Pizza Dough Crackers
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I have this long-running feud with homemade crackers that goes way back about 15 or 20 years. As feuds go, this is a pretty good one. I don’t actually remember how it all got started, but I know it’s been fueled by one remarkable cracker failure after another. From homemade graham crackers (bland and uncrispy) to homemade cheese crackers (not cheese-y enough and uncrispy) to homemade wheat thins (too wheat-y and uncrispy), etc., etc., etc.
Perhaps you have spotted the problem, which only recently became evident to me… I keep trying to re-create crackers that I love, but which are already available in all of their glorious perfection, which also means there’s very little chance that a home-made version is going to hold up and why would I even bother anyway?
So when I saw Anne Burrell make these pizza dough crackers that she serves in her restaurant, I was intrigued, but most definitely skeptical. Was I setting myself up for another cracker failure, or could this time be different? Firstly, I had no frame of reference for a pizza dough cracker, and secondly, how could combining two such lovely things as pizza and crackers not be an awesome idea?
Well, I’m here to tell you that it is, indeed, an awesome idea. All you need is a pound of pizza dough and a pasta roller (oh, I do hope you have one of those or can borrow your neighbor’s). And then all one must do is run the pizza dough through the pasta roller until it is quite thin, cut it into triangles, sprinkle them with a little cheese and bake until they’re crisp and lovely.
Ms. Burrell serves her pizza dough crackers with a roasted garlic dip. I served mine with our homemade yogurt dip, seasoned with Tuscan Herb Salt, and it was all quite simply divine.
And did I mention that these crackers stay crispy? Like until the next day even? I may or may not be ready to declare the cracker feud history, but at long last I’ve found one that I’d rather make than buy. Here’s the recipe…
PIZZA DOUGH CRACKERS
Click here for a printable recipe
This recipe turns out lots of really delicious crackers. I used a combination of grated parmesan and romano cheese on mine and they were super tasty. I also used cracked black pepper instead of the cayenne and I added a light sprinkling of coarse salt. The only other change I made was that my crackers needed almost 15 minutes to finish cooking, but everyone's oven is different, so the 12 minutes noted in the recipe might work fine for you. The crackers aren't really crispy when they first come out of the oven, but will crisp up as they cool. I stored mine in the pantry in a ziploc bag and they were still crispy the next day.
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese (or grated parmesan or romano)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or cracked black pepper)
Coarse salt for sprinkling (optional)
1 pound prepared pizza dough, at room temperature
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 large egg
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the asiago and cayenne (or black pepper) in a small bowl. Dust the pizza dough lightly with flour, then run it through a pasta roller, adjusting the setting thinner each time and dusting with more flour as needed, until about 1/8 inch thick. (I rolled mine through to #6)
Lightly beat the egg and 1 tablespoon water in a bowl. Brush the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle liberally with the asiago-pepper mixture. Using a pizza wheel, cut the dough crosswise into triangles. Place the dough triangles on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet.
