Supermarket Hack: Homemade Wheat Thins
Wheat Thins are a tasty snack that you’re supposed to feel good about eating. Not that they’re necessarily good for you, but for some reason once you put “wheat” on the box, you get warm-fuzzies inside when you see it. I don’t know if any of you have tried making Cheez-its, but I came to the discovered that anytime that you can take something that you would normally buy in a box and make it yourself, you feel better about eating it.
No more words you can’t pronounce, no more preservatives or artificial flavors. While I tend to go for more… let’s say “decadent” recipes, it’s good to mix it up with a (relatively) healthy one every now and then.
So, my health-conscious friends, this is for you. While I tried to be ultra-healthful by using 100% whole wheat flour, I can’t feel good about recommending you do the same. It made the texture and taste just a little bit off. I would suggest using a mixture of whole-wheat and white flours, which is actually what Nabisco uses (who knew). I would also recommend not rolling them quite as thin as the original recipe requested.
The recipe below will include the original measurements, and my notes if you want to skip that whole “trial-and-error”/”learning-from-your-own-mistakes” business and get straight to the good stuff. Upon reading the box ingredients, I might try these again with a few adjustments… 
Homemade Wheat Thins
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I recommend a mixture of whole wheat & white)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for topping
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Add the flour, sugar, salt and paprika to a the bowl of a food processor, pulse for a couple seconds. Add butter and pulse until the mixture forms small beads (just a couple seconds).
3. Combine the water and vanilla in a small measuring cup and add to flour mixture. Pulse until dough comes together into a ball. Divide the dough into 4 pieces.
4. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others covered with a towel so they don’t dry out (i kept mine under the upside-down food processor bowl). Roll into rectangle on lightful floured surface, lifting and turning to make sure it doesn’t stick. You want to roll the dough as thin as possible (they recommend 1/16″-thick, which I thought was a little too thin).
5. Transfer your rectangle to a sheet of parchment. Use a pizza cutter to cut the rectangle into squares about 1 to 1-1/2 inches wide. You don’t really have to separate them, if you remember from my cheez-its, they will bake just fine if you don’t take the time to separate them. (Although these aren’t going to poof like the cheez-its did)
6. Sprinkle the squares lightly with salt. Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
7. Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, about 5-10 minutes. If some begin to brown too quickly, feel free to remove them while the rest bake away. They will cook quickly so KEEP AN EYE ON THEM. Once brown and crisp, transfer to a plate to cool. Once cooled, store the crackers in an airtight container.
* If they are still warm when you put them in the container they’ll end up gross and soft – so don’t do that.
