My friends are Coronado sent me a bottle of their 19th Anniversary beer to try and I decided to make some crackers with it. The beer is a double IPA, 9% ABV, 80 IBU. It was pretty hoppy but still pretty drinkable considering the ABV content. This DIPA was hopped with citra, galaxy, green bullet, mosaic, nugget and simcoe. They are celebrating their anniversary tonight at their brewery, where $10 gets you into the party, a full pour and a special glass! I plan on heading down that way so I may just see you there! If any of you guys are on snapchat, follow me (beerandbaking) for random, shaky phone shots of beer and my dog. It’s groundbreaking stuff, I know.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups AP flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of warm beer (like between 90-110 degrees F)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped thyme
• 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped pineapple sage
• 1/4 teaspoon of fresh chopped purple sage

Directions:

1. Combine flour and salt in a stand mixing bowl with dough attachment. Finely chop the herbs. I used the fresh herbs I have growing in my garden but you can really use whatever herbs you have around or at your local store. Keep in mind that herbs like rosemary, sage and tarragon have a super aggressive taste so add sparingly. Add the herbs to the flour and salt mixture.
2. Add oil and beer to the herb and flour mixture and mix on medium to low. Dough should come together pretty easily. If your dough is really sticky you might want to add a bit more flour, and if it’s not coming together you might want to add a bit more beer. Once the dough is together, form it into a ball and divide into 8 even pieces and roll into a ball.
3. Put a bit of olive oil on a plate and roll the dough balls in the oil. Place a damp cloth on top of the dough balls and let it rest for about 30-45 minutes. I know, why rest the dough when it doesn’t have yeast and it won’t rise? Trust me, it does something magical during that rest.
4. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Put flour on a flat surface and roll out each ball of dough separately, and try to make as thin as possible. Use a pizza cutter to cut rustic rectangles out and place on a baking tray with parchment paper or silpat. Poke the dough once with a fork to make air holes for the crackers so they don’t puff up too much. Some air bubbles are ok though.
5. Brush some butter or water on the top of the crackers, then sprinkle some sea salt or grind some fresh salt flakes on top of the crackers before placing them into the oven. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, rotating once during the cooking process. They go from golden brown to burnt quickly so be sure to keep a sharp eye on your oven. I stood in the kitchen with my oven light on sipping on a beer waiting for each batch to be ready.
6. Once ready, remove the crackers from the oven and place on a rack to cool. I let cool for 5 minutes then put the crackers on a rack to cool directly instead of sitting on the baking sheet.
7. Once the crackers are cool, they are ready to eat! They will last for about 4-5 days in an airtight container.

These were a huge hit in my office and with my husband. He said they were super addictive and he kept going back to eat more! I think they tasted very similar to a pita chip, where they were really crunchy on the outside and kinda chewy on the inside. The smaller and thinner pieces were really crunchy and the bigger/thicker pieces were more chewy. I would make these again because they were pretty easy and didn’t really require much prep work. In fact, I might make more tomorrow to go with this homemade hummus I made…I just can’t get enough of these crackers. Plus it makes the crackers really fancy when you say they are homemade.