One of the things our family (everyone from toddlers to great grandparents) really enjoys for snacks as well as a dessert ingredient is graham crackers. When SHTF occurs and there are none in the stores, we’ll have the choice of going without or making our own. We’ve started making our own from our stores, as we need to now be in the habit of knowing how to provide what we want and need in the future. Wheat berries store a long time. We have a Country Living [1] flour mill that grinds extra fine flour, beautifully. We raise chickens for eggs and have resources to provide honey and most of the other ingredients so that we won’t go without our graham crackers, even if we have to manually grind the flour. Here’s our recipe, so you don’t have to go without this wholesome and yummy snack either. We based this recipe on the one from Nancy Silverton’s Pastries fromthe La Brea Bakery Cookbook [2].
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour (I use hard winter white wheat berries, freshly ground for this flour, but pre-ground all-purpose flour will also do.)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp cinnamon sugar (optional)
Directions
- In your mixer bowl, combine on low speed the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the cold butter and mix on low speed until reaches a consistent crumble appearance.
- In a small bowl, whisk the honey, milk, and vanilla extract together. Add to the flour crumble mixture, mixing on low speed until it forms a smooth dough.
- Divide the dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-3 hours.
- After the dough has chilled. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Turn one portion of dough out onto a large sheet of parchment paper that is lightly floured; roll it into a rectangle that is about 1/8” thick. Mine usually comes out to about 14×10”.
- Transfer the parchment paper containing the rolled dough onto a large cookie sheet.
- Using a knife, cut the dough into four columns and three rows or use a square cookie cutter. Use a fork or toothpick to poke holes into the crackers. (This is a fun job for the kids.)
- Repeat the rolling, transfer, cutting, and hole poking with the second portion of dough.
- Optional: Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon sugar, or other spice/flavoring.
- Bake 15-20 minutes,until slightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting apart and serving.
- Store in airtight container or ziploc bag at room temperature or in freezer for longer storage.
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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail [3]. Thanks!