Do you ever make crackers?

[wildflower]

I've tried a few times and while the crackers came out okay, they weren't spectacular, and were difficult to roll out.

It is so hard, though, to find good crackers without HFCS or hydrogenated oil.

[Duer 157099]

1. I've never made any, but would like to make some matzoh

I have this craving for matzoh brei but don't have any matzoh, although I do have some matzoh meal so I bet I'm not far away.

http://www.foodmayhem.com/2009/04/matzoh-brei.html

[The empressof all]

5. It won't be the exact texture but make a Frittata with the meal

I'd brown some onions...Add beaten egg and cook half way through. Top with the Matzoh meal and throw in the oven to finish. I'd probably put a little melted butter on the Matzoh meal but that's just the type of cook I am.

[Duer 157099]

9. You won't believe this

But after looking it up, LOL, turns out that matzoh is what you make when you screw up your bread or pizza dough! No, not quite (no yeast, of course), but I had a slap-my-forehead moment when I discovered that (and really, if you think about it historically, it HAS to be easy) all it really is (that is, for a non-Kosher version) is flour and water and salt (oil optional), rolled out as thin as possible and thrown onto a hot pizza stone.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/04/matzo-recipe-daniel-nyc-mark-fiorentino-daniel-boulud.html

I just made a batch.

I can't believe that I ever purchased Matzoh (it's not exactly cheap considering what it is -- I think you pay for it being Kosher, which isn't necessary for me; I just like the stuff)

Matzoh meal is crushed up matzoh, not the other way around, LOL.

Mmmm, nothing better than tuna salad on matzoh! But for tonight, it's going to be matzoh brei.

[pengillian101]

10. Hey! I just had an inspiration, so thank you Duer 157099!

That looks kinda what I meant that I made in my post #6 to make crackers. A flour tortilla is just flour and water. Different cultures from the world over coming up with with similar foods.

My Norske background uses potatoes and flour, etc. to make lefse. That is soft like a tortilla. I should try that to bake crackers - and I will just do that! I have some store-bought lefse that needs something to do to escape the freezer.

Thanks for percolating the idea for me!

[Duer 157099]

11. Likewise. Now I want to see what happens if I throw a flour tortilla

on a hot pizza stone. I wonder if it will taste like matzoh?

Although, the matzoh I made tonight I added salt and onion powder to, because to me, that's critical in matzoh.

New experiments to do!

:hi:

[Kali]

22. brush with a little olive oil

and sprinkle "Italian" spices and a little salt - also good with a smidge of grated Parmesan.

[Kali]

21. flour tortillas have some type of fat

traditionally, lard

[wildflower]

12. That looks good

And I like the idea of making matzo from failed dough. That happens to me sometimes. I could use my pasta maker to make thin sheets.

Thanks!

[hippywife]

2. I know your dilemma.

I've never tried to make them but I usually end up buying Back to Nature crackers. They still have enriched flour but I don't buy or eat them all that often.

http://backtonaturefoods.com/default.aspx

[wildflower]

13. Oh, those look good

I will keep an eye out for them! Thanks!

[Tesha]

3. I've always want to make crackers...

KAF website has a few tips on this page along with a good sounding recipe...

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/vermont-cheese-crackers-recipe

[wildflower]

14. I *love* cheese crackers

I'm tempted to try these. I love the KA site, and I'm always looking at their great bakeware: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/bakeware

[Warpy]

4. I've gotten it right a few times

Sadly, the determining factor seems to be to cram as much fat into them as you can. Resting the dough helps the roll out, but not much. Cracker dough is pretty stiff stuff. Most of the time, it's more trouble than it's worth. Health food stores have crackers without weird stuff in them, but they're pricey. I eat crackers rarely, so I pay the price.

One "cracker" I made was out of the bran and starch left over from the first rinse making seitan out of whole wheat flour. In sheets, it was a great bran cracker. Crumbled into flakes, it was the best bran cereal I've ever had. Just let the starch and bran settle and pour off as much water as you can. Pour the remainder into a half sheet pan and dry in a slow oven. As it dries, it lifts partially off the surface of the pan, weird stuff. It's too fragile for stiff dips or spreading, though.

[wildflower]

15. I'm always looking for a way to make cereal

So I'm very intrigued by this! Thank you for that tip. I haven't made seitan in forever.

[Warpy]

20. Making it with whole wheat flour sounds like a bit of a waste

but I didn't have white flour in the house at the time and I was getting the whole wheat freshly ground and wholesale, so....

I'm thinking of doing a batch, too, just for the bran crackers and cereal.

[pengillian101]

6. My pseudo crackers.

I wanted thin crackers one night and didn't have any so I improvised, and they turned out pretty tasty. I took a flour tortilla and placed on a cookie sheet, sprayed it w/Pam and then sprinkled sea salt on it. Used a pizza cutter to cut into squares. Baked at 350 (I think it was), for just a few minutes until they were just *slightly* beginning to turn toasty brown around the edges.

Sometimes you just gotta make do with what's on hand :-)

[pengillian101]

7. Here's a C&B thread about making crackers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x55305

[wildflower]

16. Thanks!

I don't know how I missed that. I'll check it out.

[wildflower]

18. Okay, I'm a dummy

Apparently I didn't miss that thread at all because I posted on it! My brain is not what it used to be :)

[AwakeAtLast]

8. Alton Brown did a really good episode on making crackers

I don't have a link, but he made it look fairly simple. He used a pasta machine to get them thin enough. :think:

[wildflower]

17. That's a good idea, and it just occurred to me when I saw Duer 157099's link

on making matzos, upthread. I thought, hey, that's sort of like a pasta machine. I don't know why I never thought of that before.

Thanks! And thank you everyone!

[trotsky]

19. I made crackers from a recipe in the Tightwad Gazette.

They featured wheat germ and turned out very much like Wheat Thins. A fair amount of work but they were pretty tasty.

Here's a copy of the recipe:
http://fulltummies.blogspot.com/2009/09/final-frontier-homemade-crackers.html