Sunday, March 27, 2011

Black Pepper & Pesto crackers

Today, I decided to give making homemade crackers a try.  I have a book, which has a basic cracker recipe in the first chapter.
Of course, I'm terrible when it comes to things with basic directions.  I rarely do things "plain".  Seeing has how I had a jar of pesto that we made a little bit ago in the fridge that needed using up, I decided to make pesto crackers.
Like all doughs, the basic steps are the same:
1) Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, fresh black pepper)
In a separate bowl, mix together your wet ingredients (egg & oil - I should have probably added my pesto to this as well, but I decided to add it in later).
Then mix the two together until crumbly.

You then want to add cold water, a little bit at a time, until the dough comes together.  This was the point I added the pesto as well.

You then want to split the dough in half, and let it rest/firm up in the refridgerator for at least a half hour.

After you've let it rest, roll it out to about 1/8" thick, trying to maintain a rectangular shape (yes, I'm a dork who keeps a special 'kitchen' ruler).


Then, cut it into any size or shape you like. You could also use cookie cutters, or even a glass to get different shapes. You could also stamp them with a decorative stamp instead of pricking the dough with a fork.  I was feeling lazy, and decided to do squares and rectangles. Here's the squares all laid out on their baking sheet.
Here are the rectangles.
I brushed mine with a little bit of water, and sprinkled some extra black pepper over the tops.  Then I baked them at 375F until they were nice & golden & crispy, rotating the sheets every 4 minutes or so.

Now, if you want to store them, let them cool completely before putting them in a jar or other airtight container.  Otherwise, you might get condensation in the jar, and not so crisp crackers.  I'm not ashamed to say that I ate a bunch of them right off the bat.  They were delicious.
Mmmm . . . overexposed cracker.

2 comments:

  1. They look great! I've been meaning to give crackers a go for a while... nice to have someone I know go before me so I can see how easy it is (or how lazy I've been :)

    btw - kitchen ruler? so not dorky. (I have to say that, cuz I have one.)

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  2. I'll have to try that for sure. They look really yummy. I especially like your overexposed cracker! :p

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