An easy, high altitude tested recipe for light and crispy homemade crackers, flavored with dried rosemary. These rosemary crackers are lightly salted, with a crunchy texture and subtle buttery flavor, perfect for a cheese board, charcuterie spread or for dipping in hummus.
You might also love these recipes for homemade bagels, English muffins, and homemade tortillas.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Quick and Easy. The simple dough only requires 6 ingredients, and it’s quick to mix up with just a bowl and spoon.
Customizable Shapes and Flavors. Instead of round crackers, you can cut long, rectangular artisan crackers, squares or triangles. And if you don’t like the flavor of rosemary, you can try any variety of other herbs or spices that you love, like salt and pepper, everything bagel seasoning, garlic and thyme, sesame seeds, Za’atar, caraway seeds or Parmesan.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. That said, today’s recipe will work well at sea level and low altitudes, too, without adjustments.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Flour. You’ll need plain all purpose flour to give the cracker dough structure and strength. Have some additional flour on hand for rolling out the dough.
- Salt. This gives the crackers flavor, and without it, the crackers will be bland. These rosemary crackers aren’t overly salty, though, so you can still pair them with a salty cheese.
- Baking Powder. This is the leavening agent, and it gives the crackers more lightness as they bake, so the texture isn’t too dense.
- Rosemary. I used dried rosemary, but if using fresh chopped rosemary, you’ll need about twice as much.
- Butter. Adds flavor and moisture, as well as contributes to the crisp, crunchy texture. You can also use olive oil, if preferred.
- Water.
Instructions
Make the Dough.
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and rosemary. Add the melted butter or oil and 3/4 cup of the water, stirring into a shaggy dough. Add the remaining 2 tbsp water a little at a time, only using enough to bring the dough together until it’s soft, moist and sticky.
Roll and Cut the Dough.
- Generously flour a clean work surface, and scrape the dough onto the flour. Flour the top of the dough as well.
- Roll the dough out thinly, to at least 14×18 inches and 1/8 inch thick, using as much flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and your rolling pin.
- Brush the excess flour off the top of the dough, and use a 2 1/2 inch round fluted cutter to cut as many rounds of dough as you can. Arrange the cut dough closely together on the parchment lined baking sheets.
- Gather up the dough scraps, press them back together, roll the dough out again, and continue to cut as many crackers as you can. The dough will likely resist rolling out at this point. If this happens, let it rest for 5-10 minutes then try again. Depending on the size of cutter you use, you should be able to cut around 56 crackers.
- Once all the crackers are cut, use a fork to prick each cracker a few times, to help prevent them from puffing up too much in the oven.
Bake the Crackers.
- Bake the crackers for about 30-40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The crackers should be crisp and golden brown, and will have some areas that may be bubbly or puffed. If, after cooling the crackers, they seem at all bendy and chewy instead of dry and crunchy, they’re under-baked, and you’ll need to return them to the oven to continue baking them until crisp. If you don’t roll the dough thinly enough, the crackers will take longer to bake through.
- Cool the crackers completely before storing in an airtight container.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Homemade crackers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
If your crackers have a chewy texture, then they are under-baked, and will need to be baked longer until crisp. If you rolled the dough too thick, then the crackers will take longer to bake and become crunchy.
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Homemade Rosemary Crackers
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Baking Sheets + Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled (plus extra flour for rolling the dough)
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp dried rosemary (or 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary)
- 4 tbsp unsalted melted butter (or olive oil)
- ¾ cup + 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and rosemary. Add the melted butter or oil and 3/4 cup of the water, stirring into a shaggy dough. Add the remaining 2 tbsp water a little at a time, only using enough to bring the dough together until it's soft, moist and sticky.
- Generously flour a clean work surface, and scrape the dough onto the flour. Flour the top of the dough as well.
- Roll the dough out thinly, to at least 14×18 inches and 1/8 inch thick, using as much flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and your rolling pin.
- Brush the excess flour off the top of the dough, and use a 2 1/2 inch round fluted cutter to cut as many rounds of dough as you can. Arrange the cut dough closely together on the parchment lined baking sheets.
- Gather up the dough scraps, press them back together, roll the dough out again, and continue to cut as many crackers as you can. The dough will likely resist rolling out at this point. If this happens, let it rest for 5-10 minutes then try again. Depending on the size of cutter you use, you should be able to cut around 56 crackers.
- Once all the crackers are cut, use a fork to prick each cracker a few times, to help prevent them from puffing up too much in the oven.
- Bake the crackers for about 30-40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The crackers should be crisp and golden brown, and will have some areas that may be bubbly or puffed. If, after cooling the crackers, they seem at all bendy and chewy instead of dry and crunchy, they're under-baked, and you'll need to return them to the oven to continue baking them until crisp. If you don't roll the dough thinly enough, the crackers will take longer to bake through.
- Cool the crackers completely before storing in an airtight container.
How would I add Parmesan cheese to these crackers? Thank you!
You can add grated cheese to the dry ingredients, before you stir in the wet ingredients.