It’s a blue Sunday morning in the winter of 1835 and you’ve left New York City and head for a morning service in the Presbyterian church of Bound Brook, New Jersey. You go with the hope of speaking to Reverend Sylvester Graham, not about his religious teachings, but about his increasingly controversial ‘medical’ tips, held under the auspices of ‘THE GRAHAM DIET,’ which were published following the success of his new health food: Dr. Graham’s Honey Biskets.
The biscuits are made with a course ground flour, now named after its promoter, which Graham claimed could “suppress unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies.” His lectures, often infusing biblical and supposedly medical evidence, detail the adverse effects of masturbation, which Dr. Graham calls “self-abuse.” Allegedly all, and especially women, should curb their sexual appetite by eating bland foods. He also prescribes hard mattresses, chastity, open bedroom windows, cold showers and loose clothing.
Meat, fat, salt, sugar and refined white flour are all forbidden in the Graham Diet, as well as tobacco and other stimulants. So now you’re interested in meeting the man who’s rumored to have said that “men should remain virgins until age 30 and then make love but once a month–not at all if they are sickly.” Mother wouldn’t let you attend his lecture on ‘The Necessity of Homeade Bread,” for she and everybody feared that mob of New York City’s commercial bakers would break in and shut him down again.
So you approach Dr. Graham after his sermon and ask about this special diet. He welcomes you to Bound Brook and asks if you’ve tried his Biskets, a central component of the Graham Diet, ever so helpful in controlling those dangerous “lustful feelings.” You tell him that you discovered those crackers after attending one of his lectures last year, and, curious about the package, took a box home.
He explains, “the recipe is derived from those digestive biscuits of the Queen’s Country. They are made with Graham Flour, my prescribed mixture of fine-ground white flour and coarse-ground wheat bran and germ.” You love to learn about food and diet, and decided to return home and reproduce this in your small New York City kitchen, using all the same ingredients Dr. Graham calls for, including Graham Flour.
But they’re awful! So you travel all over town collecting different types of flour and make a mixture better suited to your liking. You also add a sinful handful of salt and sugar (in addition to Dr. Graham’s Honey) so the kids will like it. And they do! You call yours Brown Honey Crackers, and make them Christmas morning for your relatives, here from Carolina, the ones who “like a pick of sumthin’ sweet with coffee.”
NOT QUITE DR. GRAHAM’S BROWN HONEY CRACKERS
ingredients.
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen, and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup mild-flavor honey
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
how to make the dough.
First combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter and break apart with your fingers, integrating the flour well, until its the mixture of a course meal. If you have a food processor, pulse on low until its thoroughly mixed.
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and mix until the dough is soft and sticky. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and dust it lightly with flour, then pat the dough down into a big rectangle about an inch thick. Wrap it up, then chill until firm, for about 2 hours or overnight.
cutting out the crackers.
Divide your dough in half, and return one half to the fridge. Sift a layer of flour, evenly, onto your counter and roll the dough into a long rectangle shape about 1/8 an inch thick. Then cut the dough into any shape you’d like (traditionally they’re about 4.5″ x 4″).
Cook the dough on parchment-lined sheets and, if you’re like me, would rather follow Nabisco’s lead over Dr. Sylvester Graham, sprinkle some sugar and a touch of cinnamon on top. Then place in the fridge until firm, for about 40 minutes, or for 20 minutes in the freezer. Now preheat your oven to 350º.
decorating the crackers.
to make your crackers look like Nabisco (the more recognizable form), make a vertical line down the middle of each rectangle, and then prick little dots with a toothpick into two more vertical lines (on either side of the first line).
baking the crackers.
Bake for 15 to 25 minutes until browned, rotating the sheets halfway to make sure they cook evenly.
recipe adapted from smittenkitchen -> 101 Cookbooks, and Pastries from the La Brea Bakery
