2cupssharp cheeseor 8 ounces any mix of aged cheeses. I like gruyere, aged cheddar, parmesan, etc.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In the bowl of a food processor, place all ingredients EXCEPT butter, egg, cheese, and water.
Pulse a few times to mix thoroughly.
Drop in the extra cold butter (frozen great!) chunks of butter. Lock on lid, pulsing until fat resembles pea size or smaller crumbles. Do not run so long that no visible chunks are left.
Pulse in the chosen cheese. Dairy free works too!
Pulse in the egg.
Now pulse in 3-6 tablespoons ICE water...just until the dough can be easily pressed together and hold.
Turn out onto a tapioca floured surface (or make your life easy and use a pie crust bag!, pictured above). Knead a couple times to gather into a cohesive ball. The dough should feel nice and cold. Don't handle it so much you warm it up and melt all the visible fat pieces (they're key to the flaky texture). Divide into two equal balls.
Flour baking mat or a piece of parchment paper. Roll out 1 dough ball to about an 1/8" thick, sprinkling the top with a touch of flour as needed so it does not stick to your rolling pin. Alternately, you can top with another piece or parchment, wax paper, or a baking mat and roll out that way, gently peeling off the top when you're done rolling.
Using a pizza cutter for ease (a knife will work too), cut the rolled dough into squares. You can carefully move each square to a cookie sheet OR do my preferred 'lazy' method. Bake the precut rectangle of dough for about 10-12 minutes, then remove from oven, re-cut if necessary, and break the partially cooked crackers apart, spreading them out a bit. Place back in oven for an addition 3-6 minutes until uniformly golden brown. Thickness of dough will effect the total cook time, so adjust if necessary. *
It's worth noting that the crackers do not fully crisp up until cool...so worry not.
Repeat with the second dough ball.
Crackers fully crisp up when fully cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy within a day or two, or place in freezer!
Notes
*because we are decidedly human, the outer edges of dough are often a bit thinner. Therefore, these will crisp up an get golden first. If they are just golden, but the rest of the crackers are not...go ahead and remove them and place the remaining ones back in the oven to continue to cook. If you do not remove them, they may get extra cripsy....that's fine too...if they taste TOO toasty, consider them the sacrificial lambs and compost them!