Hey everyone,
Thanks for being here.
So, I wanted to talk about crackers. I don’t know if you noticed, but last night I shared several reels on instagram. I enjoy social media for it’s ability of giving us access to each other, but I am still not very comfortable going in front of the camera. Still, it’s something I plan on doing a little bit more of. Baking, for me, has always had a lot of mystery to it. -All things do when you are eager to learn all about them. Natural mystery is beautiful. The mystery of why something can smell so good and make us feel a certain way; the mystery of life and how it appears in our baking. But I have also seen mystery used as a device to protect one’s ego. Early in my career, I can remember being told I didn’t understand fermentation enough to be trying the pastries I was testing. Or that a certain whole grain wheat flour wouldn’t work to make bread with. You wouldn’t understand. You can’t just experiment with something you don’t know. You’re not experienced enough to try that. It wasn’t meant for that kind of flour. These are non-adventurous people scared of losing their place in baking. Don’t ever let people limit your exploration.
Anyways, back to crackers. Here, take down the recipe and let’s go from there.
400 g Whole Grain Flour
200 g Starter
200 g Water
50 g Olive Oil
15 g Salt
Flour. Whole grain imperative. I do both single varietal and blends, and usually keep my wheat percentage about 50%. For me, this is a great time to use rye and other non-wheats. Just like madeleines and pancakes are great quick mixes to get a good idea of the flavour profile of the grain, I find crackers to be the perfect way of seeing how that profile changes when fermented and toasted. Unadulterated toastyness. If you don’t know what I’m talking about yet, you’ll just have to try for yourself. If you have access to middlings, try substituting for the flour. More on that later.
Starter. Any ripe starter will do. Prevents discard at end of the day. Keep ripe starter in the fridge until ready to use. Pour off any hooch and don’t use if moldy.
Olive oil. This value (50g), and that of the salt (15g), are mixed with the dough. You will need more to brush and finish your crackers with. Consider the flavour profile of the oil you are using.
Salt. I use sel gris in my doughs, and Maldon to finish.
Add water, starter, olive oil to mixing bowl. Add flour and salt on top. Stir in salt with your hand but no point getting your fingers wet. Using the hook attachment (or just do this whole thing by hand) mix for 6 minutes on low speed followed by ~8 minutes on a higher speed. Mix until a strong gluten-window can be achieved. I can demo this step shortly.
Once dough is fully developed, wrap well and refrigerate several days. As I said in my instagram, the flavour just isn’t there the first few days. But you also have to be mindful of leave it too long. For me, days 3 and 4 are the best. Depending on your fridge temperature, the sourness can really take over, and the low ph will make the dough weak and hard to handle. Few-day window is still pretty great. Check out my instagram if you need help with how to roll out the dough.
So, let me tell you the benefits of whole grain sourdough crackers. This is a great product on its own, but also does well as a product to help limit food waste. Having extra Mother on-hand at a bakery is a normal habit, good to have in case of emergencies. Using up excess isn’t always easy and often is just discarded in the compost. The starter required is this recipe doesn’t have to be fresh. So it’s okay to build up your discard over time. Also, if you are near any milling where sifting is taking palce, this is a great way of using the middlings, making sure we are getting fermented germ and bran in our diets
.
That’s what it is in its simplest terms: fermented whole grains. That’s why I love crackers. I love them for the same reason I love other whole grain sourdough breads, but crackers don’t require the shaping, the proofing baskets or space, the difficult-to-produce oven conditions, to yield great results. This recipe isn’t to be instead of bread, just one more thing to make with sourdough. If you read my newsletter, The Wild West of Artisan Milling, you might remember seeing Monica Spiller’s chart of the 21 micronutrients in Sonora Wheat, and how 20 of the 21 are found in the germ and bran. At the bottom of the chart is says “sourdough fermentation makes most of these micronutrients biologically available”. I wrote about this in several newsletter, including Myth about sourdough. Whole grain flour is a great start to healthy eating. It is a source of good nutrition and insoluble fiber. But not all the nutrients are absorbable without fermentation. It is the fermentation that lowers the ph, that allows for the creation of the enzyme phytase, that causes the breakdown of the phytic acid, which unpackages the nutrients.
Make whole grain sourdough crackers at home and enjoy all the grain has offer.
Last Friday I asked for help getting to $3k on my GoFundMe campaign. It took less than 6 hours to get my 20th donation and break the $3,000 mark. Since then there have been another 6 donations, and before too long we will be breaking $4,000. Please keep supporting me through this campaign. Banks and media will look at these numbers as a way of validating my integrity as I approach them to take interest in my work. Tommy’s Whole Grain GoFundMe campaign has raised $3,595 from 26 donors to help establish Vancouver’s first whole grain bakery. I still need your help. Please help me get the number of donors to 50. Any size donation is a huge statement of support for this community supported bakery. Click here to donate now.
Thanks for being here. Thank you for being a subscriber and reader of my newsletter. Thank you for being a paid subscriber, and thank you for making a donation to my GoFundMe campaign. Please continue to help amplify my work. Choosing to Like/Comment/Share has a huge positive impact in helping me get more views and subscribers. I am grateful for everyone of you.
This was my first time putting a recipe out. I welcome all the feedback! Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks again. Happy baking.
Crackers and pancakes are the quickest way to test the flavor of a flour!