Crispy Crackers for September

Many people who know me have this illusion that I can easily do anything I put my mind to, mostly because I often am successful when I try something new. There are times, however, when I'm miserably unsuccessful, even after a few attempts. Making my own crackers has been one of those areas. If you check past posts you will see very few crackers...a clue...and when I have posted crackers they have usually be somewhat thick and not crisp, or the toppings fall off, or both.

 The Bread Baking Babes are a lively group of baking women and one of the liveliest and loveliest is Tanna, our Kitchen of the Month. I have to admit that when I read that our September recipe was for crackers that I became nervous right away. Would this be another case of not-quite-what-I-wanted crackers? The original recipe came from King Arthur Flour, which was encouraging since their recipes usually work well. Tanna's version used grams for many of the measurements, another plus since weighed ingredients are usually in better balance than ones made up of cups and half cups. Best of all the second batch can be made another day, so if one batch doesn't work out I get a second chance. OK, guess it's time for crackers...with seeds.

 For my version, I decided to use some King Arthur Flour Irish Whole Meal Flour that I had in the fridge, plus some all-purpose flour. For the topping I used poppy seeds and chopped pecans.

Guess what? I actually made crackers that were crisp and crunchy and behaved like crackers instead of shortbread. Sweetie loved them, especially the second pan that I left in the oven to dry. Those turned a deep brown and were just this side of burnt and very crunchy, indeed. I like the flavor that the Irish flour added and I loved the toasted nuttiness of the pecans.

 

 

 

I think the key was that I rolled them out very thin. Although I started out rolling half the dough, after the first rolling out to about 1/4 inch, I divided that dough in half and rolled each piece even thinner, to about 1/16th of an inch, on a sheet of parchment paper.

 Now it's your turn. Bake these, take some photos, and send Tanna an e-mail with a short description of your baking experience and a photo, so that she can include you in the round-up at the end of the month and send you a Buddy Badge. Hurry, you have until Sept. 29th to do that, plus these are so good, no time to waste.

 Sending these over to Susan at Wild Yeast for her excellent Yeast Spotting weekly event. Check it out!

 Last, but never least, do visit my fellow Bread Baking Babes to see how they went crackers...er, made crackers this month. If they have not posted yet, check back. Sometimes we have computer troubles that hold us up.

 

 

 Kitchen of the Month - Tanna, My Kitchen in Half Cups

Bake My Day - Karen
Blog from OUR Kitchen - Elizabeth
Girlichef - Heather
Life's a Feast - Jaime
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies - Natashya
Lucullian Delights- Ilva
Notitie van Lien - Lien (who also creates the beautiful badges!)
Paulchen's Foodblog - Astrid
Provecho Peru - Gretchen

Crunchy Crackers

Recipe By: KAF
Yield: 2 cookie sheets

Summary:
This recipe mimics an extra-crunchy, seed-topped whole-gain cracker you may find at your supermarket. These are great for spreads and dips of all kinds.

Ingredients:

198 to 227g lukewarm water
170 g King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
120 g King Arthur Whole Wheat/Spelt
2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder or sugar - I used malt syrup
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
30 g whole ground flax
14 g sesame seeds
*Substitute 28g golden flax seeds for the flax and sesame, if desired.
topping
71 g sunflower seeds, midget preferred*
28 g sesame seeds*
28 g whole flax seeds,* golden preferred
sea salt or your favorite flavored salt, if desired
*Substitute 3/4 cup artisan bread topping + 1/4 cup whole flax seeds for the sunflower, sesame, and flax seeds, if desired.
(I used poppy seeds and chopped pecans instead of the toppings above.. I didn't measure them, but the dough wasn't covered thickly. I also added some sea salt on top of one roll out of dough.)

Directions:

1) To make the dough: Mix and knead together all of the cracker ingredients (except the seeds) to a smooth, fairly stiff dough. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of water if the dough is dry.

2) Knead in the seeds.

3) Let the dough rise, covered, for 60 to 90 minutes, until it's expanded a bit.

4) Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a rectangle approximately 14" x 9", a generous 1/8" thick. This will probably require you to roll the dough until it fights back; give it a 10-minute rest, then come back and roll some more. It may need two rest periods to allow you to roll it thin enough.

5) For easiest handling, turn the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Spritz the dough with water. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the topping seeds, lay a piece of parchment on top, and press the seeds in with a rolling pin. Turn the dough over, peel off the parchment, and repeat. Set the seeded crackers on a baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining piece of dough.

6) If you don't have parchment, roll on a rolling mat or on a very lightly floured or lightly greased work surface; and transfer the seeded crackers to a lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle each sheet of crackers with some sea salt or flavored salt, if desired. Crush the sea salt between your fingers or grind it in a salt mill if it's very coarse.

7) Prick the dough over with a fork, and cut it into rectangles, whatever size you like. Pull the crackers apart just a bit; you don't need to separate them completely. Let the crackers rise for 30 to 45 minutes. while you preheat your oven to 350°F; they'll get just a bit puffy.

8) Bake for 20 minutes, until the crackers are a medium brown. Turn off the heat, wait 15 minutes, then open the oven door a couple of inches and let the crackers cool completely in the turned-off oven. When they're completely cool, break apart, if necessary, and store airtight. 
Two balls of dough ... why bake them at the same time.  Put one in fridge for the next day.  Fabulous.

Starting to Look Like Fall

For some people the time of new beginnings is at the beginning of January...all those New Year's resolutions feel so cleansing. For some the turn of the year marked by their birthday sets them thinking of the year past and the year to come. For me new beginnings often come with the fall. Since summer is and was my least favorite time of year I guess that the return of cooler air, fall colors and, for many years, the beginning of school is a cause for celebration...summer is over! Feeling the light turn more golden and the air more crisp often starts me thinking of new ways to do things and new experiences to enjoy.

In the spring I'm tuned in to the garden...weeding, setting out new plants, trying to visualize the garden-to-be filled with big tomato plants spilling over their cages, rambling cucumber vines, squash plants with huge fans of leaves hiding those baseball bat sized zucchini, while all I can see now are puny little plantlets with just a few tender leaves surrounded by large areas of cleared soil. Sometimes I've had enough time to cover that soil with wood chips for mulch. In some ways that just makes the tiny plants look even smaller.

Come fall and the realization of those dreams of a bountiful harvest I suddenly find myself with the energy and interest to do 'spring' cleaning which is a good thing since it usually didn't happen in the spring. Garden cleanup is easy. Months of accumulated clutter in the house is more challenging.

Invariably when I'm cleaning up and getting rid of junk I'll come across a recipe or two that I intended to make until the doldrums of summer got in the way. That, too, is part of the excitement of fall. Now it's cool enough to do a bit more baking. Spending more time in the kitchen is fun now that I'm feeling more energetic.

It's a good time to experiment, too. On our trip back from a wedding this past spring Sweetie and I enjoyed a multi-grain cracker that I later tracked down at our Whole Paycheck store. As expected, it was too expensive to purchase very often so I've been wanting to make something similar at home.

The latest catalog from King Arthur Flour has a recipe for canape pumpernickel bread. That seemed like a good jumping off place since the crackers we enjoyed were dark brown and looked like they started out as little loaves of bread that were sliced thin and then baked again to make them crisp.

You understand that I'm mostly using their recipe for proportions, right? I have a vision of my version even before I begin. My version will probably include a little rye flour, but also some buckwheat flour or maybe some of that KA Ancient Grain mix, along with regular unbleached and some stone ground whole wheat flours. There will be a little molasses for color and flavor, sea salt, some nuts...maybe pecans since they are soft enough slice well, perhaps some pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds and dried cranberries.


Doesn't that sound delicious?

I have some mini bread pans to bake the dough in and a very sharp serrated bread knife to use for making the thin slices. If these work I may have to splurge and buy some triple cream cheese to have with them. Yum!

The crackers turned out almost like I had hoped. Next time I'll up the add-ins a lot because there was too much dough to 'nuts and seeds' ratio. I'll also use more rye flour and less all purpose for a deeper flavor and slightly denser crumb. I might even try it as a quick bread although I do like the tang from the sourdough starter.


A big mistake was to forget to score the top of the dough to allow for oven spring. Mine blew out dramatically which made cutting super thin slices a challenge.

Freezing the loaves before cutting them thinly might also be a good idea.

I loved the mixture of grains and the flavors of the nuts, seeds and cranberries. These make a nice late afternoon snack with some creamy mild cheese. Bet they will be good with some blue cheese, too.

I will make these again and keep trying for a cracker that meets my expectations. These were close, and ever so delicious. Sweetie even liked thicker slices toasted with his breakfast. He asked that one of the little loaves be saved for regular use, not crackers. I think he was right. Fortunately, the weather is getting cooler...time for some more fall baking!

Au revoir dear readers.



Redwood Forest Crackers
1 1/2 oz (1/4 cup dark rye flour1 1/2 oz. (1 cup) KA Ancient Grains flour
1 5/8 oz. (1/4 cup) buckwheat flour
6 1/4 oz ( 1 1/2 cups) Unbleached all-purpose flour
7 1/4 oz. (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) KA Irish wholemeal wheat flour (or whole wheat flour)

1 cup sourdough starter OR 2 teaspoons instant yeast dissolved in 1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons mild molasses (not blackstrap)
1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons vegetable or mild olive oil
1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon flax seeds
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 tablespoon light colored sesame seeds
3 tablespoon sunflower seeds
1/4 cup dried cranberries

In a bowl, mix together the flours until combined.
In another bowl combine the sourdough starter, water, molasses and oil. Stir to combine.

In another bowl combine the pecans, flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and cranberries. (Note: Next time I'll double the quantities of these...less dough, more add-ins will create the crackers I dream of.)

Combine the ingredients from all three bowls in another bowl (of a stand mixer if you have one) and mix and knead to make a stiff, sticky dough. Let the dough rise until it's almost doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape them into loaves. Place in greased mini loaf pans, cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow the loaves to rise about 30 minutes. (Note: Next time I'll make sure to score the top of the dough to allow for oven spring. The photo above shows the error of neglecting that step...although the crackers still tasted great.)

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the crust is brown and the internal temperature registers 190 degrees F. Remove the bread from the oven, and cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a rack. When completely cool, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Place a loaf on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to slice in very thin slices. (Note: Next time I may freeze the loaves to make it possible to slice them even thinner, although these were beautifully crisp and crunchy.)