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Dessert

Unleavened Wafers

Unleavened wafers are thin cakes made from flour, cold water, and salt, baked until crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Unleavened Wafers

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Mix the flour, cold water, and salt until well combined.

  2. Roll out the dough thinly.

Shape the wafers

  1. Cut the rolled dough into small cakes using a biscuit cutter.

  2. Roll the cakes as thin as possible.

  3. Place the cakes in a flour-dredged pan.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 30 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the wafers their structure and sturdy, crisp texture.
Cold water
Hydrates the flour so the dough can be rolled, while keeping it firm and workable.

The step that matters

Rolling the cakes as thin as possible. Thin dough has little water and a short distance for heat to travel, so it dries and crisps through. Thick pieces stay doughy in the centre and bake unevenly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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