Back to the Cutting Board

Whole Grain Graham Crackers

adapted from Good to the Grain ^[1] by Kim Boyce

Cookies | Servings: 16 (5×2.5″) rectangles
Prep time: 45 min | Cook time: 30 min | Total time: 2 hour 15 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup graham flour ^[2]*
• 1/2 cup teff flour ^[3]*
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 3/4 stick (3 oz.) butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tbsp. unsulphured molasses
• 1/3 cup milk**
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

*I usually order specialty baking ingredients from King Arthur Flour ^[4], but their graham flour is also labeled as whole wheat pastry flour. Since Boyce specifically calls for graham flour AND whole wheat pastry flour in several recipes in her book, I’m going to have assume that King Arthur is wrong and that these flours are not interchangeable. Instead I ordered all of my flours from Bob’s Red Mill ^[5] since they have a bigger variety of whole grain flours. You may also be able to find these flours if you have a Whole Foods in your town.

**Boyce recommends full fat ingredients in all of her recipes so use whole milk if you have it, but I used 1% and the crackers came out fine.

Process

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, dark brown sugar, baking soda, salt and the spices. Make sure re-incorporate any of the leftover bits from the sifter.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the melted (and slightly cooled) butter, honey, molasses and milk.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, stir well. Divide the the moist cookie dough and press into two disks; wrap both in plastic. Chill for at least an hour or up to 3 days.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Lightly grease or spray two baking sheets.

5. 

   Remove one disk of cookie dough from the fridge, unwrap it and place on a work surface dusted with flour. Flatten the dough with your hands until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Flip the dough over a few times until both side are dusted with flour, add more flour to the counter. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick. Move the dough around frequently to make sure it’s not sticking. If it is, slide a pastry scraper under the dough and add more flour to the counter or dough.

6. 

   Use a sharp floured knife to cut the dough into 5-by-2 1/2-inch rectangles or use a cookie cutter to cut into whatever shape you like. Transfer to the baking sheet, about an inch apart (they spread out a bit, but not much). To make them look like real graham crackers, slice the rectangles in half length and cross-wise, but do not separate the pieces. Use a fork to press holes into the surface of the cookies.

7. Stir the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle each rectangles with a few pinches of the mixture.
8. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, turning the pans 180 degrees halfway through. They are ready when the edge is a darker shade of brown than the rest of the cookie. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack so the grahams become crisp. (If the cookies are not quite crisp enough, next time they either need to bake longer or be rolled out thinner.)
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 with the other half of the dough.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.