Thursday, November 13, 2008

Flat Bread Crackers

When looking through the pages of Jared Ingersoll's Sharing Plates I came across a rather interesting recipe for flat bread crackers. The dough is almost unbelievably simple and the finished product, these thin, crisp, odd-shaped fingers makes me wonder why you'd even buy those mass produced versions.

flat bread crackers© by Haalo


Flat Bread Crackers
[Makes a lot]

250 grams plain flour
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt
25 grams soft butter
¾ cup warm water


Make the dough:

Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.

Place the warm water into a jug and add in the soft butter - stir until the butter has melted.

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients - stir until it is all absorbed. Turn the dough out into a lightly floured board and knead until smooth.

Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.

Form the crackers:

Form a cylinder from the rested dough about 12 inches long - then cut in half. Proceed to cut each half in halves until you have cut about 30 pieces.

Shape each piece of dough to form a small finger sized cylinder and then roll it to form a thin, flat finger.


flat bread crackers© by Haalo

I find the thinner the dough, the more crisp the final result. Lay the rolled fingers onto a baking paper lined tray, brush with a little water and then sprinkle over with your desired flavouring.

I used poppy seeds, sesame seeds, white poppy seeds and black salt - you can use whatever you fancy like herbs and spices.

flat bread crackers© by Haalo

Bake in a pre-heated 180°C/350°F oven for about 8 - 12 minutes or until crisp and golden. Place then on a wire rack to cool.

It's important that they are crisp - if they feel soft they just won't keep very long. You can put any soft ones back in the oven to dry out.

flat bread crackers© by Haalo

They can be kept in an air-tight container for a few weeks but they seem to disappear that quickly that storage isn't necessary.

14 comments

  1. loving it loving it loving it! another one to make, thanks haalo!:)

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  2. These look really good and very simple too! A winning combination!

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  3. Thanks Heart!

    Thanks Holler!

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  4. This is great, Haalo. Thanks for the recipe. I can't believe how amazingly straight forward it is to make these.

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  5. Thanks Haalo - typing with floury fingers while my dough rest in the fridge! They look fantastic.

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  6. These look great, and oh so tempting! Will try them soon, thanks!

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  7. Thanks Nora - it almost seems like there should be more to it but there isn't.

    Thanks Lorena - hope you enjoy them!

    Thanks Miri!

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  8. I made this, it was awesome :) It went perfect with some veal pate I was making. BR!

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  9. Thanks excellent Black! I just love these crackers.

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  10. I had to increase the oven temp by 375 and the cook time by about 10 minutes. Probably because I don't actually own a rolling pin, so I probably didn't get them as thin as I'd like.

    The other thing is that the dough was inordinately sticky. Was it just me? Or is that normal? I swear I lost 10% of it kneading.

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  11. I didn't find it to be a sticky dough but you need to consider the fact that flours have different absorbency rates. If the dough feels sticky, just knead a little extra flour into it until it no longer feels sticky. If you have sticky dough on your hands, toss a little flour on your hands and rub, this should remove it and you should incorporate back into your dough.

    I also wouldn't recommend making this without a rolling pin.

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  12. AnonymousJune 08, 2009

    Thank you so very much for the FlatBread Cracker Recipe. I've been looking for this for a while. I even went to Giant today looking for crackers, would you beleive that Giant dosen't even carry flatbread in their store! I'm trying to dupe the crackers that are served at "Brio's". Thanks again.

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  13. I just made a batch of dough and found it so liquidy that It seemed there might be a mistake and the amount of flour should be doubled. I now have it in the fridge, maybe overnight, and will see how it is tomorrow.

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  14. Hi Bruce - my only bit of advice is that flour does have varying absorbency rates and it's probably best to just add the liquid a little at a time until you get the right consistency.

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