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Daring Bakers, September 2008 – Lavash Crackers

Lavash Crackers
Sheltie Girl of Gluten A Go Go and Shel of Musings from the Fishbowl are September Daring Bakers hosts. They chose a vegan recipe for Lavash crackers from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread, by Peter Reinhart. Apparently, many of us had the same problem – even though I was sitting in front of the oven all the time, I somehow managed to burn most of the crackers :) I made all kinds of heart shaped crackers, decorated them with dried fennel leaves, sesame, oregano, poppy seeds, chilly, paprika and Vegeta, but… It seems that my oven heats more in the back. What I was left with was a batch of the leftover swirled stick that I only sprinkled with Vegeta after I got bored from decorating tiny hearts. But, for what it’s worth, they were really tasty :)

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water, at room temperature
poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds,kosher salt and/or Vegeta for toppings

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

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 be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel 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.

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).

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.

Preheat the oven to 180°C 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.

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).

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.

Note: Anna from Mediocre Chocolate suggested rolling the dough with a pasta roller. This was really helpful and made a whole process fast and easy. Anna, thanks for the tip ;)

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51 Comments

  • Nidhi September 27, 2008 3:53 am

    These look so good Marija , great job!!

  • zorra September 27, 2008 4:39 am

    Great pic and great sticks!

  • Katie September 27, 2008 4:49 am

    Ohh I love how you twisted them, they look so arty

  • Aparna September 27, 2008 4:50 am

    I love your picture. I would eat those twisted cracker sticks without a dip.

  • Arundathi September 27, 2008 5:32 am

    the twists are a great idea – lavash breadsticks! cool!

  • BC September 27, 2008 5:32 am

    They look great! Too bad about the burnt ones.

  • chriesi September 27, 2008 5:43 am

    Great photo, great job!

  • goooooood girl September 27, 2008 6:24 am

    i like……

  • marye September 27, 2008 9:23 am

    These are fantastic..imagine them with soup…mmm.

  • Isa September 27, 2008 10:03 am

    They look so pretty all twisted up! Great job =)

  • Babeth September 27, 2008 12:17 pm

    Your crackers are really cute, you’re creative ;-)Cheers

  • farida September 27, 2008 12:28 pm

    Marija, yoru lavash swirls loos so pretty! Nice pictures! Sorry to ended up with some of your crachers burned. Thin breads can be tricky sometimes. You did a great job nonetheless! I had to skip this month’s challenge – just couldn’t fit it into my schedule. sigh:(

  • Shari@Whisk: a food blog September 27, 2008 12:53 pm

    Too bad they burnt, but those ones look perfect!

  • Clumbsy Cookie September 27, 2008 12:59 pm

    Such a shame you burned some… But this twisted ones are just adorable!

  • Lauren September 27, 2008 1:01 pm

    Ooo, love the twists! They are amazing!

  • Maggie September 27, 2008 1:36 pm

    I love the idea of twists! This recipe left a lot of room for great creativity.

  • Rosa’s Yummy Yums September 27, 2008 2:13 pm

    I love the way you shaped your crackers! Very well done!Cheers,Rosa

  • Alexa September 27, 2008 2:41 pm

    Those lavash sticks are superb. Lovely presentation!

  • mamajac September 27, 2008 2:53 pm

    Da nisi ovaj uvod napisala rekla bih da je uspesnost 110% :)Stapici izgledaju skroz vanzemaljki :)Pozdravi!

  • Julie September 27, 2008 3:22 pm

    The twirls are lovely! I like how pale and elegant they look.

  • Jenny September 27, 2008 3:30 pm

    Great job, but I think you should show us the burned ones. I bet they weren’t that bad. ;)

  • Marija September 27, 2008 3:40 pm

    Oh, Jenny, but I can’t! They are gone already!I guess they weren’t that bad at the end :)

  • Tanya September 27, 2008 5:27 pm

    Beautiful bread sticks! They look wonderful!

  • Ash September 27, 2008 5:42 pm

    Love them twisted! Great Job!

  • Jacque September 27, 2008 8:21 pm

    Oooh, I love them! Beautiful in a random sort of way :)

  • friedwontons4u September 27, 2008 9:55 pm

    Once again your creations look too good to eat!

  • Passionate About Baking September 28, 2008 1:13 am

    Well done Marija…I love the twirls. I’m gonna have to try this soon! Lovely picture!!

  • Isabelle September 28, 2008 4:38 am

    vraiment superbes ces torsades :)

  • Bumblebutton September 28, 2008 8:15 am

    What lovely little twists! You must have been super disappointed to burn your decorated hearts, but at least your sticks were saved!

  • jen September 28, 2008 1:10 pm

    love the twists! So great. :)

  • studena September 28, 2008 1:47 pm

    Draga Marija ovi štapići izgledaju kao malo umjetničko djelo, da ne kažem ikebana :)

  • Olga September 28, 2008 3:03 pm

    omg, thank you so much for visiting my blog. I feel as if one of the cool kids in High School said hi to me ;)Yours look so pretty!

  • toontz September 28, 2008 3:08 pm

    The twists are such a novel idea! I didn’t burn any of mine but came close to doing so when I walked away from the oven for just a second. Great job!

  • Jaime September 28, 2008 3:26 pm

    those swirly sticks are so cool!

  • Sandra Avital September 28, 2008 6:38 pm

    lovely twisted crackers!

  • Sandra Avital September 28, 2008 6:38 pm

    lovely twisted crackers!

  • Sandra Avital September 28, 2008 6:38 pm

    lovely twisted crackers!

  • Sandra Avital September 28, 2008 6:38 pm

    lovely twisted crackers!

  • Sandra Avital September 28, 2008 6:38 pm

    lovely twisted crackers!

  • Jude September 28, 2008 11:54 pm

    Ooh cute little twists.. Why didn’t I think of that.glad to know I wasn’t the only one who burned a batch.

  • maybelle’s mom September 29, 2008 4:34 am

    so nice. good job.

  • Hannah September 29, 2008 4:25 pm

    Lovely, and what fun! Those curly sticks look like the perfect accompaniment to a nice bowl of soup, too.

  • Vera September 29, 2008 4:38 pm

    Marija, your crackers look wonderful!

  • Polka_Roo September 29, 2008 6:35 pm

    I love the swirlies! So pretty, I’d almost feel bad eating one (only almost, though, because I’m sure they’re as tasty as they are pretty)

  • Meeta September 30, 2008 12:03 am

    oh these look so lovely! what an elegant way to serve those crackers. lovely!

  • Y September 30, 2008 9:05 am

    What a pity about the burnt crackers – I would’ve loved to have seen how you decorated those. The twisty ones are very cute though :)

  • Eat4Fun September 30, 2008 7:06 pm

    Great looking twisted Lavash! Sorry to hear about the heart shaped lavash that didn’t want to play along. You still did really well!

  • Coffee and Vanilla October 1, 2008 4:13 am

    Hi Marija,Just a short note to let you know you won September IFP poll.http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=2962And here are nomination for this month poll:http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=3128Have a nice day, Margot

  • Gaga October 1, 2008 4:11 pm

    uuuuuuu što ovo lepo izgleda :)a sada ja nepismena sa pitanjem- a šta je ovo?

  • cuisine by monsoon October 2, 2008 6:55 am

    Wow! Wicked!:)They look so good and “twisted”!:)

  • Violet October 2, 2008 2:38 pm

    Wow! I like it :-) Sviđa mi se što su jednostavni, a po svemu sudeći ukusni… probat ću :-) I bez Vegete ništa!

Comments are closed.