So here I am at death’s door. I’ve caught the horrid cold that’s going around, quite a nasty one, we’re told. Today I’ve got such colorful laryngitis that I can barely croak out a sentence. The dogs and I have been loafing in bed all day…and it doesn’t seem to have helped much.
Along about noon, I was really hungry and wanted something to eat that didn’t entail a lot of cooking. Specifically: the other day I picked up a gorgeous piece of Camembert at Trader Joe’s. Wanted to eat that with some wine and side trimmngs. But I didn’t have any crackers, and I sure didn’t feel like waiting three or four hours for a loaf of bread to bake.
Depressed. Hungry…. Then I recalled that some years ago I made some crackers. Yeah: in the oven. They were easy, and the result was pretty tasty.
Thrashed around, found a recipe, and discovered that yes! They are easy. And they take all of 6 minutes to bake.
Why not? It sounded a lot better than driving through traffic, parking, tromping around a grocery store, standing in line, unparking, and driving through some more traffic.
Here’s the trick:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment on a large baking sheet; place the pan in the oven to heat.
Combine 1/2 cup water with 1/3 cup olive oil (or, if you prefer, melted butter) in a small bowl or measuring cup.
Place 1 1/2 cups flour in a larger bowl. Stir in 1 teaspoon baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Add a flavoring, if you like — I happen to have a rosemary plant in the yard, so minced up a few rosemary leaves, but I think you could add just about anything you please. Mix the dry ingredients together to blend well.
Make a well in the center and add the water & oil, a little at a time, stirring together to form a soft, scruffy dough. Flour a pastry board, toss the dough on it, and knead it briefly — three or four times, prob’ly. Divide the dough into several pieces (four to six, I’d say). Cover with a towel while you continue.
Reflour the pastry board, and dust a rolling pin with a little flour (if you don’t have a rolling pin, you can use a liter soda-pop bottle filled with soda or water). Place a piece of dough on the board and roll it out nice and thin. Remember, these are CRACKERS, not hamburger buns. You want them to come out crisp.
Cut the rolled dough into pieces, in the shape and sizes desired (doesn’t have to be fancy). If you wish, use a pastry brush to spread a thin layer of olive oil over the top. Sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt, if desired. Take a fork and poke the dough all over to give it a perforated effect.
Remove the hot pan from the oven. Sprinkle some cornmeal (if you have it) over the aluminum foil and lay the sliced dough pieces flat. Pop the pan into the oven, set the oven timer for six minutes, and voila! Roll out the rest of the dough blobs the same way, one at a time.
I had two pans going at once, one on each rack. Made about 20 or 25 crackers in all of maybe 20 minutes. It was simple, and the result was as fancy as anything you can get at Whole Foods!
