Daring to do it: Crackers

Our July 2012 Daring Bakers’ Host was Dana McFarland and she challenged us to make homemade crackers! Dana showed us some techniques for making crackers and encouraged to use our creativity to make each cracker our own by using ingredients we love.

I love salty snacks.  Like, I tried to blame my addiction to chips on pregnancy cravings, but had to admit the truth when I was no longer pregnant...  So when crackers were announced as this month's challenge, I was really excited.  I kind of had thoughts of making lots of different types, and was really happy.  Then reality hit.  This month seems to have gotten away from me.  I seriously was amazed when I realized that it was time to write up the challenge already!  So I didn't quite get my oodles of crackers in like I thought I would...
Dana challenged us to make at least two different types of crackers, each using a different method.  She gave us some great tips, tricks and recipes, then encouraged us to look for   I did make two types of crackers, but they were remarkably similar.  They were both rolled by hand with a rolling pin, and they were both kind of Wheat Thin-like.  I guess I have a type that I am drawn to, and these recipes sort of proved it! 
Batch number one - whole wheat crackers:

Yummy.  Not quite as crispy as I would have liked, but I think that was because of me and not rolling them quite thinly enough.

Batch number two - Oatmeal crackers (I thought they would be different than the first recipe...  oops...!):

Expertly cut by my fabulous niece, we sprinkled rainbow sugar on half to match the rainbow like cuts.  While they had to stay in the oven for a lot longer than the recipe indicated, they were amazingly crunchy and tasted great.

So I might not have completed the challenge exactly as I was supposed to, but I did make some yummy crackers, and enjoyed myself very much!  Thank you, Dana, for such great encouragement and a wonderfully useful new trick for our kitchen arsenals! 
Take a look at what my fellow Bakers created if you want to see how amazing crackers can really be!