Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers
Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers are crispy and crunchy, with an earthy, nutty flavour. With no yeast, no kneading, and no proofing, these easy homemade crackers are ready to eat in little more than half an hour.
With rye, spelt and white flours plus sesame seeds, the only other ingredients you need are a little salt, oil, and water.
Wholesome and moreish, my Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers will keep for at least two weeks.
Perfect with cheeses, patés, dips or eat alongside soups.
Jump to Recipe
EASY HOMEMADE CRACKERS
Since I discovered how easy it is to bake homemade crackers, I’ve never looked back.
With so many shop bought crackers made with environmentally disastrous palm oil, and others pretty pricey (especially for a product made largely of flour and water), it was a no brainer to produce my own.
And to get a homemade, crispy and crunchy homemade cracker really is incredibly simple. So simple in fact, that I called my very first recipe Easy Homemade Crackers. As I wrote in that original post, all you need are flour, salt, oil, water. That’s it.
From there, you can add your own seasonings, spices, herbs, nut and seeds. Consider also the huge number of different flours available, and it’s easy to see how you can create an infinite variety of flavours and textures for your homemade crackers.
When I first began my cracker baking journey, I was looking for a replacement for the classic cream cracker. Wanting a fairly neutral flavour, I made them with white flour and no seasonings other than salt. But, since then, I’ve found a new favourite. Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers.
RYE, SPELT & SESAME CRACKERS
What is it about the combination of rye, spelt and sesame that makes these crackers so good? I honestly don’t know! But they’re my absolute current favourite homemade cracker.
Wholemeal rye and wholemeal spelt, both ancient grains, add a certain nuttiness. I think they have bags more flavour than modern wheat flours. To my tastebuds, spelt adds a hint of sweetness too.
Add to that sesame seeds, whose flavour becomes earthier when baked, and you have a wholesome, oh-so-tasty cracker.
However, I do want a light cracker so include plain white flour too. Feel free to play around with proportions once you’ve mastered the basic recipe.
The only other ingredients you need to make my Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers are salt, olive oil and water.
HOMEMADE CRACKERS
The technique for making my crackers is incredibly easy. Once you’re familiar with it, I reckon that start to finish, it’ll take you no more than 35 minutes.
You’ll find a detailed recipe at the end of the post, but here’s an overview of the steps complete with images.
STEP 1: CUT OUT THE BAKING PAPER
To make transferring the cut crackers to the baking tray easy, we’re going to roll the dough straight onto baking paper. So, the first job is to cut baking paper to fit the bottom of a baking tray.
Your tray should be shallow and approximately 31 x 21 cm. The recipe will make two trays of crackers so, if you have two suitable trays, you can cook them both at the same time. Cut out two pieces of paper if you want to do that.
STEP 2: MAKE THE DOUGH
To make the dough, stir together the flours, salt and sesame seeds in a mixing bowl. Add the oil to the measured water, then tip into the flour mix. Stir with a spoon, then switch to your hands to bring together into a dough.
We’ll only need one half of the dough to make the first tray of crackers, so divide in two. I use scales to get them equal because I’m rubbish at estimating. Cover one half of the dough with the upturned bowl for now.
STEP 3: ROLL OUT & CUT THE DOUGH
Sprinkle some flour on one of the pieces of baking paper. Put one piece of dough in the centre then sprinkle that with flour too.
To get nicely crunchy rather than hard crackers, roll out as thinly as you can. No more than 1-2 mm thick please. When it’s this thin, the dough should reach right to the edges of the paper. If it doesn’t, keep going!
I use a pastry wheel and ruler to first neaten the edges of the dough then cut out my crackers. A pizza wheel or just a knife is fine too.
Sometimes I cut all the crackers into squares slightly larger than a ruler width. This should give you 40 small crackers per tray. Here, I decided to have some rectangular and some square. But you do you.
You don’t need to cut completely through the dough. Just make sure you don’t go through the paper.
STEP 4: PRICK & BAKE
Next, slide the paper, crackers and all, onto a baking sheet. Now prick each cracker all over with a fork. This should stop them rising too much in the oven.
At the start of the process, you’ll have preheated your oven so just pop the tray inside. You can get going on the next batch with the remaining dough if you like.
But the crackers do cook quite quickly so, for the first time at least, you might want to give them your full attention. If so, you can always cut out both trays of crackers first then put them in at the same time.
Rye, Spelt & Sesame Seed Crackers take just 10-15 minutes to cook. Those at the corners and edges can darken especially quickly. I snap those off, put on a wire rack to cool, then put the rest back in the oven.
If the ones at the centre look done on top but perhaps still a little raw underneath, simply turn the whole lot over and finishing baking until completely crisp.
When all the crackers are done, transfer them to the cooling rack. Leave until completely cold then snap apart any still joined together.
Your easy, homemade crackers are now ready to eat!
SERVING & STORING RYE, SPELT & SESAME CRACKERS
I find Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers completely moreish all on their own. Crispy, crunchy, and with a satisfying wholegrain flavour enlivened with toasty sesame seeds, you can’t eat just one!
Of course, a cracker isn’t a cracker if you can’t eat it with cheese. And these go wonderfully well with both hard and soft cheeses.
I also enjoy these crackers alongside soups like Quick Pea & Bacon Soup.
Cut into longer rectangles, they’re perfect for your favourite dips, patés, and spreads like Aubergine & Beetroot Moutabal, Smoked Mackerel Paté, Labneh Homemade Yogurt Cheese, Broad Bean Paté with Goats’ Cheese & Mint, or Smoked Salmon Paté. or this fab Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.
UPDATE: want crackers with even more earthy sesame flavour and great for dipping? Try Sesame Crackers.
Stored in an airtight container such as a tin, these easy homemade crackers will keep for at least two weeks.
That’s if you can resist them!
Have you made Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers?
Leave a comment and don’t forget to rate the recipe!
Rye, Spelt & Sesame Crackers
Crispy and crunchy, with an earthy, nutty flavour, these easy homemade crackers are ready to eat in little more than half an hour. Serve with cheeses, patés and dips or alongside soups.
Ingredients
- 90 g plain white flour plus extra for rolling out
- 40 g wholemeal rye flour
- 40 g wholemeal spelt flour
- 20 g sesame seeds ideally white and black
- ½ tsp salt
- 20 ml olive oil
- 100 ml water
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 220C/200 Fan/Gas 7.
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Cut two pieces of baking paper to fit the bases of two shallow baking trays each approximately 31 x 21 cm.
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Put the flours, sesame seeds and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl and stir together.
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Stir the olive oil into the water then pour it over the flour mixture.
Stir with a spoon to combine, then switch to your hands to bring together into a dough.
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Cut the dough in half and set one half aside (cover with the upturned bowl so it doesn't dry out).
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Lightly flour one of the pieces of baking paper.
Place one piece of dough on it, sprinkle with flour, and roll out very thinly (no more than 1-2 mm) until it covers the paper.
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Neaten the edges of the dough with a knife, pastry wheel or pizza wheel.
Cut the dough into squares or rectangles of your preferred size.
Tip: using a ruler width as a template, you should get 5 rows of 8 i.e. 40 small square crackers per tray.
Slide the paper and the uncooked crackers onto one of the baking trays.
Prick the crackers all over with a fork.
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Put the crackers in the preheated oven and cook until crisp and golden (10-15 min). Check after 8 minutes as crackers at the edges of the tray may cook much quicker: remove these and return the tray to the oven.
While the first tray is baking, make another batch with the remaining dough and cook as above.
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Transfer the crackers to a wire rack until cool enough to handle. If any crackers are still joined together, snap them apart along the marks you cut.
Leave until completely cold before storing in an airtight container. Crackers will keep fresh for around 2 weeks.
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