Pizza Crackers

Reduced carb crackers have been a very handy thing for me. I've been making these ones off and on all winter, and while they are really very good they gave me a lot of trouble to perfect. I started by putting cheese in them, but they have so many other flavours going on that it could hardly be tasted, and at the price of cheese, that's a waste. Eat your cheese on top of the crackers. Then, I modeled them on other crackers I make including the oven temperature, and they would go from not done to scorched in a couple of minutes - eventually I figured these need to be cooked longer at a lower temperature. It's all the dried vegetables in them. On that note, I think it helps to have the dough rest for 10 or 15 minutes to allow them to absorb a little of the water, so don't preheat the oven until the crackers have been rolled out.  

These are allowing me to use up the backlog of years of dried tomatoes and peppers, but if you don't dry your own and can't find dried peppers (dried tomatoes should be much easier) you could try the mixed dried vegetables sold by Bulk Barn. Because of the flax seed, flavours in general are a bit muted; it may seem like I'm putting in a lot of spice but it is required.

 

36 crackers

1 hour - 20 minutes prep time

 

1 cup chick pea flour

1 cup whole spelt flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup flax meal

1 teaspoon fennel seed

2 teaspoons rubbed oregano

1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot chile flakes

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons dried onion flakes

1/4 cup dried tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 cup dried sweet peppers, finely chopped, optional

1/3 cup mild vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

a little spelt flour to roll out

Measure all the dry ingredients into a bowl. If you start with whole dried tomatoes or peppers, chop them very finely first; a food processor will not make them too fine - they should be in quite little bits, almost ground. 

Line a large baking tray with parchment. 

Mix the oil into the dry ingredients until it is evenly distributed. Mix in the water to form a smooth dough. It should be pliable, but neither soft nor sticky. Put it on the parchment  - it is best to move it back onto the counter from the baking tray - and roll it out thinly and evenly until it fits the dimensions of the tray. Score it with 5 lines in each direction with a pizza cutter to form 36 crackers. Poke holes in each cracker with a fork. 

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until they look dry, and fairly crisp. Keep a close eye on them starting at the 25 minute mark. They will continue to crisp up a bit as they cool. Once cool, store in a cool, dark, and air-tight spot (cookie tin). 

Last year at this time I made Strawberry Crisp.