Olive Oil, Rosemary and Lemon Thyme Crackers

A cracker that’s flavoured delicately with olive oil, rosemary and lemon thyme.

Inspiration to bake comes from so many different places, at least it does for me. Case in point: I was on the streetcar returning home from my weekly status meeting with the marketing company when I pulled out my phone to check up on what’s going on in the world of Facebook. The very first story I see is a recipe for crackers from one of our favourite Food Network Canada’s celebrity chefs, Laura Calder (French food at home). You already know how I love to bake my own crackers so this post hit all the right buttons and I knew right away I wanted to make it. The recipe uses fennel seeds and JT is not a huge fan of fennel, so I improvised and replaced the fennel seeds with chopped rosemary. What can I say? They are light, crispy, delicate crackers that (wait for it) taste as if they were deep fried but they are NOT! The recipe came together so easily (I used my food processor to make the pastry-like dough) and they baked up rather quickly. I made mine long triangles but you can really do any old shape; I rather liked that they weren’t uniform and quite rustic. I changed the name of the crackers because mine had a distinct Olive Oil flavour. Definitely making these again.

(Please click here to see Laura’s original recipe)
Makes about 24 crackers, but it depends on what size you cut them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (125 g) flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• A good grinding of mixed pepper corns
• 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) non-fat yoghurt
• 1 tsp fresh lemon thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Using the metal blades in your food processor, add all the ingredients and pulse until entirely combined and the dough resembles small pea-like chunks. Don’t over mix because we don’t want the butter to melt.
3. Turn out onto a piece of lightly floured parchment and roll out to about 1 mm (1/8″) thick. You will need to flour both sides as this dough is rather sticky.
4. Cut into shapes using a pizza wheel and a kitchen ruler. (I cut triangles that were around 13cm x 5cm  (5″ x 2″)
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they begin to get a golden tone. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Store in an air tight container.
7. Serve with your favourite dip or cheese.

They are strong enough to hold dip.

I used a lovely peppery Olive Oil (the one that our neighbour Tom’s father bottles from Greece).

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