Raising Locavores: Whole Grain Graham Crackers
Occasionally we worry about how we are perceived. Â More specifically, we worry about how our son is perceived at school, and indirectly how that makes us look. Â I should really phrase this in the first person singular: I sometimes worry about this. Â Which is absurd. Â Nonetheless, it is a fear of mine.
The fear of perception also gives way to a secondary fear that our children will want what other kids have.  Of course, that is really an issue of my own, in that I often want what others have.
Let me go back to the original point about school and food.  For most of the year our son’s school lunches consist of a hodgepodge collection of containers filled with all sorts of homemade things and fruits and vegetables.  (The main exception to this pattern is the weeks following Halloween when bags of chips and small candy bars take up some of the space.)
We are not purists when it comes to the locavore lifestyle, but we do strive to eat locally all year long. We’d like our children to grow up eating this way so that they understand the rhythm of the food seasons and the benefits and joys of eating within these limitations.
Fortunately we are blessed to live in a region with a strong and vibrant local food culture, which makes it much easier for us than if we lived somewhere else. Finding locally-grown vegetables and fruits—at least apples—is possible all year long.
However, as delicious as the local carrots and apples are, our children are not wonder kids who only eat these things. They would happily eat more processed foods. Luckily we have learned that we can make healthy-ish processed foods at home.
I say “healthy-ish†because clearly cookies are not healthy, but at least homemade cookies can be made with 100% whole grains, and a reduction in sugar, often replacing the sugar with honey and maple syrup. Crackers can be made with sourdough starters, whole grains, and overnight soaks to render them more digestible.
This graham cracker recipe has been a lifesaver for us. Our youngest loves them, and they seem to provide him some relief from teething. Without a doubt making crackers from scratch is much more work than buying them, but they are also much tastier than store-bought, and the ingredients are local and natural. So long as I don’t charge for my baking time they’re much cheaper too! Pretty awesome.
The recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads , the main changes are the addition of multiple grains, butter to make them softer, and a slight reduction in the honey. These can be made with just whole wheat flour, but you can really use any combination of wheat and other flours (barley, spelt , emmer , einkhorn , Kamut® , rye, etc.) adding up to 1 ¾ cups.
Useful tools for making crackers:
- Silicon Baking Mat ( Amazon.ca )
- Dough Docker ( Amazon.ca ) for making uniform holes—but you could also use a fork!
- Pastry wheel cutter ( Amazon.ca ) perfect for making cute zig-zag edges.