hello, lovely

Last month while reading my bloglines, one of the bloggers (sorry, I don’t remember which one!) had posted a Daring Bakers challenge. The August challenge was eclairs, and I was like “What a great idea!!” I need an excuse to be in the kitchen, and I love to bake. So…. I signed up!! Turns out it was just in time too. The challenges are released on the first of the month, so you have all month to bake your item and take your photos and put together your blog post, and we all post on the designated day, which is usually near the end of the month. I almost forgot this month. I kept thinking I had plenty of time, but after looking at the calendar this past week I realized that “EEK!!” I needed to get going.

This month’s challenge was different than what they have done in the past, apparently. They turned the reigns over to Natalie of Gluten a Go Go and Shel from Musings from the Fishbowl for a gluten-free challenge: Lavash Crackers with a vegan dip.

The challenges are pretty strict (you can only make whatever changes are allowed each month, otherwise everyone follows the same recipe), but we had the option of making the crackers gluten-free or not gluten-free. I wasn’t about to hunt down a bunch of different things to make these, so I went with the not gluten-free version using unbleached flour. I also didn’t have agave syrup, so I went with sugar.

RECIPE - Recipe Reference: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread, by Peter Reinhart. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA. Copyright 2001. ISBN-10: 1-58008-268-8, ISBN-13: 978-158008-268-6.

Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
* 1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
* 1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
* 1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
* 1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil
* 1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bre … ong-Enough for a discription of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

or

2. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

or

4. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper. Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

RECIPES - Toppings

You may use your choice of topping/dip/salsa/relish/spread for your lavash crackers as long as it is vegan and gluten free.

My edges were thicker than the center was, so the pieces in the middle were more cracker-like. The edges were more like naan or pita bread. Either way, it was pretty tasty.

See? Tasty!

For my “topping”/dip, I made a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus which turned out SUCKY. I used a little chopper thingy, and it didn’t really process very well because I didn’t have a big enough container. I need to invest in a blender or a food processor (or maybe both. I had a blender in Dallas, but Joe had one, too, so I didn’t bring it. Turns out neither one of us did!). It was chunky and not smooth and not very good. I did the chopping in my little chopper thing, but ended up transfering to another bowl and trying to mash it and mix it, and ugh. I made more of a mess making the hummus than doing the crackers.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (courtesy of allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
* 1/3 cup tahini
* 1/3 cup lemon juice
* 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
* 1/4 teaspoon dried basil

DIRECTIONS

1. In an electric food processor, combine garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, and lemon juice. Process until the mixture is smooth. Add roasted peppers and basil; process until the peppers are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer hummus to small bowl, cover and chill until you are ready to serve.

(Please excuse the dirty stovetop. I didn’t realize I didn’t clean it before I took the picture. Eek!)

See what I mean about the hummus? I’ve had better.

The crackers also passed the Joe test. He doesn’t usually care about what I bake when I bake it because he’s not big on things like cake and pastries and stuff like that (I KNOW! What is WRONG with him??), but as of right now, there are no more crackers…. and he ate a good 3/4 of them. *lol* This recipe is a keeper.

Thanks, Daring Bakers!! I can’t wait to see what you have cooked up for next month!

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Daring Bakers, September 2008 Challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.