To be completely honest, I’ve been quite off baking and blogging over the past week.
It’s probably because I overdid it a few weeks back, just baking and not doing much else. It killed me. This past week I took off to recover, rehabilitate and re-inspire myself. I spent it basically doing nothing, I wrote a few tests at school, painted my bedroom/studio and twiddled my thumbs. I knew something was missing during that week… It was food (not that I didn’t eat, I just didn’t make food of my own).
These crackers are the first thing I have baked since I started working back into my usual routine. I wanted to begin with something simple and therapeutic to create.
In my opinion, and I’m sure I have said this before a million times, making bread is a form of meditation. It is the process of slowing down, to place your energy into a piece of dough and then waiting.
On a less serious note, let me tell a little more about rye flour. Rye is a completely different grain to any other. Rye flour is much healthier than wheat flour because when it is being produced it’s more difficult to separate the bran (the healthy stuff!) and germ from the grain; this means that the flour will usually contain more nutrients than that of wheat flour. Rye flour contains more fibre and less gluten than other flours, and so when it comes to making bread the dough will be less elastic once kneaded, making for denser dough. This will be perfect for our crackers. It will give them a crunchy and crisp texture. This dough requires no kneading at all, and so if you would like to start making bread, but are scared of kneading then this will be the perfect starter recipe for you! They also taste delightful. They have a very earthy, whole flavour. Enjoy as a snack to fill you up during the day.
Makes about 30-40 crackers
Ingredients:
- 500g rye flour, plus a little extra for rolling
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp honey
- 10g instant dry yeast
- 400ml lukewarm water
Method:
1.Place all of your ingredients in a bowl, except for the yeast and water. Make a well and place the water and yeast in the well. Leave to sit for a minute. Mix the ingredients together until a stiff and sticky dough forms. Oil your bowl, and place the dough to rise for 60 minutes in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming on the dough.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare a sheet of baking paper on your oven tray.
3. After 60 minutes remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll each piece out using a rolling pin. You want to try and roll it as thin as possible about 2mm thick.
4. Using a knife, slice into a large rectangular shape. Then slice your crackers about 6cm by 10cm. The size is completely up to you. Poke each cracker a few times with a fork.
5. Place onto your prepared sheet of a baking paper and then into the oven. Leave to bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn each cracker over and continue baking for another 5-8 minutes, this will give you crisp crackers. Watch that they don’t burn. Once they are cooked, remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
6. Continue the process until you have used up all of your dough.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Happy Baking!
–Ben
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