Crackers & Dips (6 page)

Using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, trim any irregular edges (save the scraps). Cut the dough into 2-in-/5-cm-wide strips. Transfer the strips to a baking sheet, spacing the strips ½ in/12 mm apart. Sprinkle the strips sparingly with kosher salt and use the bottom of a measuring cup to gently tamp it into the dough. Prick the strips all over with a fork or comb and cut the strips crosswise into 2-in/5-cm squares. Repeat with the remaining dough and scraps.

Bake until the squares are light brown around the edges and firm to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans once from top to bottom and from back to front while baking. Watch carefully; these crackers go from perfectly done to burned very quickly. If some of the crackers are done before others, transfer them to a cooling rack and return the undone crackers to the oven for a few more moments. Cool the crackers and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

2

THE GLOBAL CRACKER: CRISPY SNACKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

SENBEI

(JAPANESE RICE CRACKERS WITH FURIKAKE)

I love senbei, salty-sweet Japanese rice crackers, but they’re a pricey addiction—authentic Japanese rice crackers can run three times the amount of a domestic box! After tinkering around in the kitchen, I have come up with a formula for my own senbei—a simple blend of cooked white rice, sweet rice flour, oil, and water. The dough is a snap to make in a food processor, and the crackers are thinned by pressing pieces of dough between sheets of plastic wrap, so you don’t even need a rolling pin!

The dough is flavored with furikake, a Japanese condiment made from sesame and nori seaweed, available at Asian markets. I glaze the crackers with a sweet-salty blend of good-quality soy sauce and mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) so they have the same authentic flavor that makes packaged senbei so very addictive.

MAKES 38 CRACKERS

1½ tsp premium soy sauce

1½ tsp mirin

¾ cup/120 g sweet rice flour

⅓ cup/40 g cooked white rice

¼ tsp fine sea salt

2 tbsp canola oil

¼ cup/60 ml water

2 tbsp furikake (see headnote)

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Combine the soy sauce and mirin in a small bowl and set aside. In a food processor, combine the rice flour, cooked rice, salt, and canola oil. Pulse until finely ground. With the machine running, slowly add the water and process until the mixture is crumbly, 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the furikake, and knead to combine, adding a few drops of water, if necessary, to make a dough that clumps easily when squeezed. (The dough can be made ahead up to this point. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)

Split a small plastic sandwich bag down the side seams, keeping it connected at the bottom seam. Place a heaping 1 tsp dough between the sheets of the plastic bag and press with the bottom of a flat-bottomed dish or juice glass, or use a tortilla press, to create a 2½-in/6-cm disk; the dough will be very thin. Carefully peel the dough round away from the plastic and place it on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake the unglazed crackers until they are dry around the edges, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip the crackers with your fingers, using a spatula to help, and continue to cook until the crackers are dry and starting to brown around the edges on the second side, 4 to 5 minutes. Maintain the oven temperature.

Brush the tops of the crackers with the mirin-soy mixture. Return to the oven and bake until the crackers are lightly browned but not burned, 2 to 3 minutes. Watch carefully; the sugar in the mirin will burn if baked too long. Allow the crackers to cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack; they will crisp up considerably as they cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

CRACKER TIP:
If you are aiming to make the senbei gluten-free, be sure to check the furikake label; some brands of furikake contain wheat or gluten.

SWEDISH CARAWAY RYE CRISPS

I fell head over heels in love with dark, crisp rye crackers during a recent trip to Scandinavia. Every morning, my husband and I sat down with his gracious relatives who offered us hearty breakfasts of rye crisps topped with a tantalizing array of gorgeous smoked and pickled fish. It seemed an odd way to start the day at first, but we were quickly hooked. Now the
smørbrød
breakfast has become something of a weekend ritual in our house; there’s nothing better than lingering over the newspaper while nibbling on gravlax, herring, cheese, and pickles mounded on crisp rye crackers.

These crackers keep really well, so I often make a double batch and give them as gifts, packed into decorative jars or boxes with a jar of Smoked Salmon Crème Fraîche Dip (
page 118
) or Fresh Artichoke Dip (
page 112
) alongside to decorate them.

MAKES 30 CRACKERS

1 cup/115 g dark rye flour

1 cup/125 g unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

½ tsp ground caraway seeds

2 tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into ¼-in/6-mm cubes

½ cup/120 ml whole milk

1 tbsp molasses

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

2 tsp caraway seeds

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas 6. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. In a food processor or large bowl, combine the rye flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and ground caraway and pulse or whisk to combine. Add the butter and pulse or rub with your fingers until the butter is in tiny pieces and the mixture resembles fine cornmeal, 15 one-second pulses.

In a measuring cup with a spout, combine the milk and molasses and stir until the molasses has completely dissolved. Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and pulse or stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together into a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth, about 25 strokes. The dough will be slightly sticky; add flour only as necessary. Divide the dough into two balls, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. (The dough can be made up to this point and stored in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped, for up to 2 days.)

Run the dough through a pasta maker following the instructions on
page 13
until the dough is about
in/2 mm thick, the 5 setting on most pasta makers. Alternatively, pat one ball of dough into a small rectangle and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until the dough is
in/2 mm thick, lifting the dough and rotating occasionally to make sure it’s not sticking, and adding flour only as necessary.

Using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut the dough into long 2-in-/5-cm-wide strips; reserve any scraps. Transfer the strips to a prepared baking sheet and repeat the process of rolling and cutting with the remaining dough and scraps.

Brush the crackers lightly with the beaten egg and sprinkle them with the caraway seeds. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press down gently to adhere the seeds to the crackers. Prick the crackers with a fork or comb. Use a pastry wheel or pizza cutter to cut the strips crosswise into 4-in-/10-cm-long crackers.

Bake until the crackers are golden brown around the edges and no longer pliable, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets once from top to bottom and from back to front while baking. Watch carefully to make sure the crackers do not burn. Cool the crackers on racks and store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

PAPER-THIN SEMOLINA CRACKER SHEETS

These elegant crackers are served in long, thin sheets in Italy, hence their name
carte di musica
, “sheet music.” This simple recipe is essentially eggless pasta dough, with all-purpose flour giving the dough elasticity, and high-protein semolina flour (also called hard durum wheat flour) lending a rich, buttery flavor and an addictive snap. The dough must be rolled until it’s very thin (nearly see-through) for the best results. I use a pasta machine to do the job. If you haven’t got a pasta maker, the dough can easily be rolled out paper-thin with a rolling pin and a little elbow grease.

I serve these cracker sheets stacked in a basket, inviting guests to break off pieces with their fingers. You can also cut the dough into rectangles measuring 4 by 1½ in/10 by 4 cm if you prefer precut crackers. Because of their neutral flavor, these crackers would be great with any of the dips in this book—the Rosemary Cannellini Dip (
page 114
) and St. Jack’s Chicken Liver Mousse (
page 134
) are excellent choices.

MAKES TWELVE 1-FT-/30.5-CM-LONG SHEETS

1 cup/125 g all-purpose unbleached flour, plus more for dusting

1 cup/170 g semolina flour

⅔ cup/165 ml warm water

½ tsp fine sea salt

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

¾ tsp fleur de sel, or other coarse finishing salt (see Cracker Tip)

Combine the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, water, fine sea salt, and olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer using the dough hook. Once the dough comes together, mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and springy when stretched, 3 minutes. (Add a bit of flour if the dough is too sticky to handle, a bit of water if the dough is not coming together.) Alternatively, mix and knead the dough for 6 minutes by hand. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 1 hour. (The dough can be made ahead up to this point and stored in the refrigerator, still in the bowl, tightly covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.)