Very quick menu update for now.
Monday - Pizza (mine using the pizza base from last month)
Tuesday - fish pie made with pollock, smoked haddock and a potato topping.
Wednesday - Cauliflower curry, served with rice and flat bread. (gluten free of course).
Thursday - Beef burgers, chips and vegs.
Friday - bean and veggy stew.
The ingredient of the week is pomegranate which is one of my favourite fruits but I normally only eat it raw so I will be interested to see what others do with it. This week the gluten free menu swap is hosted by Gluten free goodness so please check out their post for other menus.
Next week I'm hosting and my ingredient is swede which I know will confuse some or the none brits so here is a link to the wikipedia entry which may help explain what I am talking about.
Monday, 10 November 2008
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Tagged
I got tagged by Buffy so thought I'd have a go even if it has taken me a while to do it..
The rules are;
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.
So 7 facts about me;
-------------------
1) I'm pretty much ambidextrous and only write with my right hand because I got confused swapping. I don't really have any in build concept of left and right.
2) My favourite smell is burnt gunpowder.. I might have a fondness for blowing things up too but only with pyros and such like not for real.
3) When I last made costume for a living my hubby banned me from working after midnight the night before an event as I tend to work to a deadline.. ie right up to it!
4) The only foods I can't stand are lichee and okra for the same reasons they are slimey. I really would prefer to eat sheep's eyeballs!
5) The fold of my ear is welded down along the top just like my gran.. I have a raised mole on the back of my neck in exactly the same place as she did as well.
6) I used to hate pink with a passion but I seem to be mellowing in my old age and quite like it now!
7) I have daft feet they are extremely wide with a very high instep to the extent I walk only on the middle of the ball of my foot and about half my heel, when I make a foot print it is just two circles, no join and indeed no toes either as I walk with them pointing upwards.. Makes well fitting shoes every difficult ! BUT I love shoes, love how they look, would love to collect them but most would just sit on a shelf and be looked at.. and yes I have seriously considered getting some just to do that with them!
now who to tag? as this is my food blog some should be gluten free cooks but others will be more random.
So my taggies are
1) Straight into bed cakefree and dried - cos I love here cooking and different take on things.
2) Carrie at Ginger Lemon girl cos I've nabbed her recipes on more than one occasion.
3) Fresh ginger who I met through the gluten free menu swap.
4) Julie from Julie made this who is a friend outside of blogs.
5) Richard, another friend who I'd like to know more about :)
hum running out of people feel I have talked to enough to send something like this to who have blogs so the last two are live journals instead.
ravenrigan and blackcurrants.
The rules are;
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.
So 7 facts about me;
-------------------
1) I'm pretty much ambidextrous and only write with my right hand because I got confused swapping. I don't really have any in build concept of left and right.
2) My favourite smell is burnt gunpowder.. I might have a fondness for blowing things up too but only with pyros and such like not for real.
3) When I last made costume for a living my hubby banned me from working after midnight the night before an event as I tend to work to a deadline.. ie right up to it!
4) The only foods I can't stand are lichee and okra for the same reasons they are slimey. I really would prefer to eat sheep's eyeballs!
5) The fold of my ear is welded down along the top just like my gran.. I have a raised mole on the back of my neck in exactly the same place as she did as well.
6) I used to hate pink with a passion but I seem to be mellowing in my old age and quite like it now!
7) I have daft feet they are extremely wide with a very high instep to the extent I walk only on the middle of the ball of my foot and about half my heel, when I make a foot print it is just two circles, no join and indeed no toes either as I walk with them pointing upwards.. Makes well fitting shoes every difficult ! BUT I love shoes, love how they look, would love to collect them but most would just sit on a shelf and be looked at.. and yes I have seriously considered getting some just to do that with them!
now who to tag? as this is my food blog some should be gluten free cooks but others will be more random.
So my taggies are
1) Straight into bed cakefree and dried - cos I love here cooking and different take on things.
2) Carrie at Ginger Lemon girl cos I've nabbed her recipes on more than one occasion.
3) Fresh ginger who I met through the gluten free menu swap.
4) Julie from Julie made this who is a friend outside of blogs.
5) Richard, another friend who I'd like to know more about :)
hum running out of people feel I have talked to enough to send something like this to who have blogs so the last two are live journals instead.
ravenrigan and blackcurrants.
Monday, 3 November 2008
Weekly Menu - 3th Nov - 8th Nov.
We had home made fish and chips for tea on Sunday which was very nice (picture above). Plaice this time as it was on half price at ASDA. It was lovely fish but I'm not very keen on ASDA'a fish counter the selection wasn't that big and unlike Morrisons they don't tell you where and how it was fished something I really appreciate but that was where we ended up partly to have breakfast in the cafe as they serve quicker then Morrisons.
Had a great Halloween party and Noodles and I had great fun cooking silly food.
This week we have started with no heating so I hope things can only go up from here.. for a day we had all the zones of underfloor heating downstairs working but then the pressure dropped and we ended up with none rather than one zone not working as we had before. ho hum. We think it's just a joint leaking but as we had to wait for the ages for the plumbers to finally come on Friday as we couldn't get it to seal and now it seems they haven't either I'm not sure when it will be fixed..
Anyway onto the menu
Monday - bar-b-q spare ribs with rice
Tuesday - pot roast beef and vegs.
Wednesday - vegetable pasta bake.
Thursday - Burmese curry (will need to get lots of ginger and garlic for this)
Friday - Hoping to try making some pies, probably chicken.
Somewhat heavier on the meat than I normally aim for but it's that time of year where heavier meals seem like a good idea particularly when we might not have heating!
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Daring Bakers - Pizza
This month we were given a pizza recipe to try and wonderfully they also gave us a gluten free recipe for it so no converting and wondering if it would work. The gluten eating Daring Bakers had to try tossing the dough and if possible get a photo of it so check out other blogs using the link on the right for a whole bunch of people throwing bread in the air :) Those of us without gluten were saved from that by being unable to toss our dough without it falling apart.Of course while I was really keen to try the recipe I still ended up doing it yesterday !
The dough makes up very quickly and as kneading isn't needed with no gluten to develop all it really is very simple. Really just mix, leave to rest in the fridge then take out when it is wanted prove for a couple of hours, shape and top as required. I made the dough in the morning and used it in the evening rather than over two days though I also did some the next day but there didn't seem to be a difference.
The gluten free version of the recipe is at the bottom of this post. I used a mix of rice, gram, buckwheat and tapioca flours which gave a nice wholemeal feel to it.
For toppings I made a pizza with a home made tomato sauce, cheese and bacon as well as a folded pizza with the same filling both of which were very nice though I left them in the oven a little to long.
The next day I did a second folded pizza with a similar filling though I used mozzarella instead of cheddar.. both worked very well and I'm not really sure which I preferred.I also made a small chocolate one which I topped with sugar but again got slightly burnt due to being distracted by a small one but it was still tasty and I think I will try that again with a none wholemeal style dough.
Chocolate version------------------------------------------------------------------
RecipeOriginal recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.
Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).
Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled - FOR GF: 4 ½ cups GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum or 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup oat flour, 1 ½ cup arrowroot, potato or tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast - FOR GF use 2 tsp
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar - FOR GF use agave syrup
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting
DAY ONE
Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
2. FOR GF: Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.
3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.
4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.
6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.
NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.
DAY TWO
8. FOR GF: On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.
9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).
NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.
10. FOR GF: Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).
NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.
During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.
11. FOR GF: Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.
12. FOR GF: Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.
NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.
13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.
Or
13. FOR GF: Follow the notes for this step.
NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.
If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.
14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Weekly menu 27th - 31st Oct
This week is half term so Small is home. (or as he is from now on to be called Noodles on account of him being too big to be Small now.. Why noodles is a long story with no noodles involve but is much more to do with me being unable to use someone's given name without adjusting it !)
The one thing he has requested we do is cooking so I'm doing something right. We will be cooking Tuesday and Friday as those are the two days his baby brother is at nursery. Friday will be Halloween monster cakes and the like as he wants a Halloween party.
Treestump is eating us out of house and home. He will eat pretty much everything even though he only has the first courner of his first tooth through so far! For instance yesterday lunch time he had potato, broccoli and peas mashed together with a little red wine gravy and carrots and roast Parsnip as finger foods. He then took not one but two small yorkshire puds out of his dad's hands as he was trying to eat them and ate them followed by apple and custard before polishing off a sponge finger and stealing his gran's raspberries !
Anyway onto the menu.
Monday - Tomato and eggs, that simple but wonderful regular on our menu.
Tuesday - Pizza
Wensday - (Noodles is out with his grandparents all day.) Thai chicken curry and rice (using coconut this weeks ingredient)
Thursday - Beef stew with wonderful beef from the grandparents which is sourced locally to them.
Friday - Halloween party so lots of party food with far to much food colours !
The one thing he has requested we do is cooking so I'm doing something right. We will be cooking Tuesday and Friday as those are the two days his baby brother is at nursery. Friday will be Halloween monster cakes and the like as he wants a Halloween party.
Treestump is eating us out of house and home. He will eat pretty much everything even though he only has the first courner of his first tooth through so far! For instance yesterday lunch time he had potato, broccoli and peas mashed together with a little red wine gravy and carrots and roast Parsnip as finger foods. He then took not one but two small yorkshire puds out of his dad's hands as he was trying to eat them and ate them followed by apple and custard before polishing off a sponge finger and stealing his gran's raspberries !
Anyway onto the menu.
Monday - Tomato and eggs, that simple but wonderful regular on our menu.
Tuesday - Pizza
Wensday - (Noodles is out with his grandparents all day.) Thai chicken curry and rice (using coconut this weeks ingredient)
Thursday - Beef stew with wonderful beef from the grandparents which is sourced locally to them.
Friday - Halloween party so lots of party food with far to much food colours !
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Fun of feeding gluten to a baby
I know I've not been around much life is hectic but good and I hope to have more cooking time soon. We are eating fairly well but nothing that interesting to blog about currently and my camera has died though himself's little snappy camera turns out to have a nice macro mode.. who knew !
Anyway the main thing I have been upto is the fun of feeding a seven month old. He has developed a major interest in trying new foods and has decided all food should be eaten by hand ie his hands by the handful even porridge. He loves finger foods and doesn't seem to have read the book that says he should still be eating slightly textured purée as far as he is concerned a fish finger is great food for a seven month old as are cheese sandwiches at nursery !
As you may have guessed from those I am allowing him gluten. The current recommendations seem to be that around 6 months is the best time to introduce it to give someone the best chance of not developing celiac and as i didn't have any problems till I got glandular fever I think my problems were triggered then.
However there is a down side I hadn't really though of and didn't come across with Small because we didn't give him gluten till he was a year. Seven month old babies, particularly ones who want to feed themselves are very messy ! I really can't cope with being covered with gluten filled mush so he is now only going to have it when fed by someone else like dad or at nursery and I don't get him back till he is cleaned up !
adendum - We've just been out for a Chinese meal and he spurned the prawn crackers and dived on the chicken satay.. I'm sure the book says he shouldn't be happily chewing a piece of chicken breast at seven months but I think he read the book and decided to it was rubbish!
Anyway the main thing I have been upto is the fun of feeding a seven month old. He has developed a major interest in trying new foods and has decided all food should be eaten by hand ie his hands by the handful even porridge. He loves finger foods and doesn't seem to have read the book that says he should still be eating slightly textured purée as far as he is concerned a fish finger is great food for a seven month old as are cheese sandwiches at nursery !
As you may have guessed from those I am allowing him gluten. The current recommendations seem to be that around 6 months is the best time to introduce it to give someone the best chance of not developing celiac and as i didn't have any problems till I got glandular fever I think my problems were triggered then.
However there is a down side I hadn't really though of and didn't come across with Small because we didn't give him gluten till he was a year. Seven month old babies, particularly ones who want to feed themselves are very messy ! I really can't cope with being covered with gluten filled mush so he is now only going to have it when fed by someone else like dad or at nursery and I don't get him back till he is cleaned up !
adendum - We've just been out for a Chinese meal and he spurned the prawn crackers and dived on the chicken satay.. I'm sure the book says he shouldn't be happily chewing a piece of chicken breast at seven months but I think he read the book and decided to it was rubbish!
Monday, 29 September 2008
Lavash crackers and dip - Daring Bakers September
This month's challenge is gluten free and vegan so for once no adjustment needed. Actually the none alternative bakers were given a wheat based version if they wanted it but quite a few tried it gluten free which is great.
Just realised the pictures are on my camera that has stopped working. I will add them later when I find it and get them off the card directly.. I hope !
So what are Lavash crackers, apparently they are an Armenian flat bread made very thin so it becomes hard and well cracker like. Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl set us the challenge to do the gluten free crackers and a vegan dip, because of potential difficulties and pricey ingredients the gluten free was optional though not here obviously. The vegan dip however was a must.
Dip first. I ended up doing a fairly simple cooked tomato dip purely because I had excess tomatoes that needed using and were of a type that was better cooked than fresh. I lightly fried some onion then added a little agave syrup to help them caramelise, then I added the tomatoes and cooked them gently. Very simple and very tasty, of course you could use honey or sugar but I was using the agave syrup in the crackers and wanted to give Treestump the dip and honey is one of those things they suggest no giving till they are older.
So on to the crackers.
The recipe below is as we were give, italics for my comments.
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.
Here's a simple formula for making snappy Armenian-style crackers, perfect for breadbaskets, company and kids...It is similar to the many other Middle Eastern and Northern African flatbreads known by different names, such as mankoush or mannaeesh (Lebanese), barbari (Iranian), khoubiz or khobz (Arabian), aiysh (Egyptian), kesret and mella (Tunisian), pide or pita (Turkish), and pideh (Armenian). The main difference between these breads is either how thick or thin the dough is rolled out, or the type of oven in which they are baked (or on which they are baked, as many of these breads are cooked on stones or red-hot pans with a convex surface)...
The key to a crisp lavash,...is to roll out the dough paper-thin. The sheet can be cut into crackers in advance or snapped into shards after baking. The shards make a nice presentation when arranged in baskets.
Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers
* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe) I used 1cup general gf mix, 1/2 cup buckwheat to get a wholemeal style plus xanthan gum.
* 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 (several people noted that the water needed to be increased I used about 3/4 cup in the end.)
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings.
I did four different toppings, poppy seeds, course salt, cajan spice mix and balti spice mix.
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. (as noted I used more than this to get it to join together)
2. 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. 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. (I found this much easier than I expected as it didn't stick) 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.) (forgot to mist but did re-roll once toppings were added to fix them well. which worked well) 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.
They came out very nice indeed, we nearly ate them all while discussing what to make for tea! The salt ones were a good replacement for crackawheat which I still crave at times! I have plans to try some with ground hazelnut instead of buckwheat.
Just realised the pictures are on my camera that has stopped working. I will add them later when I find it and get them off the card directly.. I hope !
So what are Lavash crackers, apparently they are an Armenian flat bread made very thin so it becomes hard and well cracker like. Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl set us the challenge to do the gluten free crackers and a vegan dip, because of potential difficulties and pricey ingredients the gluten free was optional though not here obviously. The vegan dip however was a must.
Dip first. I ended up doing a fairly simple cooked tomato dip purely because I had excess tomatoes that needed using and were of a type that was better cooked than fresh. I lightly fried some onion then added a little agave syrup to help them caramelise, then I added the tomatoes and cooked them gently. Very simple and very tasty, of course you could use honey or sugar but I was using the agave syrup in the crackers and wanted to give Treestump the dip and honey is one of those things they suggest no giving till they are older.
So on to the crackers.
The recipe below is as we were give, italics for my comments.
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.
Here's a simple formula for making snappy Armenian-style crackers, perfect for breadbaskets, company and kids...It is similar to the many other Middle Eastern and Northern African flatbreads known by different names, such as mankoush or mannaeesh (Lebanese), barbari (Iranian), khoubiz or khobz (Arabian), aiysh (Egyptian), kesret and mella (Tunisian), pide or pita (Turkish), and pideh (Armenian). The main difference between these breads is either how thick or thin the dough is rolled out, or the type of oven in which they are baked (or on which they are baked, as many of these breads are cooked on stones or red-hot pans with a convex surface)...
The key to a crisp lavash,...is to roll out the dough paper-thin. The sheet can be cut into crackers in advance or snapped into shards after baking. The shards make a nice presentation when arranged in baskets.
Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers
* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe) I used 1cup general gf mix, 1/2 cup buckwheat to get a wholemeal style plus xanthan gum.
* 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 (several people noted that the water needed to be increased I used about 3/4 cup in the end.)
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings.
I did four different toppings, poppy seeds, course salt, cajan spice mix and balti spice mix.
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. (as noted I used more than this to get it to join together)
2. 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. 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. (I found this much easier than I expected as it didn't stick) 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.) (forgot to mist but did re-roll once toppings were added to fix them well. which worked well) 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.
They came out very nice indeed, we nearly ate them all while discussing what to make for tea! The salt ones were a good replacement for crackawheat which I still crave at times! I have plans to try some with ground hazelnut instead of buckwheat.
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