Our family love crackers..... a lot. Being that we're a mostly wheat free family who tries to avoid chemicals and additives, it's hard to be a lover of crackers. If you look in the supermarket, so many of the most delicious crackers contain wheat, palm oil, hydrogenated vegetable oils, preservatives, and additives that are a bunch of numbers that conceal the actual ingredient.
Upon investigating what is in a leading brand of cracker, I found the following ingredients;
Ingredients:
Wheat Flour, Vegetable Shortening (Contains Antioxidant [319]), Sugar, Raising Agents (341, 500, 503), Salt, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin).
Allergen:
Contains Soy, Contains Wheat, May Be Present Egg, May Be Present Peanuts, May Be Present Sesame, May Be Present Milk
What the ingredients panel fail to mention is what the numbers actually are. So using the Chemical Maze app on my phone, I found out.
319 - tert-Butylhydroquinone
341 - calcium phosphate, dibasic' monobasic'tribasic
500 - sodium carbonate (or sodium bicarbonate)
503 - Ammonium bicarbonate or ammonium hydrogen carbonate
Some of the side effects of these additives can be carcinogenic in high doses, can aggravate allergies, can bind up calcium - blocking it's absorption, can cause abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. Half of them are not permitted in food for babies. It doesn't say the soy isn't GMO so it's safe to assume it is.
The nutritionist I follow has a basic food philosophy that states; If your grandparent's didn't recognise it as a food, don't eat it. So I set out to make crackers wholefood ingredients that were chemical and preservative free.
They're also wheat free, nut free, egg free, soy free and dairy free - so a great allergy friendly cracker!
Ingredients
150g spelt grain (spelt flour is fine if you don't have grain or a Thermomix)
100g rolled oats (quick oats are ok too)
125g water
10g chia seeds
10g poppy seeds
10g sesame seeds
good quality salt - we use Murray River pink salt flakes
Method
In a large bowl, using the back of a spoon, crush the oats as much as you can to break them up into smaller pieces. Combine quick oats, spelt flour, seeds and water and using a wooden spoon (or your hands) work into a dough. This step can also be done in a food processor if you have one. Once dough is holding shape, transfer it to a well floured surface. Knead dough for five to ten minutes.
Thermomix Method
Mill spelt grain in Thermomix, speed 9 for 20 seconds. Add rolled oats and mill for a further 30 seconds. Add water and seeds to bowl, and mix on speed 6 for 6 seconds. Then use the knead function and knead dough for 2 minutes. Turn dough out onto well floured work surface.
Roll dough out to approx 3-4mm thick, then fold it over itself until you have a neat square that has several layers of dough. Then roll out the dough into a large square approx 2mm thick.
Once the dough is rolled out to 2mm, sprinkle salt flakes over the dough and very gently roll them into the dough with the rolling pin, or press them into the dough gently with the palm of your hand.
Pop them on a baking tray, and cook for about 6 minutes at 180° or until browned to your liking.
If you have left over dough or you want to make a double or triple batch, it keeps well in the fridge for up to two weeks wrapped in cling film. We like to only make a couple of days worth at a time, so they're really crisp and delicious.
If you have left the a few days and they're not so crisp, just pop them in a hot oven for a couple of minutes, and they'll crisp up again
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