Thursday, January 14, 2016

Crackers. At last.

You know how you think about a thing, then don't do it, then think later, and don't do it, and wonder why you thought about it anyway, and then finally after maybe years, do it? 

No, I'm not talking about sorting the catchall drawer in the kitchen, though I have thought about it, the profusion of seed packets and batteries and magnets catching all the little nails and screws, and rubber bands, and bits of coax cable, and curtain rings tangling in there. Thinking took all the sorting energy, so I haven't done it.  Yet.

What I'm talking about here is making my own crackers.  As you know, I don't like buying ready made food, because who knows what's in shop crackers to keep them crisp and good for decades on the shelf.  But making my own seemed unlikely. Possibly complex and time consuming.  Until I came into possession of a couple of Moosewood cookbooks.  And in one is a recipe for -- crackers!





So I made them yesterday, using caraway seeds, which I like, in place of their sesame ones which I don't.  And they came out surprisingly good.  Not as shrapnel-crisp as the shop kind, but okay.  Also fun to do, involving a very slight amount of kneading, and some fun rolling out and pricking with a fork and cutting up and so on.  Used my rolling pin for the first time in I dunamany years.

The only thing I would do differently is that they use a lot of butter to toast the seeds, and I would use less, also I'd use a castiron pan instead of the tiny saucepan they use.  I have a lovely tiny copper saucepan, holds one cup, I think, so this was a good time to use it.  But I think the castiron would be better.  I would also roll them thinner, to get more crisp going.

So in future my homemade soup will have homemade crackers at its side.

 

5 comments:

  1. This sounds interesting. Do you think you even need the seeds? And would you share the recipe?

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  2. I love the seeds, but you could leave them out if you don't. As the pix show it's the Moosewood cookbook, and I show all the ingredients, but not the page number which is p. 175. I can't give the entire thing because it's not mine. But if you can't locate the book, I bet you can Google on it. Let us know how it works out for you.

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  3. Took my own advice, googled, found it right away and more ideas, too. Google, and you'll find all kinds of crackers to make. So thank-you for the question, which led me to some good plans for future cracker experiments!

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  4. mmmm - these look so good! I've always preferred a plain cracker over sweet cookies (unless they happen to be made with dark chocolate).

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