The Sourdough Surprises challenge for August is sourdough crackers. I’ve been experimenting with sourdough crackers for several months so this wasn’t a challenge so much as an opportunity to make some more crackers.
Since I’ve made sourdough crackers before, I decided to do something different this time. I made a cracker that was big enough to hold slow roasted tomatoes. It can be eaten as an appetizer or a snack.
Ever since I made the Bruschetta with roasted tomatoes, I’ve had that flavor and crunchy texture in my head. The tomatoes were roasted with rosemary and thyme so I decided to continue that theme by adding rosemary to the cracker dough.
I chose lavash because it’s a crispy flatbread that can be broken into pieces. I had made lavash crackers during the BBA Challenge, but I must admit the experience and the result was less than memorable. In fact, my oldest son tasted them and rated them a fail. That was not a good start to my cracker-baking adventure. Not to worry…
Fast forward several years, take a different recipe, add sourdough and rosemary to the mix and what you have my friends is a crunchy and light Sourdough Rosemary Lavash. I give this one an A.
Sourdough Rosemary Lavash
My inspiration for these crispy rosemary crackers came from:
- Rosemary Croccantini Flatbread Crackers by Joanne of FifteenSpatulas.com;
- Lavosh from GroupRecipes.com &
- Lavash Crackers from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
Makes: 4 sheets of crackers, rolled thinly
The key to making crisp Lavash is to roll it paper thin. I’m starting to get the hang of it.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sourdough starter (fed or unfed)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons water, more if needed
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for rolling
Method:
1) Mix the sourdough and oil, then add in the flour, sugar, salt, rosemary and water. Mix using a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk.
2) Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for at least seven hours. Or, let the dough rest on the counter for a couple of hours, then place it in the refrigerator overnight.
After making these crackers several times, I think I like them better baked just after the seven hour, room-temperature rest, but having the option of putting the dough in the refrigerator works if you’ve got a tight schedule or you want to bake them for dinner the next evening.
3) Divide the dough into four equal pieces using a knife or bench rest. You can divide it into more pieces if you prefer, but this seemed to be the right amount to roll on the parchment paper.
4) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. If you want to use a baking stone, preheat it at this time. I tried baking these crackers on a pizza stone, but they seemed to burn more easily so I switched to just using a baking sheet.
5) Roll each piece as thinly as possible on lightly greased parchment paper. If you only want to make one or two batches of the crackers, just wrap the other balls back up and place them in the refrigerator. They will last a couple of days.
6) Spray the top with water and add extra salt or sprinkle sesame or other seeds on top if you prefer, but I didn’t think it needed anything extra, especially since I was going to top it with the roasted tomatoes.
7) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top. The time will depend on how thinly you rolled the dough.
8) Remove the pan from the oven and let the crackers cool for about 10 minutes. Snap off shards and serve.
I ate a lot of the crackers plain, but I also enjoyed some of them topped with roasted tomatoes and feta cheese. Yummy!
Happy Baking!
Cathy
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