes much easier.  I don't know if letting the dough sit for a few minutes after mixing and before rolling would help, but you can give that a try if you want.  Either way, start rolling and roll it out (on a floured surface) until the dough is very thin.  The thinner the dough, the crispier the cracker.  It will roll out HUGE!  Like I said, this recipe makes a lot of dough/crackers.

 

Cut out your crackers.  You can use a cookie cutter, like I did, or just use a pizza cutter and cut squares.  I felt like being a bit fancy this time, but I've done the pizza cutter squares many times and they all taste the same.

 

Place your crackers on a baking sheet and, with a fork, poke a few holes in the top of the cracker.  This keeps the cracker from puffing up while baking (and gives it the classic saltine cracker look).  If you want salted tops, this is the time to make your egg wash and brush it lightly over the tops of the crackers and then sprinkle some salt on top.  I don't like salted crackers (I even buy unsalted at the store) so I omitted this step. 

 

Bake at 325F for about 10-12 min (depending on how thin you rolled your crackers).  Keep watch so they don't burn.  Once you see the slightest golden-ness around the edges, take the crackers out and flip over.  Put them back in the oven for a minute or two until slightly golden.  Take them out and let them cool.  If the cracker is thin enough, and baked enough, it should be crunchy.  If you find it isn't quite crunchy enough (but more of a stale cracker texture) put it back in the oven for a minute or two (this is what happened when I first took them out...that's why I flipped them over.  They were perfect then).

 

And there you have 'em!  You're very own homemade saltine crackers...perfect for scooping chili!

Enjoy!

 

Happily Homemade,

Sandra