There is a reason that crackers have holes in them

[SamAdams76]

People like to eat crackers and crackers have little pinholes in them. There is a reason for that. For without these little holes, the crackers will not bake correctly.

The holes allow steam to escape without bubbling up and exploding during the baking process.

Consider the Cheez-it cracker. It has a solitary hole in the middle of each little cracker. See how it bulges all around? But remember, the edges of the Cheez-it cracker are full of holes because Cheez-it crackers are baked in large sheets that are then cut along the perforated edges.

So it's not really the one hole in the center but holes all around each cracker on those perforated edges.

The process of putting holes in crackers is known as "docking" and with a larger surface area, crackers need more docking to successfully bake in a commercial environment.

The first cracker was made in 1792 by somebody named John Pearson. Pearson was from Newburyport, Massachusetts, a sea-faring town that was full of sailors who liked to go to taverns and drink lots of ales and cider. Pearson was looking to make a type of biscuit that would last longer than traditional sailor’s biscuits without spoiling. He eventually mixed just flour and water, baked it, and called it “Pearson’s Pilot Bread”. This later became known as “hardtack” or “sea biscuit”. This type of biscuit became incredibly popular among sea-fairing folk due to its long shelf life without spoiling. If you have a box of saltines that have been sitting in your pantry for a few years, go ahead and open a sleeve. You will still find them crisp and fresh!

Then you have the Graham cracker. The Graham cracker was invented by a stern man named Sylvester Graham, who was very much against masturbation because he felt that the quality sperm in a man's body was finite and that excessive ejaculation of that sperm would result in inferior children. For married men, he only wanted them having sex with their wives once a month so as to maintain the quality of the sperm. So he invented a cracker made from unrefined flour so as to curb sexual desires in a man. This ended up being the graham cracker that we still find in supermarkets today. But I think that Sylvester would greatly disapprove of making sandwiches of them with melted chocolate and marshmallows.

Still, even Graham crackers had to have those little holes in them.

Then you have the Ritz Cracker, a buttery round cracker made by Nabisco during the Depression to give people a "taste of the good life". But even the Ritz crackers had to have holes in them. See the holes in the Ritz cracker? There are many recipes even to this day that call for Ritz crackers.

There are many other popular crackers out there that have holes. Like Goldfish crackers. See, they have holes too. But their holes are disguised as an eye and a smile. A goldfish smile. But not all the way through holes like in the other crackers. As a result, Goldfish crackers are much bulgier and not as flat as many of the others.

[gigster]

It's Premium Saltines or nothing for me. I can eat them a sleeve at a time.

[LegendHasIt]

Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

BTW, Cheezit Groovez are da bomb.

[Trillian]

My kids eat so much of those Goldfish crackers.
For all you saltine cracker lovers.. Which brand makes a large square saltine cracker that you can break into four normal sized ones? I forgot the brand and wanted to buy some.

[GOPJ]

Homemade Cheddar Crackers

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/homemade-cheddar-crackers-3141125

Ingredients

8 ounces sharp Cheddar, finely grated
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
Pinch of cayenne
3 tablespoons ice water

Directions

Put the Cheddar, flour, butter, salt, seasoned salt and cayenne in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Add the ice water and pulse until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness and cut into squares with a pizza cutter. Use a wooden skewer to poke a small hole in the center of each square. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes. Allow to cool before packing up.

[mewzilla]

Gee, I thought the holes were there to make it easier to shake the weevils out!