Chef Notes: Homemade Herb Crackers

I’ve been preparing for another round of American Culinary Federation competitions. With three scheduled before the end of May, the stress level around my house is in the red zone. A new component to my competition dish this year is an element of crunch, a cracker to top the dish. They’re super easy to pull together and only take 5-10 minutes to bake.

You can alter the herb and/or hard cheese. You can substitute any oil for the butter. The only special equipment you need is a pasta machine/roller and even that can be substituted with a plain ole rolling pin. The recipe below makes about 200 crackers–sounds like a lot but in my house we can down a box of crackers in a couple of hours. They store well in air tight containers or bags. However if you want to make less, as long as you keep the ratios intact, you can cut the recipe in half or even quarter it and it still works. You can also refrigerate the extra dough and make more later. Just bring it to room temperature before trying to roll it out. Cut them into whatever shape you like. These are a great project to do with the kids on a rainy Saturday.

Homemade Crackers

3 cups semolina flour
3 cups farro flour (spelt also works great)
2 cups hot tap water
2 teaspoons fine sea salt + more for topping
¼ cup onion or garlic powder
¼ cup rosemary, finely chopped (try other herbs or combinations of herbs)
2 cups Parmesan cheese, finely grated (must use a hard cheese)
Butter, melted (other oil will work as well)

Method

Add sea salt, onion powder, and rosemary to hot water and stir well. Using a dough hook, combine dry ingredients, add water mixture and mix until a round smooth dough ball forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and rest 30 minutes. Run a lemon sized piece through a pasta machine starting at #1 and finishing with #5. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with salt. Cut into desired shapes. Bake at 400 until golden brown, 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool. Repeat until desired number of crackers are made.