Old-Fashioned Soda Crackers

Wildflour's Note:

When I was in Mexico, one of the silliest but best things I remember eating, were homemade soda crackers that were served with our meal. They were still warm right out of the oven, and heavenly. We had them in a quaint little restaurant in a village called Taxco. These are just like them! It makes a lot, but you won't believe how quickly you'll go through them!!

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 8 dozen

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, can sub butter-flavored crisco
• 1 1/2 cups water
• salt

Directions:

1. In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
2. Cut in butter til crumbly.
3. Add water, stir just until mixed.
4. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead til thoroughly mixed. About 3 minutes.
5. Roll out dough, a fourth at a time, on well-floured surface to 1/8" thickness.
6. Cut into 2" squares.
7. Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
8. Prick 2 or 3 times with a fork, then sprinkle with salt.
9. Bake in preheated 350º oven for 20-25 minutes or til lightly browned.

Reviews

[John A Funk]

Nice crackers. I modified this based on what I had on hand, I used Whole Wheat flour, and I used my noodle maker to roll it thin. Also taking the recommendation of another recipe I baked these directly on my pizza stone. These turned out great. I like them a bit darker so I had to watch while baking, but they didn't take long directly on the stone.

[Jeanne Ellen]

Excellent! Tastes just like saltines. It was actually surprising to me, being that I used freshly milled hard red winter wheat flour which usually tends to diminish the crispiness. Not this time! I also used a pasta machine to roll out the dough. Ran it through a smaller setting about seven times before actually cutting the crackers. No more store-bought crackers for us. Thank you!

[Feisty Redhead]

I wanted to love this recipe, but like a previous reviewer these just did not turn out well for me at all. They were easy to make, but they were bland. That could be overlooked though (they'd be good with bold flavors of dip or flavorful toppings) but it's really the texture that ruins it for me. They were not light and flaky as a cracker should be in my opinion, but instead they were very heavy and dense. Some were a little thicker, and those ones had a slightly chewy texture to them. The others that were thinner were too hard, and difficult to bite into.