Homemade gluten-free saltines are fun and easy to make. They’re perfect with soup, spread with peanut butter, or eaten alone.
A person new to the gluten-free diet recently said to me, “You know what I really miss? Saltines. I’d give anything for a good cracker. Since going gluten-free I eat potato chips instead of crackers and it’s just not the same.” I understood her longing. Before going gluten-free, the humble saltine was my go-to snack.
When I went gluten-free, however, I soon realized that gluten-free saltines were not commercially available. Being without saltines was not an option, so I created a recipe for them.
We’ve made crackers before in this column. The technique for making saltines is similar to that of gluten-free graham crackers and gluten-free whole grain crackers: fat (either butter or dairy-free shortening) is cut into a gluten-free flour mixture. You can do this by hand or with a food processor. After adding the cold water, the dough should be firm but workable. If the dough is dry, add a splash more water. (I usually need to add about a tablespoon more water when I make these crackers with shortening instead of butter. Start with the amount of water the recipe calls for and go from there. You don’t want any dry flour at the bottom of the bowl.)
While the dough comes together quickly, it takes a few minutes to roll it out to the appropriate thickness. This is time well spent. Thin dough ensures a nice, crisp cracker. You want the dough about 1/16 inch thick. To make this easy, roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper.
this piece first appeared on SeriousEats.com
Gluten-Free Saltines
Ingredients
- 1 cup white rice flour (4 ounces; 113 grams)
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour (2 1/4 ounces; 63 grams)
- 1/2 cup cornstarch (2 ounces; 56 grams)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 6 tablespoons cold butter or dairy-free shortening, cut into small pieces (3 ounces; 85 grams)
- 1/2 cup cold water plus more if needed (4 ounces; 113 grams)
- Kosher salt for sprinkling
Instructions
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Center oven racks in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 425°F.
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Whisk together white rice flour, brown rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in large mixing bowl or bowl of food processor. Whisk or pulse food processor to combine.
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Add cold butter or shortening. Cut butter into flour until butter is the size of baby peas. If the butter is too incorporated, the crackers won’t be as flaky. Add water. Stir or pulse food processor until a dough forms. Dough will be firm. If dough is dry, add an additional tablespoon of water.
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Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper. (Parchment should be about 12 x 16-inches.)
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Roll dough about 1/16-inch. Remove top piece of parchment paper. Slide dough onto rimmed baking sheet. Prick dough all over with a fork. Using a pizza wheel, cut dough into cracker-size pieces. Generously sprinkle kosher salt all over the top of the dough.
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Bake until crackers are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
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Remove pan from the oven and allow crackers to cool. Once cool, break crackers apart, if needed. (Crackers usually break apart while baking.)
Shame on you says
You completely stole this entire article (and the photo!) from Serious Eats. Giving them attribution doesn’t mean it’s not both plagiarism and a violation of their copyright.
Recipes may not be copyrightable but articles and photos surely are.
Elizabeth says
I wrote and photographed the piece for Serious Eats. I wrote their gluten-free Tuesday column for several years. The article and photo are mine to republish on my blog.
To be honest, I debated publishing your comment because you left this accusation but didn’t leave your name or email address. So I doubt you’ll see that you accused me of stealing from…myself.
Elizabeth says
Thank you for this recipe. That’s the power of Social Media for you. Enables anonymity for those who are too cowardly to let themselves be known and too arrogant to apologise for their mistakes.
Adriel Woods says
Would it work if used more rice flour instead of brown rice flour I can’t have brown rice because it to hard on my stomach. Thanks for the recipe they look delicious
Elizabeth says
It should work just fine with white rice flour.
Joe says
Love these! Thanks for the recipe.
Do you have recommendations on storage?
Elizabeth says
Airtight container on the counter works best! If it’s humid out, they might get soft.
Marsha says
These are Fantastic!!
I have been desperate to find a crunchy, versatile gf cracker. So much better than Glutano.
I did not have brown rice flour. So I used equal parts fine white rice & regular white rice flour. Also didnt have corn starch so I used equal parts tapioca & potato starch.
They are a bit denser than I’d like, but I think this is because I did not roll them thin enough.
Do you agree, or could it be because of my substitution choices?
I also chilled the dough before I rolled it.
Also, I used flaky maldon on half and citrus sugar on the other. Yumm!
I could also see using this as a pie crust. Wouldn’t it be amazing with lemon custard 🙂
Thank you!!!!!!!
Vince Medlock says
These are fantastic. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 for the entire flour amount and omitted the xanthan gum since it’s already included. I also folded in a handful of grated cheese while rolling them out, and my family are busily gobbling them up. 🙂
This recipe seems like it would make a great GF pizza crust. We’ll try it this weekend.
Donna says
Great recipe! I wanted GF saltines for an Atlantic beach pie recipe. Yum!!
Hann says
Tasty! Somewhat hard, though that might be the thickness. I think I rolled it out a little thicker than prescribed.
Bake time probably needs to be shortened. Smelled burning at 14/17 min in (first tray went in 3 minutes before the second), and pulled them out. The first tray had a few salvageable ones, while most of the second tray was ok
Gonna make them again and keep a closer eye.
Good with butter, going to try them with cheese and salami later.
Linda Collins says
Do you have the nutritional facts for this recipe including serving sizes and calories?
Lisa Maria Rodriguez says
I’ve been looking for recipes! New to the GF world of eating. Can these be made using almond and or coconut flour? Trying to stay away from rice.
Elizabeth says
No, this recipe won’t work with almond or coconut flour.