Blog Update and Another Cooking Guideline

Blog update first!  I'm going to be rolling out a new weekly post this week:  Summer's Sunday Selections!  I'll be featuring some of my fabulous favorite items from Etsy and around the webs on Sundays.   Now, on to the good stuff!

Whole Wheat- Multigrain crackers

Who doesn’t love good crackers?  They can be simple or complex, and go well with so many things.  But why settle for those store bought ones when a few simple ingredients can give you healthy, preservative free crackers with as little or as much salt and other flavorings as you want?

 I bring you another “cooking guild line,” this time for some multigrain crackers.  These are fantastic and easy to make if you have a grain mill or something like a magic bullet blender.  I have the later.  I started with this simple whole wheat cracker recipe from Allrecipes.com, and modified it to fit the assortment of grains/beans that I had on hand.

I replaced 1 cup of the whole wheat flour with 1/4^th cup each of ground barely, cracked wheat, ground lentils, and corn meal.  I also replaced a half of a cup of the all propose flour with soy flour.  The resulting dough was a little sticky, but adding in some more whole wheat flour would probably fix that right up.

Look at that wholesome goodness!

Here’s the modified recipe-

¼ cup lentils

¼ cup barely

¼ cup wheat berries

¼ cup corn meal

¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup soy flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

½ teaspoon of salt (or to taste)

Spices to taste

   1.     When measuring the lentils, barely and wheat berries, make sure to use generous ¼ cups, as they settle to less once ground.  Combine the lentils, barely, and wheat berries and put them through the grain mill (with this method, you may want to grind the lentils separately with the stone for wet or oily stuff).  If are using a magic bullet, simply combine them and use the grinding blades.  It took me a couple of turns of about 10 seconds to reach a smooth consistency. 

   2.     Mix the resulting flour with the corn meal, whole wheat flour, soy flour, all purpose flour and salt.

   3.     Add the oil, water and any spices you want to include.  I used a ½ tbsp basil, ½ tbsp oregano, and a tbsp of garlic.  Stir until the dough is well mixed.  If its too sticky, add more whole wheat flour.   It should be a fairly dry, almost crumbly dough.

   4.     On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough.    It should be no more than an 1/8^th of an inch thick.  Place the rolled out dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet (or two if you want them really thin).  Line with aluminum foil if you are worried about sticking.  
5. Sprinkle the top with salt, to taste. I also added some sesame seeds to mine.  Using a knife, score the crackers where you want them to break apart once baked.  Don’t cut all of the way through though.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can use any kind of grains or beans that you have on hand to make these crackers.  The next time I make them, I'll probably throw in some oatmeal.

Tada!  Delicious, fresh baked, wholesome crackers.

Here they are, right before going into the oven.  No after shots though, they were gone too fast!