Homemade Crackers

For ages now I have had homemade crackers filed away in my mental list of things to make. My new-found free time (when I'm not writing this darn Honours thesis) and delicious inspiration from this talented lady, saw me finally crossing this off my list this afternoon.

I used the recipe from Sunday Hotpants, adding my own flavours as suited. I didn't have any black sesame seeds, so only used white seeds in my main dough.

Homemade Crackers

• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1/2 cup of wholemeal/wholewheat flour
• 75 g cold butter
• large pinch of salt
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of white sesame seeds

1. Place the flours, butter and salt in a food processor, and blend until crumbed. Add the sesame seeds and give a quick blitz to combine.
2. Slowly add the milk to the flour mixture, with the motor running, until a soft dough is formed. If you have a crappy food processor like me, your motor will start to smell funny from overuse and you will end up finishing the dough up by hand.
3. Gently knead until soft and combined, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. It's actually a very similar process to making pasta.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcious.
5. I then separated my dough into four portions, to trial four different flavours! To add the flavours, I cut my herbs up finely, and kneaded them into the dough. For the sweet chilli crackers, I left the dough plain and brushed sweet chilli sauce on just before baking.
6. Start rolling the dough out thinly, get tired arms, and change to the pasta machine (I went to number 5 thinness). Then, cut your crackers up into whatever shape you wish! Now, time for a funny story: the only cookie cutters I happen to own are x-rated, thanks to a prize I won at Paddy's staff mid-winter Christmas dinner. Consequently, I did produce at least 100 tiny, penis-shaped crackers. I then trialled circles, using a glass, and squares, using the ravioli cutter from my pasta maker.
7. Lay close together on an oven tray (they don't expand), and poke with a fork.
8. Bake for around 10 minutes, until lightly speckled with brown. Watch carefully, as it happens quickly! I managed to get 8 trays through, until I got distracted, and burnt my last batch!


The flavours I tried were: thyme and lemon zest, rosemary and sea salt, salt and pepper, and sweet chilli. They are all so yummy, I can't decided which one I like best! I've been eating them alllll afternoon, slathered in butter, but I would love to try them with some homemade cream cheese. I absolutely believe that things you make yourself always taste better than something you have bought from the shop, and these delicious morsels are no exception!

I have been playing with Paddy's fancy camera this afternoon, so, now it's time for some photos!