Baking | Rye Cheddar Crackers & Pizza Dough Crisps … Crackling good times with the Daring Bakers!

“Sometimes I want to clean up my desk and go out and say, respect me, I’m a respectable grown-up, and other times I just want to jump into a paper bag and shake and bake myself to death.”

Wendy Wasserstein

Rye Cheddar Crackers & Pizza Dough Crisps … with less than little time on hand, I baked myself to death. Literally! I missed the last DB challenge,and this months was a cracker! It’s been yet another busy month, but I snuck a day midweek and had a whale of a time!It’s a cracking good time to be a Daring Baker. Crackers all the way, something we at home love to love, yet something that tends to get ignored in the baking schedule more often than never. Yet crackers and crisps are right up my street, savoury my choice over sweet!

Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers!

Having missed last months challenge, I was determined not to miss this one, and was quite chuffed when I read the challenge. But time flies as always, work piles up, schedules lag, mismanagement and procrastination galore, I find the panic rising the minute we get past the 15th.

Quite murmurs with fellow DBs…are you done yet? Did you do the challenge. Always looking for the push, the motivation, the ‘get up and go‘ to get up and go! I was quite motivated after we had a potluck at home, and Sangeeta brought some delightful whole wheat crackers.

Up early one Saturday morning, with the kids snoring, I had whole wheat cheddar crackers ruling my head…but alas, no recipe on Sangeeta’s blog. I decided to chart my own path, and thought I’d use the rye in the larder also know as finger millet or sprouted ragi flour locally.

Threw a few things together, garlic and sweet paprika two of my favourites, cheddar because crackers must have some yummy cheese in them {IMHO}, and smoked sea salt because I love the flavours it subtly adds! It was a timid attempt. Was pleased with the outcome, crisp, earthy, flavourful crackers … nom nom nom. Ran one past the boy. “YES! These are nice Mama.” What a relief.

Handed one out to the better half, lavished with some kumquat chili  marmalade that Sangeeta made with the kumquats I sent her. What a combination! “Can I have another please”, said Mr Man…and I knew we had some magic in here! I did pester her for her wholewheat cracker recipe, which she parted with large heartedly. That’s next on my list to do.

Then one day I made pizzas…actually Calzones, Pizza Pies & Popovers with lamb & beet greens. All that done, I still had a small ball of dough left. Almost chucked it out, then remembered reading ages ago that someone had made crisps out of leftover pizza dough. Don’t throw out that left over dough!

Such fun. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment as thin as you possibly can. Give it a brush of extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkling of dried herbs, pepper, sweet paprika, maybe sea salt {though be careful if you dough already has salt in it}. Bake until crisp in a less that medium hot {lower element only} oven. Keep checking as every oven ‘does it’s own thing’. Before you know it, you might have burnt crackers!

I was out at sea for a dip for these and then thought a cheese dip might bring the pizza story together. Eyeballing is always good for dips. Cheddar, olive oil, low fat cream, garlic, dried herbs … and into the microwave. Voila! It was a cheese fondue on the side!

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India