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These shatteringly crisp Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers are perfect with hummus and dips but also pair well with salads and soups.
Every time I serve these Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers, people go crazy.
Two texts that I received recently explain what I mean. The first one was from my sister, Annie after a get-together a while back. I had served these crackers for an appetizer paired with hummus. The day after Annie returned home, I got this text : "I'm making your crackers... dough is rising :)" I had to laugh - Annie and I are cut from the same cloth. When I try something new and really love it, I can hardly wait to get back home and make it myself.
The second text was from my daughter-in-law, Lindsay. I'd given her some of these Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers and she served them to her sister. Afterward, she sent this text: "Laurie says your crackers are in the top 5 things she's ever had, and that they are the number 1 cracker/chip ever ????" I texted back: "Oh, and I was just wondering if I should blog them. Guess that answers that!!"
So how could I not share these crazy good Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers with you? I made another batch today for some company we're having next week (they keep very well) and Scott shot a few pics of the process, as well as the results.
They're not difficult, especially if you have a stand mixer. I let the dough hook do all the kneading work. Then it's hands-off time while the dough rises. You want the dough to double in size which takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes, depending on how warm your kitchen is. I read a fun tip recently on how to know when it's double in size - take a picture with your smart phone before it rises then you can determine easily when it's doubled.
Here's another great tip I figured out many years ago. If you're kitchen is chilly, or you just want to speed up the rising time of your dough, boil some water in a Pyrex cup in the microwave. When it's nice and warm and steamy inside, place your bowl with the dough inside the microwave (keep the water cup in there too), covered with a clean kitchen towel. Let the towel hang out of the door a bit and close it lightly. The towel in the door, will keep the light on in the microwave - which creates the perfect warm (but not hot) environment for your yeasty dough to rise! Just don't turn your microwave on, or you will have guaranteed unwanted fireworks!
Yes, you will need a rolling pin, as these Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers are rolled super thin.
Then they're transferred to a sheet pan where they're brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with a light shower of flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional).
Don't worry though, if you don't have a mixer, you'll just have a bit of kneading to do. Think of it as good way to build up those guns (arms)! You'll get the same wonderful results with the crackers, however you can skip the bicep workouts that day; a real win-win!
So this one's for Laurie, Annie ... and for you! Make these Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers - asap! I promise, everyone will love them and you just might get some fun, interesting texts too! Oh, and by the way, if you enjoy these Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers, you'd love our Chili Oil Rubbed Flatbread or our Ridiculously Easy Olive Oil Rosemary Crackers. They're all so simple, inexpensive and the tastes are out-of-this-world!
P.S. I mentioned these flatbread crackers are great with hummus. They're also wonderful with salsas and other spreads. I love serving them with soup as well as with salad. Another fun idea - today for lunch, I spread a small dinner plate with hummus, then topped it with thinly sliced leftover steak, chopped tomatoes, halved Kalamata olives, diced Feta cheese and finely chopped fresh cilantro. I finished it off with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Served with these crisp, Lemon Rosemary Flatbread Crackers, it made a wonderful, light (and super delicious) lunch.
Everyone goes crazy over these shatteringly crisp crackers bursting with lemon-rosemary flavor. They're perfect with hummus and dips but also pair well with salads and soups.
- For the dough:
- ¾ cup warm water 110-115˚F* (I recommend using a thermometer if you're not used to working with yeast.)
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for rolling out the dough
- 1 ½ tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary
- finely grated lemon zest from 1 medium size lemon
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- For topping:
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil for brushing
- flaky sea salt such as Maldon or kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
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Combine water, yeast and sugar in a measuring cup and stir to dissolve. Let sit for about 5 minutes to activate yeast. It will become foamy and bubbly when it's activated. If this doesn't occur after 5 minutes, your water may have been too hot or not warm enough. You want it to be between 110˚F and 115˚F, which is fairly hot to the touch but not so hot that it's uncomfortable.
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While yeast is activating, combine flour, lemon zest, rosemary, salt and oil in the bowl of a stand mixer.
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When yeast mixture is foamy add to flour in mixing bowl. Attach a kneading hook and knead for about 5 minutes. Dough should come together and form a ball. If too loose and it doesn't form a ball, add a bit more flour (just a teaspoonful at a time), if too stiff add a bit more water, (a few drops at a time) until a ball forms.
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f you're making these flatbread crackers without a mixer, combine flour, lemon zest, rosemary and salt in a medium size mixing bowl. Add oil and activated yeast mixture and stir until well combined with a sturdy wooden spoon. Turn mixture out onto a floured work surface and knead until a ball forms. Continue to knead for another 6-8 minutes until dough is smooth and no longer sticky, then proceed with recipe as directed below.
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Drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil over dough ball and turn to coat. Cover mixing bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise. When dough has risen double in volume, punch down and turn out onto a well-floured work surface. Knead dough for 15-30 seconds, just to coat with flour.
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Preheat oven to 325˚F. Line 2 or 3 sheet pans with parchment paper. Pinch or cut off peanut (in the shell) size pieces of dough, about 36-48, depending on size**. You can go a bit bigger or smaller (for more bite size crackers).
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With a flour coated rolling pin, on a well-floured surface, roll each piece of dough till paper thin*, turning several times to coat with flour. When you think it's paper thin, roll one or two more times. The secret to rolling this thin is to keep your rolling pin an d work surface well-floured, otherwise the dough will be sticky. Also rub rolling pin with flour between each piece of dough to remove any small dough bits that may have stuck.
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Transfer rolled dough pieces to prepared sheet pans and brush lightly with olive oil. Hold on to one corner of the dough as you brush each piece with oil. Scatter lightly with flaky sea salt (or kosher salt) and freshly ground black pepper (if desired - you can just use sea salt if you're not a huge pepper fan).
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Bake crackers for 10-13 minutes, rotating pans half way through or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and transfer to cooking racks. Repeat with the rest of the dough, allowing pans to cool between baking. Cool completely and store in a airtight container. Will keep well for up to a week in an airtight container.
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Yields 36-60 crackers, depending on size.
* Recipes with yeast will often use the term "dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. 110-115˚F is NOT lukewarm to me. It's quite hot! You definitely don't want the water too hot, but if it's not hot enough, the yeast won't activate resulting in minimal rise. That's why I suggest using a thermometer if you're not used to working with yeast.
** Shape can be elongated or rounded, but they do not have to be perfect. These should be somewhat rustic, irregular shaped crackers. Also crackers can be made larger or smaller. It just depends on how much dough you pinch off.
Vivian Wong says
Love your recipe but found rolling out little balls of dough too time consuming. Instead I rolled out 3 inch size balls of dough into 11x14 inch sheets. I then oiled my parchment sheet. Rolled up my dough sheet onto my rolling pin, dusting lightly to prevent sticking and placed onto the oiled parchment in my baking pan. I then oiled the top of my dough sheet, salted and sliced the dough into even squares or rectangles before baking. Takes much less time and I get consistent sized crackers. I also found if I let the dough rise a second time and punching it down, kneading again before rolling out gave me less yeasty tasting crackers.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks for your review, Vivian!
Mary says
I do something similar, Vivian, except I roll out a large sheet as thin as I can, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Then I use a fluted pastry wheel to cut the irregular shaped sheet into strips then across diagonally into different sized pieces, some long rectangles, some small triangles, some more square-shaped. Then I transfer to the baking sheet for baking. I like the different sized pieces. These are a real favorite in our house!
Lindsay @ The Café Sucre Farine says
Thanks for your review, Mary!
Sheila Moon says
Have you ever made these with a gluten free flour blend? Unfortunately I'm one of "those" people. But this recipe looks amazing and I have meyer lemons on my tree!
Thank you.
Chris Scheuer says
I have not, Sheila, but I think it could work. If you try it let us know!
Kelly Colbrook says
I used my manual pasta machine to roll the dough out nice and thin. The crackers turned out beautifully crisp and flavorful. Thanks for the great recipe!
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know, Kelly!
Ellen says
I've been looking for a cracker recipe like this for a while after spending a fortune on Firehook Crackers in New England. This recipe is light, robust enough to stand up to a thick dip or cheese, and isn't so thick it becomes a meal by itself or takes over for whatever it's acting as a vehicle for. Well done! I'll be using this regularly from now on and playing with the herbs and combinations for different tastes, thanks! 🙂
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much for sharing your review, Ellen!
Norma says
These crackers are so good! And so easy to make. Everyone that tried them loved them.
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know, Norma!
Sam says
Hi, these look so good and I can’t wait to try them. One question, I only have instant dried yeast. How would I incorporate it in this recipe? I am new to using yeast and I find it a bit intimidating.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Sam, instant yeast will work fine for this recipe. Most of the time, you can sub instant yeast for regular yeast but not the other way around. Your dough might rise just a little faster but in this recipe, it's not really an issue. Enjoy!
Kay Vay says
This is my favorite cracker recipe by far. They’re so addictive, I’ve made them 4 or 5 times already. I’ve adjusted the seasonings to my taste, I added more lemon/rosemary and increased the salt but skipped sprinkling the crackers with more.
I make the dough in my bread machine and use my pasta roller to roll it as thin as possible. Then I put an entire sheet of cracker dough on a cookie sheet, brush it with olive oil, use my pizza cutter to cut it into squares and bake.
It makes a lot of crackers and yet they don’t last more than a couple days, don’t know how that happens. 😉
It’s definitely worth the effort and tastier than anything I’ve found at a store, not to mention cheaper.
Thank you so much for this awesome recipe!
Chris Scheuer says
Yay! Thanks so much for sharing your results, Kay!
Kathy says
These are to die for!! Yum yum. I hate it when people say that even though they made changes...but here I go. I had no oil, so I used melted butter, equal measure. My husband hates rosemary, even though I adore it....so I left it and the lemon out. I did use sea salt and fresh cracked pepper on some, and bagel seasoning on some. I am too lazy to brush each cracker so I lightly sprayed with spray oil. I made about 50 crackers. Absolutely delicious. Saving this recipe, and now off to browse some more on your site.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks for sharing your results, Kathy!
Cristina Rosu says
Wowww these are just gorgeous! Can't wait to try this beautiful recipe.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Cristina! Hope you enjoy them.
Antonia says
These. Are. So. Good.
I have just made them. They are amazing. I don't know what else to say, I am currently kind of speechless.
Thank you for deciding to blog this recipe, after all.
But just some comments for whoever is going to make them:
1) Be careful with the salt. They are suuuper thin, they don't need much at all.
2) Don't underestimate the amounts of flour and oil you are going to need! 🙂
3) This recipe will make A LOT of crackers!! I've baked about a quarter of my dough and this is already enough to serve on game night with my friends. I'd say this amount easily feeds 4 people.
I will attempt to freeze the rest of the dough in 3 portions and maybe let it rise again for 30 Mins after thawing. We'll see how that goes.
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome! Thanks, Antonia for sharing your tips!
Donna says
Giving it 5 stars....I made these today...like chips, can’t stop eating them! I left them plain on the top except for the oil and love the flavor. I used my pasta maker to roll the strips at the #6 setting. Because the dough was so thin found that they bucked while cutting so I used a scissors and snipped the pieces...easy peasie! A bit more work than other cracker recipes but absolutely worth it!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Donna, for sharing your results!
Judith says
Cannot wait to try this recipe!
Q. can I freeze the dough either the little pinched off pieces or the large ball?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Judith, I haven't tried freezing the dough. I would think it would work but I can't say for sure.
JUDITH says
CRIs, insanely delicious cracker! I froze some of th cheddar pinched pff .doughI. i’ll Let you know how it turns out.
I also tried same basic recipe with black olive pieces and cracked pepper. Very Goodman,but your lemon rosemary is fantastic.
Judy
Judith says
OH ow embarrassing! Two auto correct problems in my post! Cheddar? No! Giddman? Argh
Looks like auto correct isn’t programmed for enthusiastic culinary reviews!
JUdy
judith says
Froze the pinched off pieces of dough and it works!
Perhaps a tad less flakey, but so delicious, and if so inclined, making quanitity and getting half the work done ahead of time, is a fair trade off.
Thank you so much for this fantastic addition to my repertoire.
Daphne Reynolds says
OH MY GOODNESS! I found your recipe while browsing pinterest. We are Low Carbers so I thought I'd try it using lower carb, carbalose flour. Carbalose flour doesn't have any gluten so for yeast dough I added some along with a bit of ground flax and xanthan gum. I only did a 1/2 of your recipe because I was afraid it wouldn't turn out. Using this for my flour, I followed you recipe exactly. Well not exactly. I left out the rosemary and lemon figuring my hubby wouldn't like that flavor. And I used a little round cutter (from my grandkids playdough set...don't judge, it worked and I washed it first) Holy Cow! They taste just like little saltine crackers! So, I had a hard time getting them rolled thin enough but finally got it done. I'm headed to Amazon now to order one of those pasta roller thingies that some of the others commented about. As soon as I get it, I'll be making the lemon rosemary for myself. Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe.
Chris Scheuer says
Yay, so happy you enjoyed them, Daphne! Thanks so much, for sharing your results!
Liz says
I just made these for fun! Dough is beautiful. Lemon & Rosemary lovely combo. I used pinch of salt on top then each batch added a little more. I like salt. Started watching after 12 minutes. They came out gorgeous! And really enjoy the simplicity. Oh and did I mention...I’m a terrible baker it was nice to have something come out as nice as the pictures!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Liz! I'm so happy you had great success with these crackers. Keep baking! 🙂
Catherine E Moore says
I was going to a party last night and tried making rosemary crackers using another recipe the night before but they were a salty bust. This recipe looked delicious and was light on salt so I gave it a try. While I used all the ingredients, I cheated by throwing them all in my long lost bread machine on dough setting and in future I will use pasta machine attachment to my mixer to flatten. I went light on topping salt and did add pepper although next batch (and there will be a next batch!) I will not add the optional pepper. The lemon rosemary combination is delicious and I do think the pepper overshadows those flavors. There were no crackers left in basket to bring home from the party and I had several compliments about them!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks, Catherine. We appreciate you taking the tie to leave a review!
Sheila Jane Guenard says
These are soooo good. Thanks
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Sheila. We love them too!
Diane says
Oops. Should have read the comments first. Other folks used pasta rollers.
Diane says
I haven't baked these crackers but hope to do so soon. I've made the Italian Chips olive oil version of your chili crackers several times. I've experimented with additions and toppings. I use KichenAid pasta rollers to roll out long tongue shapes to save on work and time. I found the centers got too thin when I used a French-style rolling pin and the middles overcooked.
Trisha Badger says
Love the idea of lemon zest. Will definitely be trying this tomorrow. I prefer to leave flavoring (such as Rosemary and finishing salt) on the side, roll out flatbreads in the pasta maker, then press different toppings for variety before baking: black and blond sesame seeds on some, rosemary on others, salt on others, Parmesan and black pepper too. It makes a pretty variety platter of crackers!
Chris Scheuer says
Great idea Trisha!
Paula says
Really like this recipe. One thing I do differently is to use my pasta roller to roll out the crackers. Use lots of flour and you can control how thin to make them. Works like a breeze.
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome, thanks!