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first time making crackers

 proved to be so easy

and they are SO delicious

(no reason to buy crackers again)

Al's Gone Crackers 

I stumbled upon this recipe on the My New Roots food blog and shortly thereafter, gave it a go. Although I strive to make everything I can from scratch, there are still items I have yet to test out. Crackers! These turned out very similar to the store-bought gluten-free "Mary's Gone Crackers" brand. I love this recipe because it is incredible versatile. One can add any combination of ingredients to the basic cracker dough, including nuts, seeds, spices, herbs, fruit, & vegetables. The basic recipe makes quite a bit of dough. I divided it into 3 parts and made 3 different flavored crackers. First batch: pumpkin seed, poppy seed, paprika. Second batch: currant, walnut, rosemary. And third: caraway seed, lemon zest, cayenne. All turned out so delicious, but my personal favorite is the currant-walnut-rosemary. Not only are these ingredients so tasty (and cheese-friendly), but I ended up rolling out this dough a bit thicker than the other batches (around 1/4 inch, versus 1/8 inch). I was worried about the thicker crackers getting crispy enough, but as they cooled, sure enough they did--and I prefer their texture to their thinner, wafier counterparts. The most time consuming part of this recipe is simply cooking the rice and quinoa. If you have pre-cooked rice and quinoa on hand (or cook them the day prior), assembling the dough is a breeze.


 

 2 c cooked brown rice

2 c cooked quinoa

2/3 c unhulled sesame seeds

1/2 c flax seeds

2 Tbsp tamari

1 tsp sea salt

3 Tbsp olive oil

 

Place flax seeds in a bowl and cover with ½ cup water. Let soak for at least 20 minutes. At this time you can prepare everything else. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast sesame seeds until fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside. Blend cooled rice, quinoa, soaked flax, salt, tamari and olive oil in a food processor until a dough is created-it should form a ball in the food processor (add water if too dry, one tablespoon at a time). Then add the toasted sesame seeds and pusle to incorporate. The dough will be very sticky. Take out the amount of dough you want to work with and place it on top of parchment paper. Add the desired nuts/spices/herbs/vegetables and knead to incorporate. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a very thin, even slab. Remove the top layer of parchment and using a knife, score the top of the dough into desired shapes. Slide the parchment on to a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 25-35 minutes until crispy and golden (cooking time will depend on thickness of dough). When the crackers are done, remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Break crackers along score lines, let cool completely and store in an airtight container. If the crackers have baked unevenly (some are crispy and others are not) place the uncooked ones back on the baking sheet and in the oven until entirely dry. Crackers keep for one week.