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Graham Crackers

Milk offers any graham cracker solid—well, actually, liquid—companionship.
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difficulty:
yield:

35 (2-inch) crackers
time:

25 minutes to make, 20 minutes to bake

It is best to avoid flour altogether in the rolling and cutting of these crackers—it will make them tough. \r\n\r\nBake them slowly, and check frequently for overbrowning. Oven temperatures vary: if the crackers brown too quickly, reduce the temperature by 25 degrees.

introduction

Pleasingly uniform and bearing fork prints, like the ones that come of a box, these graham crackers veer off course with their handsome cragginess, their crisp, porous crumb, and the depth and crackle of real graham flour—lots of it. With as little white flour as decency (that is, texture) will allow and just enough honey and brown sugar to loft the other elements, this recipe produces a superb all-purpose cracker that moves easily from cheese to peanut butter—and beyond.

Recipe length notwithstanding, these crackers are easy to prepare and roll out. They bake without shrink or buckle and taste best within the first couple of days.

  1.  

    Turn the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a food processor bowl and pulse to combine. Scatter the butter pieces and drizzle the honey over the surface and pulse to a fine meal, about ten 1-second pulses. With the processor running, add the water and process until the dough clears the bowl, about 10 seconds. Do not overprocess.

  2.  

    Transfer the dough to a large sheet of parchment paper. The dough should be evenly moist and pliant, but not wet. (If it is too wet, add a small amount of flour and knead lightly to incorporate; if it is too dry, sprinkle the surface with a few drops of water and knead lightly to incorporate.) Pat the dough down evenly into a large rectangle. Cover it with a wide sheet of plastic wrap and roll it into a rectangle measuring roughly 12 by 15 inches. Do not use additional flour. Chill the dough for 20 minutes.

  3.  

    Adjust the oven racks to the lowest and upper-middle positions and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Using a ruler and pizza cutter or small knife, trim the edges of the dough so that the rectangle measures 10 by 14 inches. Use the ruler and knife to notch the dough into thirty-five 2-inch squares (7 across the top and 5 down the side), then cut through the dough using the ruler and pizza cutter. Without separating the squares, use a fork to prick each one a few times.

  4.  

    Transfer the parchment with the dough to a baking sheet and bake the crackers en masse on the lowest rack until they are light brown, slightly risen, and beginning to dry, about 20 minutes. Remove them from the oven and slide the parchment off the baking sheet onto a cutting board. Line the baking sheet with a fresh sheet of parchment. Run a knife along the perimeter of the crackers to separate them and transfer the individual crackers to the baking sheet with a thin, pliant metal spatula, leaving about ½ inch between them for airflow. (Not all crackers will fit comfortably on the baking sheet; finish baking them in two batches.) Bake on the upper-middle rack until deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the crackers to a wire rack and let cool completely. Bake the remaining crackers in the same way. (The crackers will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature.)