Crackers!

Wheat Thins, King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking


Onion Crackers


Lavash Crackers


I don't live in a perfect world. If I did, I'd be neighbors with Sheri and Jess. We'd run back and forth between our homes, borrowing, baking, being friends. And that's just the beginning of the perfect world that I don't live in. Oh well. It is what it is.

Jess & I haven't had a cooking project in far too long. We decided on crackers. When it comes to these kinds of baked goods, people nearly always ask me if it's worth it to bake it yourself, when you can so easily buy it. Worth it in terms of price? Sometimes, not always. Worth it in terms of quality? Sometimes, not always (I think that would trend more towards "absolutely!" if I practiced more). Worth it in terms of experience, pleasure, satisfaction? Absolutely!

In In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan is surprisingly open to the idea of eating things like french fries. If you make them yourself. Because it's all too easy to go through a drive-through, order fries, inhale far too many fries, and do it all too frequently. Because it is so easy. But if you had to peel all the potatoes, cut all the potatoes, fry all the potatoes, look at and smell the oil, dispose of the oil... well, you wouldn't eat fries so often. And if you only ate french fries as often as you were willing to go to the trouble of making them, it wouldn't affect your health very much.

Yes, it's worth it to make your own crackers. Not only do you appreciate the cracker (versus ripping open a package and wolfing down half of it before you know what happened), you also know exactly what's in it. In the case of the wheat thins: whole wheat flour, a tiny bit of sugar, vanilla, a miniscule amount of salt, paprika, butter, and water. That's it. Nothing weird or unpronouncable.

I got to spend time with my friend Jess. We had great fun and we each took home three kinds of delicious homemade crackers. In a perfect world, I'd do it all the time.