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Dessert

Water-crackers

A simple cracker made with flour, salt, lard, baking soda, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Water-crackers

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, lard, and baking soda.

  2. Gradually add water until a dough forms.

  3. Knead the dough well and roll it thin.

  4. Prick the rolled dough with a fork.

Bake

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

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 dough its structure and crisp body.
Lard
Adds fat that shortens the dough, making the crackers tender and crisp rather than tough.
Baking soda
Raises the pH of the dough, promoting browning and a crisp, light texture.

The step that matters

Rolling the dough thin. Thin dough dries out and crisps as its water evaporates in the oven. Thick dough stays soft and chewy in the center, so the crackers will not turn out crisp.

“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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