Inspired by my blogging friend Jo over at 14 Acres Blog Spot when she posted a recipe for homemade crackers, I determined that when I got the time I was going to try as well. I forgot about it for a few days and then was looking through an old book I own and found a recipe for Soda Crackers using clabbered milk. Awesome! Now I was sure that making homemade crackers must be my fate. I have posted Ms. Firth's recipe below and since I can never make a recipe without "tweaking" it, I have put my own thoughts and changes in parenthesis.)
Soda Crackers from the book Stillroom Cookery by Grace Firth
Preparation time about one hour. Makes about one pound.
Mix 3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon oil (I used one Tablespoon of melted butter)
1 cup clabber (The flour was still to thick and would not mix, so I added a little milk to get the flour to a kneadable consistency.)
Mix thoroughly. Divide into two parts. Roll out thin on a floured surface. Transfer to a greased cookie tin. Salt if desired by brushing with milk and salting with a shaker. (I brushed with butter and then salted.) Prick all over with a fork. Cut with a pizza cutter into desired size. Bake at 350 degrees for eight minutes or until done. (It took my crackers longer than eight minutes to bake. I am sure it depends on how thin you make them.)
I divided my dough into three different groups and made plain salted crackers, Parmesan crackers (by sprinkling the Parmesan directly on the crackers before baking, and garlic/onion crackers. I just sprinkled garlic and onion powder on the crackers before baking but I think it would have been better if I had put the garlic and onion powder in the butter and then brushed them. All three flavors turned out delicious. I think this recipe could be so versatile. One could make whole wheat crackers and crackers with a wide range of different flavors depending on what herbs and spices are used.
One final observation: I cooked two pans of crackers at the same time. The pan on the top rack of the oven got very crispy and have the texture of a store bought cracker. The crackers on the bottom rack are softer and "chewy" instead of "crunchy". Both textures are very good, depending on one's individual taste and preference.