Seeded Crackers

Snack food is expensive especially with hungry teenagers and their friends always looking for something to eat.  Crackers and cheese are a favorite but tasty crackers with wholesome ingredients come in very small boxes with a large price tag.  I decided to make crackers and after looking at recipes I wondered why store crackers are so expensive - the ingredient list is small - flour, water, oil (sounds like french bread but crackers do not require the skill of a baguette). The wholesale prices companies pay for the ingredients, plus the cost of getting a product to a mass market - I figure there must be around a 500% mark up on crackers. At 4-5 dollars for a box of small  crackers at Whole Foods, I could spend $20 and pass the boxes to four teenagers and they would still say "what else is there to eat."

These crackers are so tasty. The pair nicely with hard or soft cheeses, spread with tuna or chicken salad or just plain.  You can get creative and make up your own seed topping - maybe nigella, anise, fennel, rosemary, thyme - there are many combinations. You could chop up fresh herbs like the thyme or rosemary and mix it in with dough as well. This recipe can be mixed up by hand as well.

Seeded Crackers
Makes 3 dozen

Topping
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Enough water and pastry brush to wet rolled out dough before seeds are applied.

Dough
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour - scant
1 teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons olive oil or oil of your preference
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 450F.
Mix seeds in a small bowl and set aside. Do not add the salt at this point as you sprinkle by hand.
In a food processor:
Add the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and table salt and pulse to combine.
Add the oil and 1/2 cup water and pulse until combined and crumbly but comes together when pressed against the side of the bowl.
On a lightly floured work surface gather dough into a uniform mass then separate dough into thirds.
Store dough under a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming.
Roll the first third of dough into a 1/16th inch thick 8 x 14 inch rectangle.
Keep your work surface well floured to prevent the dough from sticking. Your dough should move freely on the rolling surface.
Cut dough with a knife or pizza cutter in half then into rectangles 2 x 4 inches or to your preference.
Brush dough with water and sprinkle with 1/3 of seed mixture and 1/4 teaspoon of the kosher salt.
Press the seeds and salt into the crackers with light pressure so they stay on the crackers.
Transfer crackers to a baking sheet.
Tip:  I roll my dough out on parchment paper minding that it doesn't stick and cut carefully so as not to go through the paper.  I then can move the whole sheet onto my baking pan (rimless cookie sheet), then I just move the crackers slightly to give them a bit of room.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes until browned.
Cool on wire rack (slide the parchment straight onto the rack).
Store crackers in airtight container or zipper plastic bag.







Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking December 2007

Pletzlach - Polish Flat Bread

Feeling lonely in the kitchen over the weekend as everyone was on their respective computers tucked away in bedrooms and an office, I too was on the interweb facing my own demons of my dinnertime/cooking rut. I was searching for ideas on what to make that everyone will like and bring them to the table with enthusiasm. My daughter has requested that I make a wider variety of things but the request came without specific suggestions or requests; and she is one of my two finicky eaters.  It takes a lot to branch out beyond my tried and true recipes with my picky eaters. I suppose this story and this bread don't really match because this bread is basically a dinner roll with the delicious addition of rolling a onion, oil and poppy seed mixture into the top. It was different enough and just the addition of that mixture filled the house with a delicious aroma that everyone floated into the kitchen on and asked what's for dinner and stayed in the kitchen where a lively conversation ensued.  I found this recipe in The Wednesday Chef's recipe archive and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it.  Poppy seeds and onions are such a wonderful combination though I did make a few without the poppy seeds as the other finicky eater in the house doesn't like poppy seeds. Try this recipe it is delicious.  Note:  The original published recipe uses 4 cups of flour and 2 tablespoons of yeast and you don't let the rolls rise once they are shaped.

Pletzlach  

Time: About 1 hour, plus 1 1/2 hours' rising
This recipe is sized for my 1 pound loaf bread machine
Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour

2  teaspoons yeast

4 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk or water

1 large egg
Topping

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, peeled and diced

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

You can easily make this recipe in a bread machine using the dough setting. 

Place flour in bowl of an electric mixer with dough paddle attached. Make a well in center and pour in 1/2 cup lukewarm milk or water. Stir in yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and let bloom for 5 minutes.

Add egg,  1/4 cup vegetable oil, remaining sugar and the salt. Mix well until dough is soft but not sticky, adding flour if necessary. Turn into a greased bowl, and let rise again, covered, for one hour. Knead lightly, and let rise again for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place diced onion in a small bowl, and stir in poppy seeds and remaining 2 teaspoons vegetable oil. Set aside.

Divide dough into 12 balls. On a floured board, roll each ball into a circle about 2 or 3 inches in diameter and about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of onion-poppy seed mixture on each circle.

Roll circles again, to a thickness of about  1/8 of an inch.

At this point I did not prick but covered with a lint free cloth and let rise for 15 minutes or so as used them as a hamburger bun.

Prick each circle with a fork and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Transfer to 1 ungreased baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

12-14 onion rolls.

adapted from Luisa Weiss and Rebecca PeltzI