Wheat Thins

Last weekend while I was grocery shopping I got a call from Chris.

“Can you get some Wheat Thins?”

He was smoking some meat at our neighbor’s house and he wanted a snack to hold him over until dinner was ready. I brought home some generic “Thin Wheat Crisps”. Fail.

While he was thankful, I got the impression that they didn’t quite hit the spot. Wheat Thins? Thin Wheat Crisps? What’s the difference?

From Chris’ perspective, the Thin Wheat Crisps just don’t have the same wheaty, crunchy goodness. Not being much of a cracker eater, the only difference I can discern is about $1.50.

I quickly got to work trying to create a homemade version his favorite crackers.

This week I have been on a mission to make homemade versions of two of Chris’ carby staples, Wheat Thins and whole wheat bagels. The homemade Wheat Thins were a win. Far better than Thin Wheat Crisps. I’m still trying to replicate his favorite whole wheat bagels.

I have finally duplicated the texture of his bagels. Now I just need to improve my bagel sealing technique, but that will have to wait. We have a backlog of twenty or so bagels from my practice runs. With his two bagel a day habit it will be a little while before I have an excuse to make more.

From Oh She Glows.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups (5 oz) 100% whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for sprinkling on
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 4 tablespoons butter (I used yogurt butter.)
• 3 oz water
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 F. 
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
• With a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly.
• Mix the water and vanilla and then pour them into the flour mixture.
• Use the pastry cutter to combine the  water/vanilla and the flour mixture, adding a bit more water as necessary if it appears to be too dry.
• Split the dough in half.
• On a floured surface roll out one half of the dough to about 1/16 inch thickness, then cut into pieces using a pizza cutter.
• Use a spatula to transfer the crackers to the parchment lined baking sheet.
• Sprinkle with more salt and sesame seeds if desired.
• Repeat as necessary with the second half of the dough.
• Bake for ~10 minutes, watching closely.
• Cool completely on a cooling rack then store in an air-tight container.
• I ended up with about 70 crackers.

Servings ~  10
Calories ~ 110, Fat ~ 3.3 g, Carbohydrates ~ 18 g, Protein ~ 3