Log 3: Quest for the Perfect Cracker

This herby recipe made some pretty good crackers. Their flavor is pretty strong. I don’t particularly like them plain, but they are a yummy fit with my lentil dip recipe (with tangerine juice and lemon zest).

Recipe:

Soak 2/3 cup flax seeds (golden or amber) in 2 cups water (soak overnight)

Soak 1/2 cup chia seeds (black or white) in 5 cups water (soak overnight

1 cup celery (rough chopped)

1/2 lime (rind and all)

10 cloves garlic

1 medium onion (rough chopped)

2 Tb prepared pesto

1/2 cup cilantro

4 Tb pasta/pizza sauce (homemade)

Blend all in a high-speed blender, except cilantro (leave to end to blend just briefly to leave some cooler in the crackers). The batter should be runny but not drippy. Drop by tablespoonfuls on dehydrator sheets. This makes a huge number of crackers, I had to make them in two batches. Dehydrate between 105 – 115 degrees, after you turn them the first time, sprinkle sesame seeds (or whatever else you’d like) on them if desired.

What I like the most about these crackers is the texture. The batter is thin enough to just drop in spoonfuls and they spread on the dehydrator sheet themselves to a nice thickness.

Tyler’s Grade: B+

Log 2: Quest for the Perfect Cracker

This second cracker experiment wasn’t as successful as the first. I am also attempting to make a cheesey crackers, like a cheese-it. I found a baked cracker recipe and attempted to turn it into a dehydrator cracker to save the “rawness” of my cheese.

Recipe:

1 to 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup almond flour (ground crispy almonds in coffee grinder)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sage

1/4 tsp thyme

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

4 Tb ghee

1/4 cup flaxseeds

1 cup water

Soak flaxseeds in water for a few hours. Blend flaxseeds and ghee in blender until goopy. Add this to the rest of the ingredients. Scoop out on dehydrator sheets and spread out a little bit to thin out. Dehydrate until flappable, dehydrate again until crispy.

At first I thought these were another winner. Tyler even gave them a B grade. However, as I kept eating them, they started not to be as great.

What I would do differently: I will dry this recipe again, but take out the herbs and cut down the ghee. I think they were too oily.

Log 1: Quest for the Perfect Cracker

I am on a quest, a quest for the perfect, gluten-free cracker. The criteria:

1. They must taste good!

2. They must go well with cheese.

My first trial was with Dragon Crackers. I initially found the recipe in Food Drying with An Attitude by Mary Bell, who actually swiped it from Charlie’ Trotter’s book Raw. This golden flax-based cracker offers up a wonderful mix of spices (garam masala, cayenne, chili powder, onion and garlic), with just a hint of sweetness from maple syrup.

Tyler’s Grade: B

More experiments to come.

Chase likes them! Although he is not really a hard sell on much! :)