Homemade Soda Crackers

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• gourmet salt, herbs etc. (i used herbs de provence, pink himalayan salt and a bit of kosher salt)

Recipe

• 1 whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar and sugar. set aside.
• 2 put the water, butter, and oil in a microwave-safe cup, or in a saucepan. heat gently just to melt the butter. remove from the heat, and cool to 120°f-130°f if you don't have a thermometer, this will feel hotter than lukewarm, but not at all uncomfortably hot; it'll be cooler than your hottest tap water.
• 3 add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. beat at medium, then high speed for a total of about 90 seconds, to make a soft dough. (*i had to add more water in order to get the dough to come together. i probably added 2-3 tablespoons more, 1 tablespoons at a time). the dough should be soft, moist but not sticky and not crumbly or tough.
• 4 place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 18 hours. it won't rise much; the bowl can be small. (flavour increases with the length of the refrigerator rest).
• 5 remove the dough from the refrigerator, and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes. preheat the oven to 425°f.
• 6 lightly flour a work surface (a silicone rolling mat works well here), and remove the dough from its rising bowl. it won't feel like normal yeast dough; it'll be more clay-like. shape the dough into a 3" x 5" rectangular block. pre-shaping it like this will help you roll it out evenly. roll it into a rough 13" x 15" rectangle. it will be quite thin. be sure to keep the rolling surface well-floured, to avoid sticking.
• 7 starting with a shorter side, fold the dough in three like a business letter.
• 8 roll it out again, this time to an 11" x 19" rectangle, or thereabouts. the dough will shrink when you stop rolling it; your goal is to end up with a rectangle that's about 10" x 18".
• 9 sprinkle the dough with your choice of salt (fairly liberally) and herbs, if using and gently press it in with the rolling pin.
• 10 using a rolling pizza wheel (easiest) or a baker's bench knife, cut the dough into 2" squares. note: if you're using a silicone mat, cut very carefully - you don't want to damage the mat.
• 11 transfer the crackers to two lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets; you can put them fairly close together, as they'll shrink as they bake, rather than spread. prick each cracker once or twice with the tines of a fork.
• 12 bake the crackers for about 10 minutes, till they're a very light golden brown. watch them carefully towards the end of the baking time; they can darken very quickly. (i got nervous of over-cooking them so turned off the oven a little early. they probably could have cooked another minute).
• 13 turn off the oven, and open the door completely. leave the crackers on the oven rack; they're going to cool down right in the cooling oven, in order to preserve their crispness. keep your eye on them for the first couple of minutes; if for some reason your oven isn't cooling off quickly, and the crackers are continuing to brown, pull the rack out partway.
• 14 when the crackers are completely cool (takes about an hour to an hour and a half), remove them from the oven, and wrap airtight, to preserve their crispness.
• 15 yield: about 45 crackers.