Multi-Seed Crackers
Making your own crackers really isn’t that difficult, especially not if you use a handy little trick: roll seeds and/or dried herbs into the tops of your cracker dough. Literally sprinkle them on the balls of dough and roll them in. Not only does this make for tastier and more nutritious crackers, it means the rolling pin won’t stick to your dough. And you don’t have to worry about rolling out tiny, commercially sized individual crackers, because you can leave the rolled-out dough balls as large disks to be broken up or left whole when they’re done baking. (The former are crackers; the latter are flatbreads. It’s a two-for-one deal!)
This recipe is made with gluten-free flours, but you can substitute whole-wheat flour for the various flours listed here if you like. The most important part of the recipe is how you make it, not the exact flours used. (Although I do prefer the variety of flavors offered by gluten-free flours.)
Multi-Seed Crackers
For the topping:
1/4 cup assorted seeds (I used sesame and poppyseed; other good candidates include flaxseeds and caraway seeds)
1 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 T. dried herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, dill, etc. (optional)
Freshly ground pepper (optional)
For the cracker dough:
1/4 cup plantain flour OR corn flour (not corn starch)*
1/4 cup whole cornmeal (not the degerminated variety)
1/2 cup sticky rice flour*
1/2 cup fava bean flour OR chickpea flour (although chickpea has a much stronger beany flavor than fava bean does)*
1 tsp. sea salt
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup water
Combine the seeds, herbs, salt and pepper (if using) in a small bowl and set aside. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F — crackers are a fast and hot oven job!
Whisk the flours and sea salt together in a large bowl. Add oil and water and stir until you have a firm dough that isn’t too wet but isn’t crumbly, either: you should be able to easily shape the dough into balls. Depending on what kind of flour you use, you may have to trickle in more water to make the dough the right consistency.
Divide dough into four balls and work with one at a time. The easiest way to roll these out is to get out a cookie sheet and cover it with parchment paper. Mash the ball down with your hands a little bit so that you have a sort-of level surface to get your rolling pin started. Sprinkle the dough with the seed mixture and begin to roll it out directly on the parchment, adding more seeds if the dough starts sticking to the pin. Flip over the dough and repeat the procedure with the other side. When the disk is flattened to a fairly thin thickness (it’ll take up about one-quarter of the baking sheet), slide the disk into a corner and repeat the process with the other 3 balls of dough.
If you don’t have parchment paper, roll your balls out onto a cutting board and then carefully transfer them to a greased baking sheet. Parchment paper really does make this easier, though — just make sure the paper you use is rated for 450 degrees F.
Bake crackers for 7-10 minutes, checking at the 7-minute mark to make sure they’re not on the verge of burning. When the edges start to brown and the overall cracker is turning golden, pull them out of the oven and let the sheets cool on wire racks. When they’re cool enough to touch, you can break them up into smaller crackers if you’d like.
Enjoy!
* Or use whole-wheat flour in place of these gluten-free flours. Keep the cornmeal for texture’s sake, though.
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Tags: caraway seed, crackers, flaxseed, gluten-free, poppyseed, seeds, sesame seed
