A Better Cracker

My plea (Home Made Crackers) brought a few recipes to try and I finally got around to them this weekend. I wound up actually reading the ingredients on a box of saltine crackers, then going with a recipe that most closely matched that. The recipe called for butter, but I used vegetable oil, because the box said oil.

They turned out pretty good! Not quite as crispy as I'd hoped, but crispier and better tasting than the other batch.

Here's the recipe I followed and the changes I made:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter (I used a scant 1/2 cup of vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of cold water

Mix the yeast and salt into the flour, then pour the oil into it. Mix it in well (I wound up using my hands), then add cold water, a little at a time, until a stiff, but workable dough forms. (I kneaded it a few times to smooth it.)

Let the dough rest fifteen minutes, then roll thinly, pierce all over with a fork and salt the top. Cut it into squares or other shapes and bake at 350 12 - 16 minutes, until it begins to slightly brown.

I divided it into two batches and didn't get the full amount of water into the first batch. It came out ok, but the second one, with more water, was flakier. Not crispier, but flakier.

Is it back to the drawing board? I dunno. I've eaten so many that I'm tired of crackers for now. Not eating them at all will save some money, so it wasn't a total failure.