Wheat Thins Recipe – Easy Homemade Crackers
Our family loves homemade crackers. Sometimes we make sourdough crackers, but we also like homemade wheat thins. Salty with a hint of sweetness, these are great with cheese or other toppings, or on their own.
How to Make Homemade “Wheat Thins” Crackers
Adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook, these are a great alternative to store bought wheat thins.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ Tablespoons honey (or sugar)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- salt for topping
For the flour, I use freshly ground whole wheat flour from my Nutrimill. You can learn more about Nutrimill grain mills here. Starting with whole wheat flour works, too. Just remember that whole wheat flour spoils more quickly than refined flour, so you want to make sure your flour is fresh.
Spelt, Kamut, white or red wheat is fine. Each type of wheat berry adds its own unique flavor. Palouse brand stocks a good variety of bulk sustainably raised wheat berries.
Honey adds more sweetness than sugar, so you may want to use a bit less. Don’t skip the salt topping. It really adds to the flavor of the crackers. Feel free to try other flavors like garlic powder or other herbs along with the salt, too.
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 °F (205 °C).
In a medium bowl, blend dry ingredients (except topping salt). Cut in butter with a knife or pastry blender and blend until evenly mixed. Combine the water, honey and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and blend until smooth.
Chill the dough for an hour to make it less sticky, or roll out immediately. Dust the dough with flour as you roll the crackers to reduce sticking.
Divide the dough into four pieces and work with one piece at a time. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough on parchment paper or directly on your baking sheet. Try to get the dough as thin as possible, about 1/16 inch thick and 12 inches square.
I roll out the crackers on reusable parchment paper, and then move the paper to Airbake cookie sheets.
Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into squares about 1 1/2 inch wide. The pizza cutter is easier, if you have one available. If you want to make the crackers look fancier, you can press dimples into them with fork tines. (I admit, I don’t bother.)
Sprinkle lightly with salt. The crackers don’t expand while baking, so you don’t need to move them apart. You can save the scraps and reroll them one time, if desired. We usually eat the uneven crackers to save time, as they all taste the same.
Baking & Storing your Wheat Thins
Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, 5 to 10 minutes. (Airbake pans help avoid burning, but take closer to ten minutes to bake the crackers.)
Watch your homemade crackers closely during baking. They can burn fairly quickly because they are so thin. You can remove edge crackers from the pan if they start getting too dark and return the rest to the oven to bake. This is more likely if your dough is uneven.
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Remove the crackers from the oven when they are almost crispy, but not too brittle. They crisp more as they cool. If they are underbaked, they will be softer and less crackerlike. You can throw them in the dehydrator to dry them out, but the oven works best to get that tasty browning.
Cool completely and store in airtight containers (if they last long enough to store). For best quality, use within a week or two.
Prep Ahead Option to Reduce Phytates
Whole wheat flour contains phytates (phytic acid). Phytates has positive and negative effects. They may act as an antioxidant, but can also decrease absorption of some minerals.
To reduce phytates (and make the dough less sticky), we prep the dough a day ahead with a slight recipe change. Wait to add the salt until right before you roll out the dough, as it may inhibit fermentation.
Then, substitute whey for 1 tsp to the entire 1/4 cup of water. I put whatever whey I have available into my measuring cup, then add water to reach 1/4 cup. Place the dough in an airtight container and let it rest at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
Why make homemade crackers?
Homemade crackers like these wheat thins aren’t complicated, but they do take some time to make. It’s easier to crack open a box from the store.
The problem is, many store crackers have ingredients we try to avoid. Original Wheat Thins crackers contain genetically modified canola oil, cornstarch and malt syrup. Other crackers contain ingredients like bromated vegetable oil, MSG, preservatives, and other junk.
You can buy better quality crackers, but like many products, the price keeps going up. You can buy good quality ingredients in bulk and make homemade crackers for less money.
Homemade Wheat Thin Style Crackers
A simple and delicious homemade cracker recipe.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Rest Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: snack
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 Tbsp honey (or sugar)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F (205 °C).
- In a medium bowl, blend dry ingredients (except topping salt). Cut in butter with a knife or pastry blender and blend until evenly mixed.
- Combine the water, honey and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and blend until a smooth dough forms.
- Chill the dough for an hour to make it less sticky, or roll out immediately. Dust the dough with flour as you roll the crackers to reduce sticking.
- Divide the dough into four pieces and work with one piece at a time. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough on parchment paper or directly on your baking sheet. Try to get the dough as thin as possible, about 1/16 inch thick and 12 inches square. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into squares about 1 1/2 inch wide.
- Sprinkle lightly with salt and press in dimples with fork tines, if desired.
- Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, 5 to 10 minutes. You can remove edge crackers from the pan if they start getting too dark and return the rest to the oven to bake.
- Crackers are done when they are crispy but not too brittle. They will crisp more as they cool. Cool completely and store in airtight containers. Use within a week or two for best quality.
Notes
Prep Ahead Option to Reduce Phytates
To reduce phytates (and make the dough less sticky), we prep the dough a day ahead with a slight recipe change. Wait to add the salt until right before you roll out the dough, as it may inhibit fermentation.
Then, substitute whey for 1 tsp to the entire 1/4 cup of water. I put whatever whey I have available into my measuring cup, then add water to reach 1/4 cup. Place the dough in an airtight container and let it rest at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
More Homemade Snack Recipes
Whether you prefer salty or sweet snacks, we have you covered. Here are some of our family favorites.
Ground Beef Jerky (for Dehydrator or Oven)
Liver Pate with Bacon (because everything is better with bacon)
Grape Gummies made with real juice
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie grew up in the kitchen, learning baking and home cooking from her momma. At age 15, she and her mom and two sisters created Irene’s Custom Cakes & Catering, which was her summer job through most of high school and college.
Originally published in 2011, last updated in 2024.