Homemade crackers and bread sticks with Michelle Darmody
Different flours add very differing flavours to crackers, rye flours are used in Scandinavian countries and they bake their crackers to a very hard crisp. This helps to lengthen the shelf-life
through their cold, harsh, winter months.
Bread sticks hail from further south in Europe and I associate them with balmy summer evenings in Italy . You can substitute many different flavours into these recipes. I love caraway seeds in bread or crackers and they work well with a light fish paté or soft creamy cheese. The caraway seed comes from the same plant family as carrot and grows along the Mediterranean sea. Cumin or cracked coriander seeds would work equally well in the oat cracker recipe.
The holes you often see punched into crackers are called ‘docking holes’ and help to stop overly large air pockets from forming in the cracker while baking, and stop it rising too much.
Caraway oat crackers
220g oats
60g of brown flour
1 level tsp of sea salt
Half level tsp bread soda
60g of cold butter, cubed
Half tsp of honey
80ml of warm water
Half tsp of caraway seeds
Heat your oven to 190C.
Mix the oats, flour, salt and bread soda.
Rub in the cold butter until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs.
Add the honey and then add the water a little at a time. Knead in the caraway seeds.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to quite thin, less than a millimetre in thickness.
Cut with a roller or knife and place onto a lined baking tray.
You can pierce the surface with a fork if you wish, it will stop them rising.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
Seeded bread sticks
220g of self-raising four
1 level tsp of baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of smoked sweet paprika
50g of cold butter, cubed
a handful of seeds
95g of cheddar, finely grated
80mls of milk
Heat your oven to 200 degrees. Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and paprika together and then sieve them into a large bowl.
Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms rough breadcrumbs. Do not over-handle the butter, you do not want it to start feeling oily in your hands.
Stir in the cheese and milk to form a dough.
Turn out on to a floured surface and pat to about a centimetre in thickness. Sprinkle some more paprika onto the surface. Cut with a flour or star cutter and place on a lined baking tray.
Bake for about 10 minutes until golden on top and baked through.
Cheddar and seed scones
220g of self-raising four
1 level tsp of baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of smoked sweet paprika
50g of cold butter, cubed
a handful of seeds
95g of cheddar, finely grated
80mls of milk
Heat your oven to 200 degrees.
Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and paprika together and then sieve them into a large bowl.
Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms rough bread crumbs. Do not over-handle the butter as you do not want it to start feeling oily in your hands.
Stir in the cheese and milk to form a dough.
Turn out on to a floured surface and pat to about a centimetre in thickness. Sprinkle some more paprika onto the surface. Cut with a flour or star cutter and place on a lined baking tray.
Bake for about 10 minutes until golden on top and baked through.
