CRUNCHY PARMESAN CRACKERS

Crunchy Parmesan Crackers

AT A GLANCE

PREP

25 mins. to 45 mins.

BAKE

14 mins. to 16 mins.

TOTAL

1 hrs 7 mins. to 1 hrs 33 mins.

YIELD

about 200 small (1") crackers

2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

a few grinds fresh black pepper, optional

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup whole, 2%, or 1% milk

coarse sea salt, dried herbs, and/or grated Parmesan cheese, optional; for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Get out several large baking sheets; no need to grease them.

Whisk together the flour, salt, pepper, and Parmesan.

Add the cold butter, working it in until no large pieces remain; a mixer works well here.

With the mixer running (or stirring all the while), drizzle in milk until the dough comes together; you may not use the entire 1/2 cup.

Gather the dough into a ball, and squeeze it a few times to bring it together. Divide it into three pieces. If you have a scale, they'll weigh about 6 1/2 ounces (187g) each.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, flatten it into a rough square, and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough 1/8" thick; it'll be about 10" square (or an 11" circle, if your rolling efforts result in a circle).

Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment or aluminum foil. Using a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or pastry wheel, cut the dough into 1" squares; don't separate them. You may trim the edges first, if you like, in order to separate the "good looking" crackers from the raggedy ones around the edges.

Lift the piece of parchment/crackers onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the crackers with coarse sea salt, additional grated cheese, and/or dried herbs, if desired.

Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Bake the crackers for about 15 minutes, until they're a medium golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan.

When the crackers are cool, store them airtight at room temperature.

Yield: about 200 small (1") crackers.

Tips from our bakers

While the original recipe calls for sprinkling with coarse sea salt, we've made that an optional step here; we feel the crackers are salty enough without adding more on top.

As you bake the crackers, the ones around the edge will brown more quickly than the ones in the center. If you're not a fan of darker crackers, remove the pan from the oven, carefully transfer the crackers around the edge to a cooling rack, and return the pan to the oven to continue baking, until the remainder of the crackers are golden brown.