Lavish Crackers: BBA Challenge

For Day 17 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, we made Lavish Crackers. I really wanted to skip this one and move on to the next bread, but for the sake of the challenge, I decided to give it a try.

I baked the crackers, but wasn't exactly thrilled with the outcome. Some of the pieces were a little chewy and some were crunchy. I had rolled the dough out so it would fit on my baking sheet because I didn't want to waste the dough by snipping it off (as suggested in the book) if it hung off the sides of the pan. However, because the dough was thicker in some places and thinner in others, it didn't bake evenly.

After doing a little research, I found out that some people and cultures prefer their lavish chewy.

"There are many different flatbreads baked throughout the easter Mediterranean, the Middle East and India--from pita or naan--but lavash is perhaps the oldest. This bread-in-various shapes and sizes, and in textures ranging from soft and pliable to crisp and crackerlike--is a staple throughout Armenia and in parts of Georgia, Iran, and Lebanon. Armenian lavash has been prepared in the same way for thousands of years: Long sheets of dough are stretched and baked in a clay oven similar to an Indian tandoor. The nomadic peoples crisscrossing Asia knew a good thing when they saw it: A filled and rolled-up lavash sandwich might be the ultimate in picnic fare (easily transportable, its food, eating utensil, and container all in one). Lavash is also delicious served with stews such as Morrocan tagine or an Indian curry, or with a favorite dip."
---The Lowdown on Lavash, Jane Daniels, Gourmet, Sept. 1997 (p. 157)

Source: www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#flatbreads

I think I prefer crispy over chewy for crackers. However, for pitas (which is another option for this dough) the chewiness would work well. My oldest son didn't like the chewy ones either. In fact, when he tried the crackers, he said "I believe these are a fail." Well, hmmm...that just wouldn't do.

Fast forward to the next day...

After letting the crackers sit on my counter in a covered basket for a day, I decided to rebake them. I baked the pieces until all of them were crispy. When I tried them again, I actually enjoyed them and so did my taste tester (my friend not my son). So as with all breads, enjoying Lavish is a matter of preference. You'll just have to experiment to determine your preference.

Let's get started on the crackers. If you're baking along with us, turn to page 178 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Note about photos: During the whole process, my camera decided to misbehave. I had to use my iPhone to take most of the photos and some of the photos look a little fuzzy. Hopefully, you'll get the picture anyway.

Lavish Crackers

Makes: 1 sheet pan of crackers

Making the Dough:

In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, honey, oil and enough water to bring everything together into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour.

Kneading the Dough:

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. According to Peter Reinhart, the dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (i.e. medium-firm dough). It should be tacky, but supple enough to stretch when pulled.

Fermenting the Dough:

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, roll it around to coat it with oil and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Let the dough ferment for 90 minutes, or until it doubles in size.

Preparing the Dough for Baking:

Transfer the dough to a counter lightly misted with spray oil.

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. As I mentioned previously, for this part, I rolled it out to fit my baking sheet. You may need to let the dough rest from time to time so that you can roll it out to the desired thickness. It also helps develop the gluten if you lift the dough off the counter and wave it a little bit during these rest times.

When the dough has reached its desired thinness, let it relax for 5 minutes. In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Lift the sheet of dough off the counter and carefully place it on the baking sheet. If it overlaps, snip off the excess with scissors.

Baking the Crackers:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and place the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water.

Sprinkle the dough with a covering of seeds such as poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.

If you want precut crackers, use a pizza cutter and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. If you want to make shards, bake the dough without cutting it first. I decided to make shards so I didn't cut the dough before baking.

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.

When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.

Eating the Crackers:

Snap the crackers apart if you precut them or snap off shards if you didn't precut them. Then serve and enjoy! You probably won't have any left over. After I baked them the 2nd time, I ate them as snacks throughout the day.

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Thanks for joining us this week in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. See you next time...

For Day 18 of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, we'll be making Light Wheat Bread. Refer to page 181 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice. I'm looking forward to this one.

Click here to see all of the breads we've been making.

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Happy Baking!
Cathy