oatmeal crackers

Look at those hands grabbing for some crackers. I so love that she is grabbing for crackers that were made in her own kitchen. A week or so ago after my husband dusted off the remnants of these crackers from a face, hands and clothes he questioned crackers, the processed food that it is, regardless if all the ingredients are organic. Well I saw that as a challenge and remembered seeing these crackers on 101cookbooks not so long ago and decided to give it a go. They were greeted with great enthusiasm even from little Miss's friend who was visiting.

Oatmeal Crackers
via 101cookbooks
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cups whole milk, heated just to boiling
1/4 cup room-temperature unsalted butter (I melted mine)
4 tablespoons natural cane sugar
3 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/4 cup / 5.5 oz / 155g dark rye flour
1 1/2 cups / 6.75 oz / 190g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
more salt for sprinkling

In a large bowl combine the rolled oats and boiling milk. Let stand until cool. To speed this up I sometimes place the bowl in the freezer for about 35 minutes. When cool, stir in the butter, sugar, baking powder, anise seed, salt, and rye flour. Stir in the all-purpose flour, a bit at a time, until a stiff dough forms. Turn out onto a counter top and knead until the dough comes together and is uniform.
Heat the oven to 425F with racks in top and bottom thirds.
Divide the dough into two parts, just so you have a manageable amount to work with. Now, you're going to want to roll the dough out very thin - 1/8th-inch. This way your crackers will have snap. Have a look at the photo up above, and try to get it thinner than that. If your dough is at all stubborn, just let it rest there for ten minutes or so, then try again.

Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheets [they don't spread much), and sprinkle with a bit more salt - flaky salt if you have it. Bake for roughly 14 minutes, but here's the trick. When the cracker bottoms are deeply golden, roughly 9 minutes in, flip each cracker, and brown the flip side as well. Use your best judgement and remove when well done. Cool completely before storing in large air-tight jars.
Repeat with the remaining dough, and cut the scraps into tiny soup crackers.
Makes dozens of crackers, depending on how large or small you cut them.
Adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas.
Prep time: 45 min - Cook time: 15 min