Last week we were headed to our friend Mary's house, where she was worried there would not be enough food. There was cheese, but no crackers -- and I did not feel the least bit like going out to the store. What does a lazy girl do in this circumstance? Why, she makes her own crackers, of course!
It may sound like madness to suggest that it's easier to make crackers at home than it is to go out and buy them. And it may be that it is not exactly easier. But it is pretty dang easy, anyway, and you don't have to go out into the cold. The recipe is more or less the recipe for matzo that is demonstrated here, only whole-wheat-ified, because I wanted something that tasted a little more like Ak-mak, my favorite storebought cracker du jour. The resulting crackers were savory and addictively crunchy, good with cheese or soup or dip or nothing at all.
4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. sesame seeds.
2 t. kosher salt or other salt of about that coarseness, plus extra for sprinkling
1 T wheat gluten (not required, but handy)
1 1/2 c. warm water
Take out one of your oven racks and move the other to the lowest setting. Put an upside-down cookie sheet on that rack. Preheat the oven as hot as it will go, short of broiling or self-clean -- usually 550°.
Make a dough and knead it plenty. Cut into twelve equal pieces. Set all but one aside and roll it out very, very thin, using plenty of flour. It should come out to be an irregular oval about the size of a letter-size piece of paper. The sesame seeds will cut the gluten threads so it's much easier to roll out than ordinary bread dough would be. When it's all rolled out, prick it all over with a fork and sprinkle with salt. Run your hands over the top of the dough, but don't press down. Some salt will stick, some will fall off. Go with it.
Now, pick the dough up by one end and get it on the cookie sheet. There's a knack to this -- the book suggests thinking of it as doing what you do when you lay down a beach towel, and that seems about right to me. Close the door right quick and wait exactly one minute. Open the door. The matzo will be bubbly and bready looking. Quickly turn it over (using your hands is easiest, but be careful) and close the door for another minute. Check on the cracker. Is it toasty and crisp? If not, flip it again and wait another thirty seconds. Check again. Give it a flip. If it's crisp, take it out. Otherwise, wait one more thirty-second interval. Remove to a cooling rack and do the next one.
When they're all done, you can keep them whole, which is quite impressive, or break them into irregular pieces. If any are less than fully crisp, or if they soften up from humidity, you can just pop them into a moderate oven for a few minutes and they'll firm right up.