It started with a picture I saw in the local paper about making crackers from scratch. I saved it, but then never found it again. But I kept thinking…how do you make crackers? And how would they taste different? So I decided to experiment. It was right before we were having lentil soup for dinner, and I was out of bread, and I had nothing to lose, so I thought “Oh, what the heck.” I did a quick search online and was disturbed by the complexity of the recipes I found there. One said don’t mix too hard. Another said mix for 7 minutes. Some used milk and eggs, and others said let it sit for hours before you bake. Some said cook on low heat for a long time, and others said cook for a short time on high heat. Well, you know me…I wanted the quickest, easiest, no-fuss option, so I pulled the essence out of the recipes I saw and came up with this simple recipe.
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How good were they? Well, after a few Uncle Cracker jokes, there were shocked, respectful, and delighted comments, filled with awe. Lucia asked for them repeatedly for snacks. Eve asked me to make them all the time. Maya came home the next day from New York and, as my pickiest eater, reluctantly and suspiciously tried one. First she asked for the recipe to make for her smug married dinner parties in the city. Then, she found the last cracker, which Lucia had left sitting out after taking a few bites (and which was probably licked by the cat a few times)…and she ate that! The whole batch lasted exactly 24 hours.
Maria’s Crackers
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (organic from the Rodale Institute!)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup warm water
- 1/3 cup olive oil (plus more for the pan)
Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees (because that’s where mine automatically goes to when you turn it on).
2. Put the flour, salt, warm water, and olive oil in a bowl, and stir until all the flour is absorbed (less than a minute). It kind of feels more like dough than batter.
3. Take a baking tray (I used a heavy one with edges, rather than a light one with no edges), and slather it with more olive oil.
4. Put the dough on the tray and smooth it out to cover the whole bottom. I used a rolling pin doused with oil. And my hands, too. No need to be fussy here! In fact, the thin rustic-edged ones tasted the best, I thought.
5. Take a knife and cut the dough into squares, rectangles…whatever!
6. Sprinkle the top with a bit more salt
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden. The crackers will harden up more after they cool.
The potential variations for this recipe are endless: cheese, herbs, nuts and seeds, spices. I can see a lot of cracker experimentation in my future. And what I loved about them was that they were so easy and quick, and required no plastic packaging to bring into the house or to throw out afterwards. I stored them in a glass container, but as I said, they didn’t last long!
For those watching carbs/gluten, this recipe works great for us: http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/01/low-carb-rosemary-sea-salt-flax.html
I’m hoping to make these for my son. Do you need all that olive oil on the pan and rolling pin? I’d like these to be a healthier snack for him
Dear Recipe: WHERE Have you been all my life?! I’m seriously. Dear Author: You are a true genius in the way you organized this recipe. Thank you, you saved me two or more hours of unnessecary kneading and waiting. Thanks! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes and tips
I made these gluten free using brown rice flour; they were delicious! I also cut the dough in half and rolled it super thin between sheets of parchment. I then slid the parchment onto my baking sheet. I found this easier than pressing it out by hand.
I made these yesterday to go with some hot spinach dip and they were perfect. I used half wheat flour and half 10 grain flour and I added 1/4-1/3 cup of flax seed. When these run out I’m definitely going to make more. I chose to roll out the dough, cut it, and then place it on the tray. Perhaps, next I’ll split the dough and roll out separately making them a little thinner. All around a great and simple recipe. Thanks.
i can’t seem to find whole wheat pastry flour where i live, how would i make it?
If you like really crispy cracker thin crust for pizza, this is also my new favorite crust recipe, let alone crackers! 🙂 Thank you for this!
For whole wheat pastry flour I use Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, excellent product.
sounds great I can’t wait to try it thank you so much
I just wanted to say that I love this recipe. I work long hours and have very little time to get anything done, but this is so quick and easy and, bonus, since I am supposed to stay away from gluten, I’ve been able to use gluten free flours. I’m able to enjoy goat cheese and brie on something once again! Thank you!!!
These crackers are amazing. I’ve made them many times, and I searched awhile just to find this recipe again (somehow lost my bookmarks). I put Parmesan on almost all of my variations because it’s adds a delicious faint cheese flavor, but black pepper and sesame seeds are a few of my other favorite toppings. Sea salt is a must. You won’t be disappointed in this recipe, and it’s so easy too! Thank you!
I made these tonight for our New Year’s Eve supper along with a pickled beet hummus. This is the FIRST time I have had crackers in over a year. (allergies). I used a 9 x 13 pan for this batch. I put a piece of wax paper on top of the dough and then pushed it out with my hands. Next time I will use a bigger pan and make a thinner cracker. THANK YOU for this recipe.
Thank you for sharing !!! I’ve made these and they are truly delish 🙂
Love your blog title and this recipe looks perfect for those of us always busy– you’re right– some want you to rest the dough for long periods of time. Seems like a lot of oil in your recipe but the reviews are great so I’m doing it.
You win. Can’t get much easier than that. First time they came out awesome.
I was wondering if I have to use pastry flour? I want to make these using fresh-milled flour but all I have is hard white wheat flour. Thank you!
I made these with soy flour and they came out wonderful. I replaced about a tablespoon of olive oil for sesame oil which gave it a nice flavor. To answer a question above, you don’t have to use as much oil as the recipe calls for; I just rolled the dough out on a sheet of parchment paper painted with oil using an oiled rolling pin. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Wow! I baked these today, and they really ARE so freakin’ easy! I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of brown rice flour, and added some garlic powder, black pepper and Parmesan cheese, and at a fraction of what it would cost to buy them. Thank you so much for sharing your easy recipe with us! I will be making these again and again.
I needed something to put horseradish on to clear my head. These are so simple and so addicting. I added onion powder, garlic powder, flax, white pepper, fresh rosemary and a little Parmesan. Really good.
Why don’t they turn into bread ?
Can you just use plain flour or will they go floppy?
GENIUS! Incredible! It’s midnight and I made some delicious soup, but had no crackers. I made homemade crackers, with fresh ground salt and quality olive oil, in less time than going to the grocery store to get crackers. BTW, I used white flour.
If you want to roll these out thin, try using water instead of flour. I came up with this trick playing with a scrap of bread dough on a wet counter top. I was able to get it super thin without sticking or using extra flour. I sprinkle my rolling surface with water and run my roller under the tap. I sprinkle on more water if it gets sticky. When it is the right size a sprinkle on herbs or seeds or cheese, give a pass or two with the roller to settle the addition, then transfer to the baking sheet. You do need to be quick. Use your rolling pin as if you are transferring a pie crust, get a turn or two on the pin and the you can lift the rest of the dough from your surface using a knife in the other hand to free the dough as needed.. Once on the baking sheet, you can cut the crackers and add more toppings.
I found your recipe after searching for a simple cracker recipe, since I’m out of bread and have no milk, eggs, baking soda, etc. I have access to an oven, but no ovenware where I’m currently staying. After halving the recipe, I kneaded in some flax seed, then cooked them slowly in an olive oiled frying pan. I rather like the way the flax seed tastes when darkened in the pan. Thank you, Maria!
These crackers are a big hit at my house. So easy to adapt to different types. My current assortment is garlic/Italian, sesame, and Parmesan with black pepper and rosemary. Thank you for sharing such a simple, delicious and fun recipe!
I made some tuna salad (pantry staples before grocery shopping day) and realized we were out of bread and crackers. I had white flour, but no olive oil. Light bulb…I try to keep a jar or two of pesto on hand and I just opened a new jar and poured the basil-infused olive oil off the top. In a matter of 20 minutes I had pesto crackers to eat with my tuna salad…the combo may seem odd but it was delicious. From I some of my favorite recipes have been created! My sincere thanks to you for posting this simple and delicious recipe!
Sorry, I see no way to edit my last entry but it was to say ‘from improvising some of my favorite recipes have been created’. ?
My experience was that I did NOT need to oil the sheet nor the rolling pin, since the dough was oily already…think pie crust.
Where do you get an oven that goes up to 375 degrees?? The highest temp. on mine is 240!
Another webpage said 400 degrees! Aluminium starts glowing red on this temperature!!!
For Cook:
375°C= 707.0000°F
375°F= 190.5556°C
Butter works much better than oil in crackers.
I wish people would stop saying that they do yoga…..no one cares.
I made these today for my kiddos. since this COVID-19 has everyone in a tizzy I only have self rising flour on hand. With that being said they were very tasty but not sure if they could withstand dipping. But they still made a great snack for the kids in a pinch. I love how simple and easy this recipe is and will definitely use it again! Thank you!
Fantastic! I added handful of mix seeds and chopped fresh rosemary along with 🌶 .
Delicious! Thank you.
I made these a 5 years back in 2017 and loved them! Then I was never able to find the recipe again! But I KNEW I’d saved it! All my searches turned up crackers you had to roll out. UGH!! Tonight I was checking an old phone (that I had replaced in 2018l) for any overlooked personal data before chucking it….low and behold there was a screeenshot of an ingredients list. No instructions, no title, ,but I KNEW it was the one. Got online and all I had to do was google and there you were on the first page!
I know it’s presumptuous to suggest you change the title, but maybe somewhere on the page you could have the phrase “no-roll whole wheat crackers” so idiots like me don’t have to go years trying to find you again when they lose this miracle of a recipe??
Or maybe just call them “Maria’s Freakin’ Easy No-Roll Whole Wheat Crackers” so what ever distinctive feature we remember, we’ll have a sporting chance of finding you again!
ME? I’ve learned my lesson!! Ive saved as PDF AND pinned it, AND will be sharing it on FB! AND bookmarking it.) No way I’m loosing this winner again!!!!
Oops…in my prev comment I MEANT to say, ” all I had to do was google
—- crackers “(organic from Rodale” —
But it disappeared. OOPS! Then realized I’d made the mistake of setting off the phrase by enclosing in the < symbols that are used for hypertext markup. So it disappeared as if it were (useless) formatting instructions. DOH!
I used regular whole wheat flour, and they still turned out great!
Could you add crumbled bacon in them??