Homemade Saltine Crackers Recipe - Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking (2024)

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: Our Homemade Saltine Crackers Recipe yields perfectly crunchy treats that are miles ahead of anything you can buy at the grocery store. These family-favorite crackers have just a 30-minute prep time and 10-minute cook time, with hands-off rising in the fridge before baking. These go-with-anything nibbles are ideal with a variety of foods, have a gorgeous light flavor, and are fresh, crispy, and satisfying!

• Best all-around cracker: If you need a great light snack, or want the perfect cracker to crumble up into your favorite salads, stews, soups, chowders, or chili, or a crunchy compliment to pair with dip, cheese, jam, or peanut butter, or to spread with butter for a late-night snack, our Homemade Saltine Crackers are your go-to!
• Wholesome, versatile flavor: Our recipe has a hands-off trick to make these traditional saltine crackers extra delicious. You simply pop the dough in the fridge overnight, which gives it the perfect rise and the time to develop a lovely, irresistible flavor.

I hear all the time from the Bigger Bolder Baking community about how thrilled you are to learn that it’s easy to make your own basics—like these homemade saltines—how much better they taste, and, importantly, what a money-saver it is to do it yourself! You’ll love making our other Bold Basics, including Homemade Graham Crackers, and your favorite cracker spreads like Homemade Peanut Butter, Homemade Butter, Cream Cheese, and Strawberry Jam.

Table of Contents

• What are Homemade Saltine Crackers?
• Tools You Need
• Key Ingredients and Why
• How to Make Homemade Saltine Crackers
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• FAQs
• More Cracker Recipes

What are Homemade Saltine Crackers?

• Homemade Saltine Crackers are neutral-flavored soda crackers made with a dough leavened with yeast.
• Yeast plus baking soda and cream of tartar makes these crackers bake up light and puffy, with gorgeous golden-brown edges and the ideal level of crispy texture.
• Hardtack biscuits, simple unleavened crackers favored by sailors in the early 1800s, were an early version of saltine crackers. The lighter, modern version was invented in 1876 by Massachusetts baker Josiah Bent, and the time-tested recipe was eventually acquired by Nabisco.

Tools You Need

• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Kitchen scale (optional)
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• Rolling pin
• Pizza cutter
• Pastry brush

Key Ingredients and Why

All-purpose flour

• All-purpose flour has a protein content of 9-11%, which is strong enough to help the crackers keep their shape, but give them the right amount of tenderness.
• All-purpose flour gives the crackers a pleasantly simple flavor that makes these salty snacks lovely on their own and a great supporting partner for any type of topping or spread.

Cornstarch

• Cornstarch is crucial to creating a crunchy cracker because it’s very absorbent and reduces the moisture in the dough.
• Additionally, cornstarch lowers gluten development, giving the snack crackers a wonderfully delicate texture. Less gluten also makes it easier to roll the dough thin, which helps the saltines bake up crispier.

Instant Yeast

• Yeast helps the crackers rise, which makes little pockets during baking, giving them a bubbly crispness.
• Because this dough is cold fermented (it rises overnight in the fridge) the rise is kept under control, and you get just the right amount of puffiness.
• Instant yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients. But be careful to avoid direct contact with salt, as this can deactivate the yeast. To be safe, mix the yeast with flour first.

Granulated sugar

• Sugar adds a subtle sweetness to the crackers.
• Importantly, sugar feeds yeast, converting it into carbon dioxide gas to make the saltines rise.
• Additionally, sugar reacts with the protein in the flour through the Maillard reaction, which contributes to the browning of the crackers.

Baking soda

• Baking soda works with cream of tartar to give the saltine cracker dough a quick rise, which complements the slow fermentation that comes from the yeast.
• This hybrid rise is what gives the crackers their unique, layered, slightly bubbly appearance and makes them a crispy cracker.

Cream of tartar

• Cream of tartar reacts with baking soda to create carbon dioxide gas.
• Because cream of tartar is acidic, it helps to tenderize the dough increasing the crackers’ signature light, airy bite.

Warm water

• Lukewarm water activates the yeast.
• To tell whether the water is lukewarm, take a small amount of the water and put your finger in it. If it feels close to your body temperature or slightly warmer, it’s lukewarm.

Butter

• The butter coats the flour particles, inhibiting gluten formation, which results in a pleasingly tender texture.
• The butterfat gives the crackers delectable flavor.

Vegetable oil

• Vegetable oil keeps the crackers from being too dry.
• The oil creates a smoother, more pliable dough that’s easier to roll out.

Salt

• The lovely briny taste of salt is the characteristic seasoning of this cracker.
• Additional salt sprinkled on the top of the crackers adds to the crunch and gives the perfect amount of saltiness.
• Additionally, salt aids the gluten formation.

How to Make Homemade Saltine Crackers

Make the cracker dough:

1. Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, yeast, sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar.

2. Mix wet ingredients & fat: In a small bowl, combine the water, butter and oil and stir into the flour mixture until it forms a ball.

3. Knead the dough: On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about five minutes or until you have a soft and smooth dough. If the dough is very sticky, add a touch more flour and if dry, add a little water.

Proof the saltine cracker dough:

4. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 12, and up to 18 hours.

Shape & bake:

5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. Divide the dough in half. Working with one portion at a time, roll each dough as thin as possible on a floured surface.

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7. Transfer the dough onto the baking sheets and using a pizza cutter, cut 2-inch (5 cm) squares. Prick the squares with a fork and then brush with water and sprinkle on ½ teaspoon of salt.

8. Bake for roughly 8 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

• Roll it thin. When rolling the dough, the thinner you can get it, the crunchier the saltines will be.
• Use a pasta gadget. If you have a pasta roller, you can use it instead. Use the thinnest setting.
• Add herbs. You can sprinkle dried herbs or a few grinds of black pepper on the dough along with the salt.
• Make them fancy. Homemade saltines are ideal entertainment crackers. Dress them up by topping with our Blue Cheese Compound Butter, or Peach Whiskey Jam and Irish cheddar!
• Whip up this classic sweet! Use these saltines to make Saltine Candy (Christmas Crack):
  • Line a buttered, foil-lined baking sheet with saltines.
  • Bring 1 cup (8oz/225 g) butter and 1¼ cups (7 ½ oz/213 g) brown sugar to a boil for 3 minutes, then spread evenly over the saltines.
  • Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 5-8 minutes, then sprinkle 2 cups (12 oz/340 g) of chocolate chips on the hot toffee.
  • Wait 5 minutes, then spread the melted chocolate evenly over the toffee. Once completely cool, break into serving-size squares.

Saltine Crackers Make Ahead & Storage Instructions

• Make dough and refrigerate: You can make the dough and refrigerate it for up to 18 hours.
• Bake crackers and store at room temperature: Cool the crackers completely, and then store at room temperature in an airtight container for one week.
• Bake crackers and freeze:
  • Cool the crackers completely, and pack them in freezer bags or an airtight container.
  • You can layer them with parchment paper to protect from breakage.
  • When ready to eat, thaw the saltines at room temperature overnight.
  • Re-crisp the crackers by warming them on a baking sheet at 300°F (150°C) for five to ten minutes.
  • Note that frozen and reheated crackers may differ in taste and texture than freshly-baked crackers.

FAQs

• Can I use whole wheat flour in this recipe?
  • Whole wheat flour is denser and heavier than all-purpose flour because it contains the germ and the bran of the wheat kernel.
  • If you wish to use whole wheat flour, I would suggest only substituting 50% whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour.
  • Note that when changing flours, the amount of liquid you need may change. Use up to three-quarters of the amount called for, and then add more if needed to achieve the same consistency as you’d get from the original recipe.
• Do I have to refrigerate my dough overnight?
  • Yes. The cold fermentation (overnight rise) is crucial for many reasons.
  • First, refrigerating the dough lets it ferment slowly. This makes the gluten relax so that the dough can be rolled thin, and gives the dough better structure so that the crackers bake up crisp.
  • Refrigerating the dough also hydrates the dough and it gives time for the flavor to develop, resulting in a tastier cracker.
• Why do saltine crackers have holes?
  • The holes in a saltine cracker are not decorative. They are “docking holes,” and they ventilate the crackers while they’re baking.
  • In a hot oven, the air in the dough expands, causing bubbles that could overbrown or burn. The docking holes (there are 13 holes on a Nabisco Premium Saltine) allow the steam to escape instead of making bubbles.

More Cracker Recipes

• Homemade Ritz Crackers
• 4-Ingredient Homemade Goldfish Crackers
• Homemade Cheez-Its with Real Cheddar
• Homemade Sourdough Discard Crackers
• Homemade Wheat Thins

Ingredients

Instructions

Recipe Notes