The Fresh Loaf

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Flour for Crackers?

Sugarowl's picture
Sugarowl

Flour for Crackers?

I was wondering if anyone has used a low protein flour for crackers, like pastry or cake flour. I have found that when making baking soda crackers, they are very dense when I use all purpose. I'm trying to get them light and airy like saltines or even Goldfish texture. I have some cake flour and Graham flour (whole wheat pastry flour) that have about 9% protein. Would using that make the cracker "lighter"? These are for my kids and they like it when I add rye and whole wheat, but not the toughness that comes with it. I promised to make heart shaped crackers for my kids today since I didn't have time to make them over the weekend (one of my kids was sick).

Cracker Recipe:

96g whole wheat pastry flour (9% protein)

60g rye flour

60g all purpose flour

1tsp baking powder

1/4tsp baking soda

1/4tsp salt

1/4 cup cold butter

180g water, added a little at a time (I use apple cider sometimes)

Roll out dough to 1/8" or less. Bake at 375F for 20-30 minutes. For 1/4" thick crackers bake at 350F for about 25 minutes.

Edit: I went ahead and baked it with the cake flour. The crunchiness was what I was looking for.

My changes: I did not, however add butter and instead just added a tablespoon of olive oil. I used Lactose-free whole milk milk in place of the water. It needs more milk as the dough and crackers were quite dry without it. I did not use butter because my youngest has to be dairy free right now. He had a stomach bug over the weekend and his tummy isn't ready for regular milk yet. I also did 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2tsp of baking soda because that's what I usually do when I use apple cider, but I forgot and used milk instead, oops. I'll post a picture later. The hearts came out very cute and held their shape just fine. Now to rouse him up from his nap to go pick up his brother!

Flavor: it was just mediocre. I think possibly more rye, less wheat next time, maybe use an egg yolk or two in place of the butter, and a bit of honey would help. Oh, and start the baking timer at 8-10 minutes. Any more than that and it's going into burn territory for shapes that are only about an 1" big.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

or grated well aged cheese?  Seeds?  Chopped or grated Nuts?  Bacon or sausage bits?  Tea instead of water?