Crisp Crackers

On a recent trip to the city, I met for dinner and drinks with some old friends. It is the time of year for the “Badwolf Dining Season” and “Cookie Season” to kick off, and the conversation turned to memories of dinners and parties past.

One item that always graced my table was a cheese platter. Contrary to all commonly accepted rules about types or numbers of cheeses, I always had a large selection. To go with the cheeses, I also had a large selection of crackers, crispy flatbread, and “mini loaves,” some purchased and many baked in my kitchen.

There were never any survivors in the cheese and cracker division. I’ll refer to my sourdough here, but one can use any basic bread dough and roll thinly; while teaching an extended cooking course, I used a pasta machine to generate wafer-thin crackers from a yeasted noodle dough.

As with all things, experimentation with different flours, rise times, and toppings/add-ins will provide a wide array of crackers for your snacking pleasure.

As per Wikipedia:

A cracker is a flat, dry baked biscuit typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain.

Reproduction of 19th-century hardtack, in the Army (square) and Navy (round) styles
Crackers can be eaten on their own, but can also accompany other food items such as cheese or meat slices, fruits, dips, or soft spreads such as jam, butter, peanut butter, or mousse. Bland or mild crackers are sometimes used as a palate cleanser in food product testing or flavor testing, between samples. Crackers may also be crumbled and added to soup. The modern cracker is somewhat similar to nautical ship’s biscuits, military hardtack, chacknels, and sacramental bread. Other early versions of the cracker can be found in ancient flatbreads, such as lavash, pita, matzo, flatbrød, and crispbread. Asian analogues include papadum, senbei and num kreab.

The characteristic holes found in many crackers are called “docking” holes. The holes are poked in the dough to stop overly large air pockets from forming in the cracker while baking.

Crisp flat breads

Crispy, tangy, tasty …

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Breads, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Global

Servings 1 tray

Calories 316 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 200 grams Sourdough Discard
• 40 ml olive oil
• 5 grams Salt
• 3 grams Dried Herbs Rosemary, oregano … Optional
• 5 grams Minced Garlic Optional
• 10 grams Parmesan cheese Optional

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 325F
• In a large bowl, discard, oil, salt and 1/2 of the optionals if used.
• Line a large skillet with parchment paper
• Pour in the batter and spread thinly
• Sprinkle with reserved optionals
• Bake for ~1 hour
• Cool for 1 hour (COOL COMPLETELY!)
• Break in the pan, and store in airtight container.

Notes

A few notes:

I’ve used my standard starter here.  This equates to a 100% hydration.  (Take note of this for future reference)

I’ve also used my standard feeding / discard as well, roughly 1 cup.

I’ve also included some basic optional add-ons, but the sky is the limit. I can see some of my followers dusting with Gochugaru or cayenne pepper. Let your creativity/imagination run wild. 

Nutrition

Calories: 316kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 6gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 1326mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 154IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 156mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Sourdough

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