A Cracker With Nearly a Century of History
Club Crackers date back to 1930, when the Keebler-Weyl Baking Company developed a new type of soda cracker. It was deeply scored, easy to break into smaller pieces, and strong enough to hold jam, cheese, or butter without immediately breaking.
The crackers first went on sale in December 1930, during the Great Depression. The name “Club” was meant to suggest quality and the kind of better food that might be served in a private club. Their light texture and rich flavor eventually helped turn them into the familiar buttery crackers many of us grew up eating.
What Happened to a Simple Cracker?
A cracker seems as though it should be made with flour, butter, milk, salt, and a little leavening. However, the ingredient list on today’s boxed Club Crackers is considerably different.
The current version contains soybean, canola, and/or sunflower oil preserved with TBHQ. The label also includes high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, soy lecithin, enriched flour, and several separate leavening agents.
Those are not ingredients I need to make a delicious cracker at home. My homemade version uses real butter, whole milk, all-purpose flour, cane sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. It is a short ingredient list made from familiar ingredients I already keep in my kitchen.
Buttery, Flaky, and Crisp
These homemade club crackers have the rich, buttery flavor and delicate layers that make this style of cracker so good. They are brushed with a little more butter while still hot and finished with Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
The hardest part is rolling the dough thin enough. If the unbaked dough already looks as thick as a finished cracker, it needs to be rolled thinner. The crackers puff in the oven, and thin dough is what gives them their light, crisp texture.
An Easy Food Processor Dough
The food processor quickly cuts the cold butter into the flour and brings the dough together without much handling. Once the mixture holds together when pinched, it is turned onto parchment and gently pressed into a dough.
After chilling, the dough is rolled between two pieces of parchment. This prevents sticking without working additional flour into the crackers. The dough is then cut into rectangles, pricked to release steam, and baked until golden
Let Them Cool Before Judging the Crunch
The crackers may feel slightly tender when they first leave the oven. Brush them with melted butter, add a light sprinkling of kosher salt, and give them time to cool completely.
As they cool, the butter settles into the surface and the crackers develop their final crisp texture. The result is a buttery, flaky homemade cracker with ingredients you can recognize and a flavor that makes the extra rolling worthwhile.
Homemade Club Crackers
Ingredients
- ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour 180 grams
- 2 teaspoons cane sugar
- ¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 6 tablespoons cold butter 85 grams, cut into small cubes
- ⅓ cup cold whole milk 80 grams, plus more only if needed
- tablespoon butter melted, for finishing
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt for finishing
Instructions
- Add the flour, cane sugar, kosher salt, baking powder, and baking soda to a food processor. Pulse several times to distribute the ingredients evenly.
- Add the cold cubed butter. Pulse 6 to 8 times, or until the butter is broken into small pieces and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Small visible pieces of butter are desirable and will help give the crackers their flaky texture. Do not process the mixture until completely smooth.
- Pour in the cold milk. Pulse in short bursts just until the mixture forms moist clumps. Pinch a small amount between your fingers. If it holds together, it is ready. The mixture does not need to form a ball inside the food processor. If it remains dry and falls apart when pinched, add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition.
- Turn the crumbly mixture onto a sheet of parchment paper. Place your hand underneath one side of the parchment and lift the paper, using it to fold that side of the mixture over the center. Lay the parchment flat again and gently pat the top of the mixture to help the crumbs hold together.
- Lift the opposite side of the parchment and use it to fold the mixture over the center again. Lay the parchment flat and gently pat the mixture together. Rotate the parchment one-quarter turn and repeat the folding and patting from both sides.Continue using the parchment to fold the mixture over itself until the crumbs come together and form a dough. Do not knead the dough or work it until completely smooth. Use only enough pressure to make it hold together.Flatten the dough slightly and divide it into two equal portions. Press each portion into a flat rectangle, cover, and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Place one chilled portion of dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Keep the remaining portion refrigerated while you work.
- Roll from the center outward until the dough is approximately 1/16 inch thick or slightly thinner. Peel back and reposition the top parchment occasionally to prevent deep wrinkles. Flip the entire parchment packet and roll from the other side as needed to keep the thickness even.
- Roll the dough thinner than you think a finished cracker should be. The crackers will puff slightly as they bake, and dough that is too thick will produce a tender cracker rather than a crisp one.
- Remove the top sheet of parchment. Using a pizza cutter, pastry wheel, or sharp knife, trim uneven edges if desired and cut the dough into rectangles approximately 1¼ by 2½ inches. Press the scraps together and reroll them between parchment.
- Prick each cracker several times with a fork or skewer. These small holes allow steam to escape and help prevent the crackers from puffing excessively.
- Separate the crackers slightly so heat can circulate around their edges. Slide the parchment with the crackers onto a baking sheet.
- Bake for 14 to 17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Begin watching closely around 12 minutes because thinner crackers and those around the outside of the pan may brown sooner. The crackers are ready when the edges are golden and the centers have developed a light golden color.
- While the first pan bakes, roll, cut, and dock the remaining chilled dough. If the dough becomes soft or sticky, return it to the refrigerator for 10 minutes before continuing.
- Remove the baked crackers from the oven. Immediately brush the tops lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- Transfer the crackers to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. They will continue to firm and become crisper as they cool.
Notes
- Rolling the dough evenly and exceptionally thin is the most important part of this recipe. Thicker crackers will still taste delicious, but they will be softer and more biscuit-like rather than crisp.
- The exact baking time will depend on the thickness of the crackers and the color of the baking sheet. Use their golden color as the final guide rather than relying only on the timer.
- If some crackers brown sooner than others, remove those crackers and return the remaining ones to the oven for another minute or tw
Storage
- Allow the crackers to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container at room temperature. If they lose some of their crispness, place them in a 300°F oven for 3 to 5 minutes, then cool completely before returning them to the container.