These white cheddar crackers are a terrific homemade snack! Poppy seeds add a pretty, and tasty, little crunch, while olive oil adds richness.
As much as we love sourdough baking, these crispy, crunchy white cheddar crackers have officially earned a top spot in our baking-obsessed hearts! Seriously, these babies are so good, you may never buy a box of cheesy crackers again.
The cracker base can be customized with any flavours you like. You can add fresh herbs, spices, finely chopped nuts — the dough is a blank canvas! The key to crispiness is to let the crackers bake to a deep gold colour, which depends on how thin or thick you roll them. Because thinner crackers bake faster, you can either a) remove them from the baking sheet and keep baking the thicker ones until they are the same deep gold, or b) accept that some crackers will be shatteringly crisp, and others will be not as much. We promise, it really doesn’t matter because they are terrific either way!
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the white cheddar and poppy seeds to the bowl.
Stir to combine then make a well in the middle of the flour mixture.
Pour in the water and olive oil and stir.
After stirring, the mixture will turn into a shaggy-looking dough.
Reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a few gentle kneads and turns to incorporate any remaining dry bits of flour.
Place the dough on a work surface and knead it 30 to 40 times, or until smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and cover it with a tea towel for 5 minutes to rest.
With a sharp knife, cut the dough ball into four equal portions. Roll out each of the four smaller balls, on a lightly floured work surface, as thin as you can, about ⅛-inch (3-mm) thick. Add more flour as needed if the dough is sticking.
Slice the rolled dough lengthwise into strips about 1-inch (2-½ cm) wide. Slice the strips widthwise into 1-inch (2-½ cm). The measurements don’t have to be exact. Repeat rolling and slicing the other three dough balls.
Transfer all of the cracker squares onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the crackers with flaky salt if you like. Adding salt to the tops is completely optional.
Place the tray of crackers in the preheated oven and bake them until they are golden and crisp. Fully cool the tray of crackers on a wire rack before storing or packaging.
Tips & Notes
This recipe can be doubled or tripled.
You can use a pasta roller to roll the four smaller dough balls. With a KitchenAid attachment, we find rolling the dough through setting one twice, and then through setting three twice works well.
For the crispiest crackers, bake all of them until deep gold in colour. You may have to remove some of the thinner crackers from the tray as they darken and keep baking any thicker, more pale crackers.
Cut white cheddar crackers into any shape you like. It’s an easy recipe to make with children, and you can use fun-shaped cookie cutters to cut the crackers.
Everything Bagel Spice is a delicious alternative to salt on top of the crackers.
The crackers will keep in an airtight container on the counter or in your pantry, for up to one week.
Substitutions
Substitute whole wheat or light spelt flour for a whole grain option. You may need to add a touch more water if you do this. The dough should be smooth and supple when kneading.
You can replace the olive oil with any neutral-tasting oil. Avocado, almond, or coconut are good options.
The cheese can be substituted for any other hard cheese that can be grated, such as Gouda, Parmesan, or Monterey Jack.
Feel free to add fresh chopped herbs or favourite spices to the dough.
Larger ingredients such as chopped dried cranberries, nuts, or pumpkin seeds can be added, but the dough will most likely have to be rolled by hand.
More Homemade Snacks
Sourdough Crackers With Homemade Za’Atar
Raspberry Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
Recipe
White Cheddar Crackers With Poppy Seeds
Description
Equipment
- baking sheet
- Parchment
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- sharp knife
- Wire rack
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup white cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 teaspoon poppy seeds
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Flaky salt, for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the white cheddar and poppy seeds to the bowl. Stir to combine then make a well in the middle of the flour mixture.
- Pour in the water and olive oil and stir.
- After stirring, the mixture will turn into a shaggy-looking dough. Reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a few gentle kneads and turns to incorporate any remaining dry bits of flour.
- Place the dough on a work surface and knead it 30 to 40 times, or until smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and cover it with a tea towel for 5 minutes to rest.
- With a sharp knife, cut the dough ball into four equal portions. Roll out each of the four smaller balls, on a lightly floured work surface, as thin as you can, about ⅛-inch (3-mm) thick. Add more flour as needed if the dough is sticking.
- Slice the rolled dough lengthwise into strips about 1-inch (2-½ cm) wide. Slice the strips widthwise into 1-inch (2-½ cm). The measurements don’t have to be exact. Repeat rolling and slicing the other three dough balls.
- Transfer all of the cracker squares onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the crackers with flaky salt if you like. Adding salt to the tops is completely optional.
- Place the tray of crackers in the preheated oven and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until they are golden and crisp. Fully cool the tray of crackers on a wire rack before storing or packaging.
Martin Mounir says
Thank you for fantastic recipes! I made so many of yours, and you have changed how I bake my sourdough loaves, especially with the Sprouted grain sourdough loaf.
I think you should mention as an additive unflavored protein powder to improve the nutritional profile. Also ground flax is great as well for fiber and healthy fats.
One other thing I do, which I think really improves the nutritional profile, is instead of using all purpose flower, I use fresh milled (optional) 100% whole hard wheat flour sifted (50 mesh). That gives me a flour very close to an APF but much better in terms of nutrients.