A New Direction and Ivy's Swedish Rye Crackers

I think it's curious that you can make almost anything from scratch, but nothing impresses people more than to tell them you made the crackers. It may be a preconceived notion that cracker origins are inexplicable: mystical, crisp things that elves or independent hippies in Vermont are lovingly packing into cardboard boxes. Maybe people consider that such things are not able to be made by human hands, but making preservative free, healthy snacks can become a rhythm backbone of the kitchen. Nothing is better than to open the pantry door and see a few jars of homemade crackers, fully deserving of your homemade dips, spreads, jams or jellies - things you can just pop out onto a plate when unexpected company arrives.

I really do enjoy making crackers, in fact I forgot how many different types I have tried and even posted about here until I searched 'crackers' in my blog search box on the right side of the page. I have some serious favorites, like the Gluten Free Multigrain Crackers or Alton Brown's Seedy Crisps - both of which are in regular rotation. Just as the school year began and I felt a lonely hole in my first few days of new solitary independence, my friend Deena emailed me and asked if I'd be interested in testing recipes, and if so if she might give my name to a friend of hers who was writing a cookbook all about crackers. I excitedly told her yes! Shortly after, I was acquainted with Ivy Manning, a cookbook author, recipe developer, and former Wisconsinite living now in Portland, Oregon.

Our first exchanges made me even more excited to be able to help. Ivy seemed oddly like me, living with a husband who is a "picky eater", fully passionate about food, and very busy. She began emailing me her recipes a few at a time, which I double checked for weights and volumes as I baked, and I tried to give her honest feedback about them. One of the first recipes I tested was for these slightly time consuming Swedish Rye Crackers - some that at the time I thought were good, but now they have grown on me so much I think I'll likely keep a batch around for emergencies on most occasions. They are very crisp, hard in fact, and they store like a dream. I've had the same batch in a half gallon canning jar for about a month and they only seem to improve. This week I ate them with a little of this incredible Walnut Lentil Pate, which I know I have mentioned before. As I ate them, I realized this cracker was the perfect pre-dinner munch, and they cemented my already warm feelings of rye flour.

Ivy decided not to use this version of Swedish Rye Crackers in her book, and granted me permission to post about them here, since I feel they deserve to have a special place in a cracker-maker's repertoire.

These are hard, crunchy crackers. If you are a fan of Rykrisp crackers or anything super crunchy, you will love them. Even though they have a good amount of rye flour, I feel like they are also distinctly wheaty in flavor. They are great for mopping up soup or mashed potatoes if you've forgotten the bread, and are good with jelly and peanut butter too - though personally I'd probably nix the caraway seeds if you plan on serving with something sweet.

Swedish Rye Crackers (Ivy Manning)
about 3 1/2 dozen crackers

• 2 1/2 t. active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 c. warm water
• 1 1/3 c. bread flour, plus additional for rolling
• 1 t. fine sea salt
• 2 1/3 c. rye flour
• 2 t. caraway seeds (I only put seeds on about half the batch, they are good with or without as you prefer)
• Kosher salt, for topping crackers

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the bread flour, and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes, or 50 strokes with a wooden spoon if mixing by hand.

Stir in salt, and gradually add the rye flour. Beat on medium low speed for 4 minutes. If kneading by hand, transfer the dough to a large ziptop bag, squeeze out the air, seal bag, and knead for 6 minutes. Do not add additional flour. Turn the bag inside out to free the dough from the bag, it will be sticky.

Coat a large bowl with oil and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise for 90 minutes in a warm place.

Preheat the oven to 375. Turn the dough out onto a lightly flour dusted surface and divide into three pieces. Gently pat the pieces into rectangles about 1/2 inch thick. Roll one piece of dough out until it's about 1/8 inch thick, picking up the dough and rotating it frequently to make sure it isn't sticking. using a pastry or pizza wheel, trim the irregular edges and cut the dough into 4x2 inch rectangles. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough to fill a second baking sheet. Prick the crackers all over with a chopstick, then spray them lightly with water, sprinkle with caraway seeds (if using) and press them in lightly so they will adhere. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 minutes. (You can re-roll the scraps once.)

Uncover the crackers and bake, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back once during baking. Baking will take 25-35 minutes depending on the thinness of your cracker. (You can always take them out, and then re-bake them if you think they need to go longer.) The crackers should be browned around the edges, smell toasty, and be dry to the touch. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight container for 2 weeks or longer...

(I baked a couple of 1/2 inch by 4 inch pieces of re-rolled dough scrap, and they puffed up hollow. Next time I make them, I may try cutting a whole tray full this way...)

So many times I wonder what I should be doing with myself. I really am content to be a homemaker, chronicling my adventures every so often so I can share some of my excitement with others. But sometimes I do get frustrated, I think I should be "gainfully employed", and then wonder what it is that I should be really be doing so that I can continue to enjoy myself as much as I have since I became a mother 5 years ago.

I know I'm not going to be the next Martha Stewart, but maybe I've found a niche in the behind the scenes of cookbook writing. This may be my first foray into this field, but it's one I hope I can figure out how to grow into more. It feels so good to see the the other side of the cookbook writing process, the amazing work that goes into it by an author, and the trials, successes and failures, and evolution of recipes. I have been reveling in cracker testing in part because it is a subject matter that is really appealing to me, but more because I feel good to be a bit unseen, a stealth baker who may just show up at your door with a little overflow of delicious kitchen bounty.

Now that Winter is on his way I feel I'll have so much more time to read, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Ivy's cookbooks: The Farm to Table Cookbook and The Adaptable Feast. Her book on crackers is scheduled for Spring 2013, but meanwhile you can find Ivy at her website. It's going to be a great book, just judging from my sneak peak testing... One recipe in particular I've made 3 times already, just because it was so delicious.

I look forward to the emails with little attachments, and like an archeologist who patiently brushes the sand away from stone bones, I have remember to discipline myself to follow instructions and be methodical. It's all a great lesson and learning experience, and I feel so thankful to have had it drop in my lap.

Considering the Gluten-Free...

Barring my possible allergy to oysters and raspberries, there are no food allergies in my family. As I lead a pretty gluten-full existence most of the time, I haven't really given much thought as to what it would be like not to eat any wheat. No wheat. Wow, just thinking about it makes me panic a little. Everything I know about baking depends on this staple, and the way that the unseen power of gluten works its magic of stability and structure in a baked good. I have never gone out of my way to think about gluten-free baking before, and since I'll be hosting a gluten-free guest tomorrow, I figured a bit of experimentation this past week was more than warranted.

Last year, Peef and Lo went gluten-free for a whole weekend. I remember reading and wondering why they would do that. Maybe I'm of the ideal that I don't adhere to any culinary abstinence unless I have to, or maybe I didn't really know anyone first hand to stand in solidarity with, but I now fully understand their empathy with gluten-free individuals. Gluten-free is a challenge, but it's also delicious!

When I shopped this week, I made a point to peruse the gluten-free aisle at the grocery stores. It seems that the food industry is fully aware of the problems associated with this type of baking, and adjusts their prices accordingly. 5 lbs. of GF baking mix was over $20! I actually considered for a brief moment getting a box mix for $5 or $6 just to try it out. Then I came to my senses. I didn't realize just how much gluten-free material I had to work with at home, and that thanks to the Vita-Mix, I could make all of it into flour.

That's why, at 5 PM on a Friday, I was hovering around my oven, watching crackers bake. I stumbled over these crackers from Gluten Free Goddess by accident, and began looking at the ingredients. I de-veganized them by using an egg and milk, and substituted buckwheat flour for the sorghum. Tapioca starch is the same thing as tapioca flour according to Google, so I used leftover polviho (manioc) flour from my pao de queijo escapades. The result was a sturdy cracker, that will be perfect for dipping into artichoke dip.

I ground the amounts of quinoa, millet and almond in the dry canister of my Vita-Mix. Almond meal and quinoa and millet flours can also be found at food co-ops, specialty stores or online. (I'm not sure how a food pro or a regular blender would do whipping those into flour.) I had no trouble with the mixture being too dry using the amounts below, but you could add a bit of water to make a roll-able dough consistency. Be sure to check out the source recipe for dairy-free (vegan) substitutions!

Gluten-Free Multigrain Crackers (adapted from Gluten Free Goddess)

• 1/4 c. quinoa flour
• 1/4 c. millet flour
• 1/4 c. buckwheat flour
• 1/2 c. tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast
• 3/4 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. onion powder
• 1 t. granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
• 1 t. brown sugar
• 1 1/4 c. almond meal
  

• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the flours/dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix the egg, oil and milk in a measuring cup, beating the egg well. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon, and then your hands.

Line a sheet pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Roll the dough (I used a pastry roller) out into an even layer. (I liked the thicker consistency of my crackers, but you can easily use two pans, and spread the dough thinner. Just remember they will bake faster.) If you have trouble with sticking, you can use oiled hands, or put a piece of parchment over the top and roll on that.

Cut the crackers using a pizza roller or a fluted pastry wheel. I cut the edges even first, about 1/2 inch from the edge of the pan - the cutter won't reach all the way to the edge anyway, and this way, I got to eat all of the ragged ends! No need to try and separate them, they will bake up, and then break apart easily. Prick each cracker several times with a fork.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned and crisp. They will continue to crisp up as they cool.

Eat right away, or store in the freezer.

I don't often "pretty-up" the baked goods, but these deserved it...

I think that gluten-free baking may be a challenge, but a rewarding one. Since I am already fond of alternative grains, putting them to good use instead of just having them on hand is good kitchen sense. Earlier in the week, I tested out some quinoa flatbreads, and quinoa in particular is something I'd never have though of using as a flour. If you love quinoa, and it's amazing protein profile, give them a try. I used chia seed and an egg (after reading the comments) and ate far too many hot out of the oven.

Now, off to the freezer with you so I don't eat you all up.

Sprouted Grain and Poppy Seed Crackers

I never knew you could sprout poppy seeds. When looking for my next kitchen project, I thought I'd give Sally Fallon's sprouted grain crackers a try, and began a 4 day sprouting adventure on some of the tiniest seeds in the world. Poppy seeds happen to be one of my most favorite things, I assume because they naturally pair well with almond extract, an elixir I'm fairly sure I could drink straight up and not feel too bad about.

I had poppy seeds in mind for my Daring Baker Challenge this month (I'll make that next week, and post it on the 27th as usual). In looking up information on the poppy seed and ways to make them into pastes, I discovered that there are between 1 and 2 million seeds in a pound - 3300 seeds making up a single gram. They are an oily seed, and as I've actually noted firsthand, they can go rancid rather quickly. Prior to my project, I got what is considered the finest poppy seed in the world, Dutch poppy seed, from the Spice House. I'll admit, I was actually wondering all the while if they would actually sprout, and what in fact the sprouts would taste like. They did sprout, and were surprisingly tasty.

I'd say that they no longer had their characteristic nuttiness, but more of a "sprouty" flavor, still packed with a fair amount of crunch. I used about half of what I sprouted in the crackers, and ate the rest for lunch on sourdough flatbreads spread with hummus and radishes. It was probably one of my favorite lunches in recent memory - the tiny sprouts reminding me of a vegan caviar.

On about day 3 of the sprouting, I re-perused Sally Fallon's recipe, and noticed that the sprouted wheat wasn't supposed to be dried - that the seeds and grains should be sprouted and then mixed up into a paste, then the whole of it dehydrated together. I knew that I didn't have enough waiting time to sprout up some more wheat (and besides, I only had hard wheat for bread-making on hand). I poked around for a new recipe to use some of the sprouted, dried and waiting-for-me-in-the-freezer soft wheat I did have.

I discovered a site that is probably no secret to most people, but it was new-to-me: Cheeseslave. I had heard of Cheeseslave, but never ventured over before, and now I have just one more devoted place to stop by on my Internet rounds. I knew right away after mixing up the cracker dough that I was smitten...

I found that rolling the somewhat soft dough between layers of parchment worked the best for me. I cut the parchment to the same size as my dehydrator trays, and then cut them into squares with a pizza cutter and slid the whole works into place. One new benefit I've discovered and love about dehydrating is the extra exercise it gives me - my set-up is in the basement, and I have to make several trips down there to load it and keep checking on it. Ann Marie (a.k.a. Cheeseslave) says that you can also bake the crackers, which would give them a nice toasty color. But despite their paleness, these are really packed with flavor. I made a half batch (the amounts listed below) just to test it out, but next time, I'll double everything and make better use of the dehydrator space.

Sprouted Grain and Poppy Seed Crackers (slightly adapted from Cheeseslave)

• 2 1/2 c. sprouted wheat flour (purchased, or make your own)
  
• 1 c. yogurt (or buttermilk)
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, mostly melted
• 1/4 c. coconut oil, melted with the butter
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. sea salt
• about 1/4 c. sprouted poppy seeds

Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or by hand), combine sprouted flour with the yogurt. With machine running, add in the butter, coconut oil, baking powder and salt and continue to mix until a soft dough forms. Add in the sprouted seeds last, and mix until evenly distributed.

Divide the dough in half. Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/8 inch thickness. Using a pizza wheel, cut dough into cracker size pieces - whatever shape or size you like. Transfer dough (I left it on the parchment) to a food dehydrator tray.

Dehydrate at 150 degrees or less for about 16 hours until fully dry and crisp. You can also use the low temperature oven method described by Cheeseslave, or bake them (on the parchment) on a sheet pan at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

When fully cooled, I stored mine in the freezer to ensure their freshness (and discourage myself from eating them all right away).

The crackers are surprisingly crisp and rich, but due to their fat content they are still amazingly delicate. They are rich enough, however, that I didn't feel like I couldn't stop eating them - just a few 2-inch square crackers were plenty for me. These taste like the most delicious wheat thin that you could ever imagine, and I would almost swear there was an addition of cheese to them too. That sprouted grain has such a specific, nutty sweetness to it... it's impossible to describe, and it's perfect in a cracker.

About half-way through the dehydrating process, I slid the parchment out from underneath the crackers.

I could see immediately a hundred different uses for these crackers - but since I'm trying Julia's awesome jam on everything lately, I tried that just after eating one plain. It was like a truly fancy dessert, one that upscale places serve that embrace both savory and sweet. The cracker almost took on a pie-crustiness that made me feel wildly trendy: like I could pull off charging $12 for a plate of 4 of these delectables. I smirked all the more knowing that I was tasting it mid-morning with no one else around to have to share with.

Soda Crackers and the Mystery of Links

I have a serious link problem. I collect recipe links in three places: my iPod (recently updated to full-fledged iPhone), the little Netbook, which is my new kitchen friend, and the "big computer" which is up in the attic. I read so many different blogs, and find ideas in so many places, that the link list is seriously out of control. This is the same digital clutter that is taking over my hard drive in the form of food photos, and it's almost something I don't know how to tackle.

The digital age has presented a whole host of problems for people who love to cook. A decade ago, I had real clutter. Towers of paper clutter in the guise of magazine recipes that were too great to discard. Sometimes I cut the pages into smaller sizes, just the recipe, so that more of them were floating around until making their way into semi-organized manila envelopes, and some that were whole issues of magazines - too chock full of ideas to toss away. One good thing about moving occasionally is that I can take stock of real clutter and ditch it without thinking twice because suddenly a few crates full of "must make" recipes seems too heavy to be carrying up and down rental apartment stairs, into moving vehicles, and off to new, clean and uncluttered spaces.

The digital age enables me to mysteriously, and secretively, collect and earmark things that I have to make. Sure I don't have the physical clutter, but since there is just so much information around and so many people making amazing things, sadly many recipes go forgotten under the weight of the bookmarking itself.

Recently, I've actually been pretty successful in my attempts to stop bookmarking. Things look good to me as I'm perusing around, but I mentally note it (unless it is something too good to pass up, and that does happen) instead of adding another folder to the favorites. I do have a preternatural ability to remember such facts about which Merguez sausage recipe I wanted to try (this one from Sassy Radish) and which baked donuts I need an excuse to try (these applesauce ones from Twin Tables), just two of many examples.

Lately, I've tried to stick to making things as I find them, which is what happened when I read this post from King Arthur Flour's Baking Banter blog the other day. I got done reading, and promptly mixed up some dough. I love finding recipes for things that are kind of ordinary, but that most of us don't think of making for ourselves. Crackers are certainly on the top of that list, and it's a shame since homemade are always better, even if they aren't perfect.

I find King Arthur Flour recipes to be pretty fail-safe. They run an extremely well thought out test kitchen, in my opinion, and even have help lines for you to call. People this passionate about home baking are always going to be tops in my book.

This original recipe called for Italian-Style flour, which of course is not normally stocked in my well-stocked flours. I may have ample amounts of semolina, AP, white whole wheat, whole wheat, coarse corn meal, buckwheat, bread flour and all manners of coarse brans, but Italian-Style escapes me. I have a cart going on the King Arthur website (I need this to make innBrooklyn's pancake mix, and this to mix quickbreads with since I've wanted it for a really long time), so I think I'll order a bit of Italian flour and make these according to their published recipe. My version was good, and passable as a cracker, though perhaps not as a soda cracker which is their intended purpose.

Sometimes I think it's a sickness I have that I just can not follow instructions! Usually I have pretty good luck, and these were no exception. The dough is mixed and rested in the refrigerator for 18 hours (or more than 24 in my case, since I was gone for part of the day today), and then rolled thin. Echoing the methods used in puff pastry making, the dough is folded in thirds, and re-rolled thinly which creates layers in the finished cracker. Letting the cracker cool on the sheet pans in the oven adds crispness:

I like to keep things fairly uniform, but detest waste, so I baked up the little ends separately to have little "avant garde" crackers:

In fact, I may use my same (altered) recipe again and make the pieces smaller. They got very crunchy due to their diminutive size, and they were very addicting.

If you too are lacking in Italian flour, you can give the Rcakewalk version a try while you are waiting for your King Arthur Flour order!

Part Wheat Soda Crackers (adapted from King Arthur Flour)

• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (KAF)
• 1 c. AP flour (KAF)
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
  
• 1/4 t. cream of tartar
• 1 t. sugar

• 6 T. water
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. olive oil

Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Heat the water with butter and oil until the butter melts, then let it cool until the mixture is about 120 degrees (they mention that it should feel a little cooler than your hottest tap water). Add the liquid to the dry ingredients while mixer is on low. Once the liquid is added, increase speed to medium and beat about 90 seconds until a soft, smooth dough is formed. Put into a lidded container, and refrigerate "overnight and up to 18 hours". The dough will not rise too much, so you can use a smaller container.

Remove dough from fridge, and let sit for 15 minutes. Heat oven to 425 degrees, and line 2 sheet pans with parchment.

On a well floured surface, roll dough to about a 13x15 inch rectangle. Starting with the shorter side fold in thirds (like a letter) and roll again to about an 11x19 rectangle. Sprinkle with salt of your choice (after yesterday's post in which I ranted about salt usage, I used just a light sprinkle of kosher salt), and lightly roll over it with the rolling pin to press it into the dough. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut into 2 inch squares and transfer to the waiting sheet pans. Poke each one a few times with the tines of a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes, maybe a shade longer, until the crackers are golden brown. Turn off the oven, and open the door wide, and let them cool on the racks until they come to room temperature. I'm thinking this would be a good project for when the weather is a bit chilly, but you don't have the heat on, since it will make your kitchen nice and warm (but perhaps a bit hazardous for small children).

I did follow the instructions from the original recipe, accidentally increasing the cold rest time since I was gone. The only difference, is that since there is higher protein content in the flours I used, the dough was much more difficult to roll out. On closer evaluation, I think I could have increased the water by a Tablespoon or so, since I used the wheat flour. This is definitely a work in progress, so if you do take up the challenge, I hope you will report back to me!

Please be sure to check out the tutorial and the original recipe over at Baker's Banter. If ever you need just one more blog to follow (and you love to bake) it is a great resource! Meanwhile, I'm mentally adding up all the things I'd like to try, and adding another lifetime to the 8 I already need to accomplish what I'd like to get done. Recipes like the one above confirm to me that I really would love to have a home-based test kitchen... one properly stocked with the right ingredients (and while I'm daydreaming, one with 3 foot deep, concrete countertops, and an extra well-lit counter for photographing!). I'll try to remember to let you know how the original recipe turns out when my flour shows up...

Seedy Crisps and Cheese (Balls), or In Which I am the only person in America not making Super Bowl foods.

I guess you could say that I really dislike most sports. I never enjoyed playing organized sports, grew up in a family who never paid any mind to what sport was in season, and generally was never interested at all in using my free time to watch them either in person or on television. I embarrassed myself terribly each fall Friday when guessing the high school football team's final score in one of the Coach-taught classes I took, since my number combinations were never actual possibilities. I forget why I even took part in this, I think a reward was involved for the winner.

My view of sports changed somewhat when I met my Husband. I watched more baseball in the summer of 2004 than I did in my entire life to date, and to tell the truth, it did seep into my blood a bit. But baseball is not where the sporting events my Husband follows ends - in fact it is just one of many sports that interest him. If I made a list of sports I could watch that he does enjoy in order of my relative enjoyment (and I'll limit it to 10 items here...) it would be as follows (number 10 being most tolerable):

10. Baseball

9. Wrestling

8. Boxing
7. Hockey
6. Soccer
5. Golf
4. Basketball
3. Tennis
2. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA or UFC)
1. Football

I'm not sure why I hate football more than any other American alive, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I can not understand the rules at all. Can't and don't want to, if I am being honest. This past week or so, I've read a lot about what food bloggers will be having for their Super Bowl parties, or have had at parties in the past. I now have a whopping 5 Super Bowl parties under my belt - and kind of feel bad that I can't really identify to the most American of sports and food spectacles.

As a kid, Super Bowl Sunday was just another Sunday to us. I honestly do not recall my Dad or brothers ever being interested it it. And it wasn't until 1999, that I asked R1's husband and he tried explaining the rules to me a little. It was usually on Packer-football Sundays that she and I would either go for a walk or go shopping in pleasantly dead stores instead of me practicing how to understand a spectator sport. (If I am being fully honest, I will say that in 2001, I did watch the entire Super Bowl for the first time in my apartment in Wilton, armed with some now-forgotten knowledge. I was more interested in the commercials, and I think my little brother came and brought a bag of chips with him - so that was kind of a party...)

When I checked my computer this morning, George Gaston, of A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse, had commented on one of my posts. I sometimes don't get to reading as many other food blogs as I'd like, just since I don't spend too large a portion of time in front of the computer. I clicked over to see what he was up to and read the most wonderful description of his love for spreadable cheese balls and parties when he was a child. He was chided for his love of the Cheese Ball, but he came up with a recipe for one that I knew I had to make. Since I had a free day today with dinner already complete (and a Super Bowl party to attend tomorrow with nothing to bring), I thought I'd give it a go.

But in my mental preparations, I knew that I couldn't make a Cheese Ball without first having some kind of cracker to spread it on, so this is where I began:

Alton Brown's Seedy Crisps. I love this recipe, and that it really isn't a messy dough to work with. It's fairly forgiving, has a great flavor, and even keeps well stored in glass for a couple of weeks. Whenever I think of crackers, I think of Alton, since he "doesn't trust his cracker making to elves in trees" and insists in weight measurements for accuracy in baking. I printed out his recipe from Food Network, though it was also featured in one of his books, and usually weigh the water but not the dry ingredients with fine results. You can roll them with a pasta roller as I did, or by hand. Your thickness directly determines the cooking times, so watch carefully.

Seedy Crisps (adapted (but really only the weights) from Alton Brown)

• 5 oz. whole wheat flour (I use 1 c.)
• 4 3/4 oz. AP flour (I use 1 c.)
• 1/3 c. poppy seeds
• 1/3 c. sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 t. table salt (they are a bit salty, you could use 1 t. and be just fine I think)
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 3 T. olive oil
• 6 1/2 fl. oz. water (this is less than a cup, but more than 3/4 c.)

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and then add the olive oil. Stir with a spatula until well mixed. Then add water, and stir/mix/fold until a dough appears. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 4 or 5 times until it feels like a proper dough. Try not to overwork it. Cover with a towel and let it rest 15 minutes.

Heat oven to 450 degrees, and use the center and above center positions in your oven for the racks. Cut dough into 8 pieces (like a pizza, is the way I do it), and roll with the pasta machine to the thinnest setting without tearing the dough (5 on my Pasta Queen), or roll by hand as thin or thick as you like. (For thin crackers, aim for 1/16 of an inch thick, and for thick 1/8 of an inch.

Alton likes to transfer the large sheet of dough to a parchment lined sheet and bake it whole, breaking it apart when it cools. I did a couple that way, but then cut the rest into strips with a pizza cutter and transferred them to parchment lined sheets with a spatula. It's slightly more work, but less mess in the long run.

Thin crackers will bake about 4 minutes on the first side, then 2-3 more on the other (but I did mine 5 minutes, then flipped and let them bake another 3-4 until they were nice and brown). Thick crackers (according to the recipe) will bake about 6 minutes on the first side, then 4-6 minutes on the second.

The large sheets looked like rustic sheet music, and when I broke off a piece I ate it immediately with a spreading of whipped Novia Scotia blueberry honey that my Parents brought me from their last vacation. I though if I had some prosciutto with the honey, that would have been really perfect. Then I thought, an aged Swiss cheese and that spicy mustard would be really perfect, too. I imagined the possibilities as I took advantage of my hot oven to bake my sweet potato for George's recipe. It was a huge sweet potato, and took almost an hour.

Wait a minute, a Cheese Ball and I'm baking a sweet potato? Go ahead and click over now, since I know you are so curious, and I'll wait for you.

You can see why I was so intrigued by this recipe. It was actually mostly good for you, and so pleasantly absent of that port wine veining, that you know has got to be a FD&C color of some sort. I hardly altered it, too! I did use more jalapenos, and actually didn't add the nuts because I forgot, but that was it. Then, I just left it "dip shaped" instead of classically "Cheese Ball shaped", since I didn't want to fuss.

I made a half recipe since I thought I'd be snacking on it for a week by myself. I even had mental planning to make some bagels for the other 4 oz. of cream cheese, and even the Cheese Ball spread that I knew I would like. Then, I asked my Husband if he wanted to try some "dip", since I knew he already liked the crackers. Success! Am I going to divulge the secret and orange ingredient? Not unless he asks. Now I'm *almost* wishing I was having a Super Bowl party to serve it for.

Please take the time to check out the many amazing recipes and great writing on George's site. you may find a few surprises that you are now glad you won't live without! I know I'm going to be keeping closer tabs on it, too.