Crackers

Happy New Year! To kick off 2012, I decided I would work on "cracking the code" to a good homemade allergen free cracker. What follows is a versatile recipe that can be encouraged with the right spices to meet your every cracker need. Enjoy!

The italicized ingredients are easily omitted to create a plain cracker or cracker base that can be modified as needed.

1/4 cup millet flour, or sorghum flour, or GF oat flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour, or white rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of freshly-ground black pepper
5 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon pure olive oil or extra virgin olive oil
small bowl of cold water
1/2 teaspoon kosher sea salt or coarse sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F; place baking rack in second position.
2. In airtight container, combine millet flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, nutritional yeast, onion powder, sea salt, mustard powder, paprika, garlic powder and freshly-ground black pepper to taste; place on lid and shake vigorously to combine and to introduce air.
3. Pour dry mixture into mixing bowl; add water and oil; beat with electric mixer to form soft dough.
4. Turn dough out onto parchment paper; flatten into round disc; cover with parchment paper and roll out, using a rolling pin, to 1/4" thick.
5. Using a very sharp knife, slice dough into desired shapes - uniform squares are the easiest; be careful to not move the squares apart as they will bake more evenly if left touching one another - you will be able to easily separate them once they are cooled. Brush dough lightly with cold water and sprinkle on a total of 1/2 teaspoon kosher sea salt or coarse sea salt.
6. Move dough along with parchment paper to baking sheet; place on second rack of preheated 400 degree F oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove baking sheet from oven; remove crackers to wire cooling rack to cool completely prior to storage in airtight container at room temperature up to 7 days.

Servings: 1"-crackers, about 48
Prep time: 15 minutes
Preheat: 400 degrees F
Baking time: 20 - 25 minutes

Variations

Sweet crackers: omit nutritional yeast, onion powder, mustard powder, paprika, garlic powder and freshly-ground black pepper; add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons light brown sugar to dry mix. Brush rolled out dough with water and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Proceed with recipe as otherwise stated.

Rosemary crackers: omit nutritional yeast, mustard powder and freshly-ground black pepper; add 1 teaspoon crushed rosemary leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon ground rosemary leaves); brush rolled out dough with water and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon rosemary leaves that have been ground a bit using a mortar and pestle along with coarse sea salt.

Be creative! You can also replace the 1/2 cup mixed GF flours with a nut or seed flour of choice, such as almond flour or pumpkinseed flour.

Feel free to add up to 2 tablespoons of nuts or seeds of choice, such as flax seeds, chia seeds, or poppy seeds.