spicy, salty, yummy

Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh??  This takes me back to my college days.  I was like a magician – 7pm nothing by 3 the next morning a 20 page paper on the evolution of French furniture.  The funny thing about those all nighters was that I always knew I needed to wrap it up when I could smell the doughnuts cooking in the nearby dining hall.  No doughnuts today, just lavash crackers and salsa.

It seems co-hosts of this Daring Bakers month’s challenge (Natalie and Shel) must have heard about my slightly elevated cholesterol and decided to steer me to the slightly safer side of baking.  Sometimes I just so so caught up in the butter and sugar I forget about that side.  So, to Natalie and Shel I say “Thank you”.

Wheat crackers seasoned with either kosher salt and black pepper or a blend of smoked paprika, cumin, and fennel with a roasted tomato and artichoke salsa. 

Well that title is a mouthful all on it’s own.  Though I can tell you a mouthful of these crackers with salsa is a more delicious mouthful.

As for how the challenge broke down.  Well I am already thinking of what to do differently for the salsa **.  The next batch I think I will  use regular onion.  The scallions were a little mild.  I will also be adding more jalapeno.  This didn’t have enough kick.  I was nervous about adding too much because I didn’t want too much conflict with the artichoke’s flavors.  I will also be draining off the tomato juice to have a thicker end product.

The lavash was all right.  I don’t know that I would ever make them again.  It might be fun to try a sweet version with something like cinnamon and sugar for an afternoon snack.  Yes, that’s something I would definitely try. 

It was a fun change of pace from the usual baking so I’m glad I finally got around to trying it.

Roasted tomato and artichoke salsa **

makes about 4 cups of salsa

10 tomatoes (roasted in 450 degree oven for 30 minutes) peeled and chopped (The next time I will be sure to drain out the juice before putting in processor.  This batch was not as thick as I had hoped.)

3 green onions chopped

3 cloves of garlic bashed

2-3 sprigs of fresh parsley

1/2 jalapeno seeded and chopped

1 six ounce jar of marinated artichoke hearts (drained)

salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients and blitz until blended.  Refigerate to let the flavors really come together.

** for an updated version of this salsa be sure to check out salsa take two

Crackers

makes one full sheet pan a crackers

1 cup unbleached bread flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

1 Tablespoon rice syrup

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons water at room temperature

here are the seeds after they have been shaken

1/2 teaspoon coriander seed *

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed *

1/2 teaspoon ground smoked paprika

kosher salt and fresh black pepper

* I used whole seed that I bashed in a flavour shaker

In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, yeast, rice syrup, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter.  Knead for about 5 – 10 minutes, or until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.  Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Allow to set at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until dough doubles in size. 

Mist the counter with a light spray of oil and transfer dough to counter.  Divide the dough into half (one for salt and pepper crackers, other for spice blend).  You can roll it out with a rolling pin to a paper thin sheet, dusting with flour as needed.  I rolled mine out with my hand crank pasta machine.  When you have it rolled out let it rest for 5 minutes on a parchment lined sheet.  (I used a knife to score lines to make breaking the crackers apart easier.  You can skip the scoring and just break them into irregular pieces after they have cooled.)   

Mist pieces of dough with water to help the spices stick.  Sprinkle on spices.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until crackers begin to brown evenly across the top.  When they are baked cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Snap apart and serve.

Tags: artichoke, cracker, cumin, Daring Bakers, fennel, paprika, salsa, tomato