Crackers

Whether sweet or savoury, products made by forming a sheet and cutting the product shapes from it have a lighter, crisper texture than soft dough cookies or biscuits.

Cracker opportunities include well-known styles including cream, cheese, whole wheat and wholemeal, club and enzyme raised crackers, as well as water biscuits.

Laminating for quality

Laminating is the most common forming method for crackers, as it can achieve both lightness and a ‘snap’ in the finished product.

Texture and flavour appeal

Savoury crackers can vary from the very simple and lean – where appeal is mainly in the texture – to enriched products, where flavour comes from the fat included in the dough.  Ingredients that add flavour include pepper, seeds and cheese; sprinkling with salt and/or spraying with oil also add taste.  Sheeted and enzyme raised crackers have their own unique texture.

Techniques to raise quality

Achieving oven ‘spring’ by adjusting the baking profile, adding raising agents to the dough and introducing a fat/flour or crumb mixture between the layers of dough are techniques employed to ensure good separation during baking.