Gluten-free Crackers

Crackers are surprisingly easy to make at home with just five to seven basic ingredients. Bake a batch on the weekend and enjoy them all week long. I love adding herbs, garlic, and sea salt to my cracker recipe, but if you prefer a plain cracker you can easily omit them.

These crackers are gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg free. The basic ingredients are oil, water, baking powder, and a flour of your choice. Once you have your base using these four ingredients, it’s simple to blend an assortment of flavours and textures to suit your family preferences. Have fun!

What you’ll love about this recipe:

The gluten free mix is simple to prepare. I’ve been baking gluten free recipes for 25 years and love mixing and matching flours. If you don’t have time to purchase the ingredients for my homemade recipe, pop into any grocery store to find a basic mix.
Almond flour. Almond flour is gluten-free and is made from skinless blanched almonds. The combination of healthy fats, macronutrients and micronutrients make almond flour an excellent energy booster. Almonds are beneficial for their monounsaturated fatty acids, dietary fibre and antioxidants. They also contain vitamin E and riboflavin, and minerals calcium and magnesium. Almonds are related to other fruits that contain hard pits, including “stone fruits” like cherries, plums and peaches. Despite the higher calories, almonds may actually be beneficial for weight loss. Almonds consumed as snacks can reduce hunger and the desire to eat later in the day, and when dieters eat almonds daily, they reduce their overall calorie intake.
Chickpea flour. Chickpeas belong to the high-fibre group of foods called legumes (or pulses). Compared to other legumes, they have the second highest antioxidant content (lentils come in number 1). The fibre and resistant starch in beans feed the good bacteria in our colon, crowding out pathogenic (bad) bacteria.
Garlic. Garlic has been shown to lower blood pressure, regulates cholesterol, and stimulates immunity.

Cracker Creation Notes:

Roll out your dough right on the parchment paper.
Roll as thinly as possible. The thinner the cracker, the crispier the crunch.
Score the dough before baking (and before transferring to the baking tray) - they will easily break apart along the seams after the crackers have cooled.
Cut the cracker dough into evenly shaped sizes to allow for even baking. Otherwise, some may wind up getting burnt just to allow the other to finish. After scoring the dough, I peel off the thinnest pieces at the edges before baking as these will likely burn.
Be creative with flavours! Rosemary is my favourite but any loved seed, herb, and spice mixture can make a delicious cracker.

Crackers

Prep time : 15 minutes
Cook time : 18-25 minutes
Total time : 45 minutes
Servings : 120 small crackers

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups almond flour
1 ½ cups Gluten Free flour (store bought or the homemade mix below)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
1 tbsp fresh rosemary or oregano (optional)
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
⅓ cup olive oil
¾ - 1 cup cold water
Extra sea salt for topping if desired

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a food processor, or a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, garlic powder, and rosemary (or any other herbs or spices you choose to use).
Pour in the olive oil and mix until crumbly.
Add just enough water to get an even dough. It should take no more than 1 cup of water. It should be moldable and not crumbly.
Divide dough into two and roll each piece of dough, between two pieces of parchment paper, into a rectangle. Aim for an even thickness of ⅛” or less.
Score the dough using a pizza cutter into even squares, about 1” wide.
Slide the rolled out dough with the parchment paper onto a large baking sheet.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, until lightly brown (be careful not to burn), then remove from the oven. If the middle crackers need extra time, remove the outer crackers and place the pan back into the oven for an extra 3 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool completely
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

HOMEMADE GLUTEN FREE FLOUR MIX

I am so grateful for all the options we now have for gluten free flour mixes. When I started baking, there weren’t any mixes and I learned to make my own. This mix can be gritty as it uses rice flour. If you prefer a smoother texture, increase the almond flour, or experiment with other flours such as sorghum. Store unused mix in an airtight container in the freezer for 1 month.

Makes 3 cups:

½ cup White rice flour

½ cup Tapioca flour

½ cup Potato starch

½ cup Brown rice flour

1 cup Chickpea flour

What herbs, spices, or seeds are you going to use? Share your favourites, I would love to hear from you!

Krista