Soda Crackers...for the naysayers.

I had the most terrifically slothful day yesterday. Didn't even get out of my pyjamas. I slept late and spent the remainder of the morning, the whole afternoon and well into the evening just reading and writing and trying to figure out how to add printable recipe pages to this blog.

It was great. I highly recommend the occasional day embracing the fourth deadly sin.

I updated my facebook status somewhere around supper time, lamenting all the things I didn't do - including making home-made soda crackers, as was my original intention...and I had more than one person respond in disbelief..."Do people actually MAKE soda crackers?"

Sure they do. When they're not laying on the couch, that is.

Somewhere around 8:00 p.m. I got a little restless and decided to make some cracker dough...seemed like a small enough commitment because the dough has to be refrigerated over night. (I'll have you know that I also made a pot of chicken vegetable soup with some stock I had ready to go.)

It's now morning...and here I am again...making a substantial dent in my favourite couch, but only for long enough to get a little preamble on this page because my dough is ready to go.

This is not my recipe. I borrowed it from the Food Network - but it's not really theirs, either. They modified the traditional King Arthur Flour recipe and just omitted the Cream of Tartar. Since I have no COT at the moment, I'm going to give this one a try.

Soda Crackers

2 tsp active dry yeast (10 ml)
2/3 cup warm water (160 ml)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour ( 375 ml)
1/2 tsp salt (2 ml)
1/2 tsp baking soda (2 ml)
2 tbsp melter butter (30 ml)
coarse or flake salt

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand for five minutes. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and melted butter and mix. Form a soft ball and knead on a floured surface for five minutes or in your mixer with the hook attachment until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add a few drops of water or a sprinkle of flour if you need to. Place dough in a buttered bowl and coat all sides. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge over night or up to 18 hours. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove the dough and form a small rectangle and then roll out on a lightly floured surface until dough is no thicker than 1/8 of an inch thick. Fold the rectangle in thirds (like a letter) and roll again. With a pizza cutter, cut the dough into small squares (or whatever shapes you like) and sprinkle with coarse salt or any other toppings that suit your fancy.

 Prick the crackers with a fork or toothpick a few times and lightly roll the salt into the dough. Place close together on a lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

This photo is also to prove to Candice and Ramona that people DO TOO make soda crackers. (When they have no life.)











Place on wire racks until the crackers are completely cool and store in an airtight container or serve right away. Benefits to making your own crackers? They seriously have a great "saltine" flavour and crunch. Not to mention, they contain NO BHA or other ingredients I can't pronounce.

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