The Daring Bakers challenge this month is Vegan: Great I know a lot about vegan food, friends were/are vegan, I once cooked an all Vegan Christmas meal back when, so I knew I would have no problem with the dip + a couple of Sunday back, I happened to visit the National Vegan Festival.
However Lavash Crackers, no idea. so I read on, maybe there was a clue in the text: "It is similar to the many other Middle Eastern and Northern African flatbreads known by different names, such as mankoush or mannaeesh (Lebanese), barbari (Iranian), khoubiz or khobz (Arabian), aiysh (Egyptian), kesret and mella (Tunisian), pide or pita (Turkish), and pideh (Armenian)" ahhhhh, got you, pitta, so what I had to do was extra thin pittas.
and there they are
before
after
For the toppings I was determined to make my crackers colourful so I used
sesame seeds for white, poppy seeds, seeds with no name from a market in the Yemen, for black Charawma : a blend of Moroccan spices, for brown paprika for red
and for the dip:
Hummus without chickpeas.
a can of white beans, 2 garlic gloves, 3 tablespoons of Tahini, a teaspoon of lemon, salt, paper, cold water to smooth. everything in the food processor, transfer to a serving dish, a sprinkle of paprika.
if you would like to try the Lavash Crackers here are the instructions
The key to a crisp lavash,...is to roll out the dough paper-thin.
The sheet can be cut into crackers in advance or snapped into shards after baking.
The shards make a nice presentation when arranged in baskets.
Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers
1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour
1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.
2. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see
http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bread-Dough-Has-Been-Mixed-Long-Enough for a description of this). The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap
3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing)
4. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes.
Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors. or4.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to pre cut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.
If you fancy doing October's challenge, join
the Daring bakers, as for the
blog roll it contains all the posts for this month's challenge
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a young fungus and then the same a few days older, would have been nice to have taken correct notes, I thought this was an artist fungus and checked for accuracy but it does not look like it is at all. A guess anyone?
Honey Mushroom, These lives in colony and can spread over 8 kilometers or thereabout making it the largest living organism in the world, can you imagine?
Beefsteak mushroom
