Homemade Wheat Thins

This recipe was added by:

Christian

This recipe is ideally for:

Any occasion you want

Meal type:

Snacks or treats

Where the recipe originally came from:

Adapted and refined from a bunch of internet versions.

A little about this recipe

As I got more and more into baking in 2017, I wanted to make myself something snacks, as opposed to big loaves. I was watching a lot of The Great British Baking Show, and those contestants on the program made baking biscuits look so easy. So I did some internet searching and pulled together some recipes for crackers.

I tried a handful of different recipes, and the thing I noticed was how often they came out GOOD. And the standout, by far, was the wheat thins. They give the most bang for the buck; they're not complicated, and you can get a TON out to one baking effort. (I have "accidentally" made upwards of ver 300 crackers in just a couple hours, which means tons of snacks for weeks.)

There are a handful of precautions and "keep in mind" points, but once you know them it is one of the easiest and most plentiful efforts for a homemade snack.

Ingredients

Please mind the notes to the ingredients, found at the bottom!

  • 2 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour*
  • 3 tablespoons sugar**
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of paprika (I usually do a scant 1/2 teaspoon)
  • 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, VERY soft (but NOT melted), cut in to tablespoon sized pats
  • 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cold water†
  • extra salt for a final dusting

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
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  2. Line 2 or 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.
    You can use brown-paper shopping bags too, but definitely use paper.
    It's easiest (most efficient) to bake these in rotating batches, so at least 2 baking sheets, if not more.
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  3. Thoroughly combine the flour, sugar, salt, and paprika. Make sure these ingredients are thoroughly dispersed!
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  4. Add the soft butter and blend. You can do this in a food processor, but I usually just do it by hand (it is not a fragile dough, and clean up is easier).
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  5. Scrape down the sidesand add the water gradually, about 1/4 cup at a time, and keep blending until a dough forms.
    The dough will be a bit stiff, tough, and lumpy, but shouldn't be too uneven. Feel free to work it with your hands a little.
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  6. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 10 minutes. Doesn't have to be super chilled, but I have found this added step makes a difference in handling.
    Incidentally, you can refrigerate overnight if you wanna make the dough ahead of time.
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  7. Divide the dough. usually this is 3 to 6 batches, depending on how you roll and the size of your sheets. Use one lump at a time (duh). Leave the rest in the fridge until it's turn to be rolled out.
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  8. On a clean surface, roll out the dough.
    USUALLY I can roll it without flour, because the dough is so butter-filled that it becomes almost slick and greasy as you roll it out. (The magic of friction!)
    HOWEVER, you CAN sprinkle a LITTLE bit of flour on the surface if it helps. I never have but it's not gonna hurt the recipe.
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  9. Now, ROLL THE DOUGH AS THIN AS POSSIBLE! Roll into a rectangular shape (dimensions don't mater, but just sheet and nudge to make straight edges). They can even be slightly translucent; there is no such thing as "too thin" here; after all "thin" is in the name.
    However thin you go, DO YOUR VERY BEST TO GET THE WHOLE FLAT SHEET OF DOUGH UNIFORM SIZED THINNESS! Thinner crackers in a batch will burn faster than thicker, so you don't want too much variation in thicknesses on one sheet. Doing your best to keep each batch uniform will prevent losing too many crackers. (You will lose a handful – it's the nature of the work. If you don't burn any, consider yourself a master chef baker. Good for you, Mary Berry. Now sit down and finish this.)
    The only precaution about "too thin" is that you will have to transfer these to baking sheets, and if they are too thin and fragile, you will just mess them up in transfer, making more work.
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  10. Cut out 1 1/2 - 2" squares. (See why making a rectangle was important?) 
    They will shrink a bit, but not much. Feel free to experiment with size and even shape.
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  11. Transfer the squares to the parchment lined baking sheets, using a spatula or similar. (I prefer a baking paddle but to each their own.)
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  12. Added salt: the original recipe suggests a sprinkle of salt when they emerge from the oven, but I actually like to do a VERY quick LIGHT sprinkle before they go in, because the salt sticks better. BUT, if you salt before baking, keep in mind that a little goes a long way!
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  13. Bake at 400º for 5-7 minutes keeping a close eye on them! 
    Because, if you've gotten them nice and thin, they'll cook fast!
    The time in the oven is really based on the thinness, so each batch will cook in slightly different times. I mentioned it elsewhere here, but I'll repeat that you can err on the side of slightly underdone when you remove them and leave them not he sheet for 30-60 seconds out of the oven.
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  14. You'll know to remove from oven when the edges begin to brown SLIGHTLY.
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  15. Best to cool on a rack, because the air circulation helps them get crispy. Definitely let them compeltely cool; they get crispier and crispier as they settle. If they don't seem super crisp when they first emerge from the oven be patient; you'll be surprised how crispy they get as they cool.
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  16. Crackers will last in an air tight container at room temperature for a week or two, or will freeze up to two months.

Important notes

Notes on ingredients:

* ABOUT THE FLOUR: yes, you can substitute white flour just fine. I have tried both, and greatly favor the whole wheat; it adds texture and flavor. But if you don't already have whole wheat you can substitute white and still come out with something delicious.

** ABOUT THE SUGAR (IMPORTANT!): Usually sugar is added for browning, but this is one of those crackers that is improved with a touch of sweetness. I have actually added extra sugar in several batched – BUT keep in mind that these can already catch and burn VERY quickly as it is. Like startlingly quickly; they can look underdone after 6 minutes, and not 45v seconds later suddenly start blackening rapidly. Add more sugar and that potential for quick-burning goes WAY up. So if you mess with sugar, be ready to keep a careful eye; err on the side of slightly underdone just in case.

† ABOUT THE WATER: you can add a smidge more water if the dough is too annoying. The dough will be slightly stiff and tend to split and crack anyway, and if a tablespoon or two of added water helps, it is usually fine. You can add it at any point in the process, but do so sparingly; too much water and you increase the risk of burning or losing cracker crispness. I've only added a SMIDGE of water one time, but generally can make do with no more than a 1/2 cup or less.

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