Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Crisp Spicy Flatbread - Crackers??



Now, now before you navigate away from this page as you may not find the picture above super appealing - wait!! What you see here is crispy flat bread which is quite easy to make and tastes very good...I will not say that these are low fat and healthy since they are not really that. Relatively low in fat, yes. High on taste. Will take you less than 10 minutes to get from no-plans-to-bake to have-dough-ready-to-bake. Roll them and transfer them on aluminum foils and bake them one by one while you get on with the rest of your kitchen chores. And you have a nice small stack of crispy flat bread. Or should we call them crackers? Well, as long you like the taste, you don't really care to get into the small technical details. Agree with me? Yes, so now that we agree on this very important thing, and I have hopefully sold you the idea of reading the rest of this post, let me tell you more about these.

Again one of those versatile things which will allow you to flavor them as you fancy - aaah, the magic and the best, best thing about home-baking! We can bake whatever we please and however we please. If you could see me now, I look - right - very smug:-). Khakra with Italian seasoning anyone? Yes, these crispy things tasted almost like that! And these can be made 2 days ahead and stored...locked away safely in a box and the keys thrown in..in..well, wherever you can't fish them out very easily.

I have made these twice, once with jeera, turmeric and kasuri methi, they tasted yumm, but did not look very good. So no pictures for the blog. Then on a insane urge, I baked these again, late in the night (I really don't know why!). The flat bread turned out tasty and decent looking too. But I had no suitable box to save them in their 'full' unbroken glory, so took pics in poor nightlight. Well, can't wait till I bake these yet again, take better pics and post them right? But when I make these next, I will take pics again and sneak-replace them;-)

You could make these for a tea time snack, for your home party to go with a nice dip... Suitably seasoned, these can go well with Mint Chutney, Hummus, Creamy Dips or just seasoned hung curd. I seasoned these crackers with mixed Italian seasoning, garlic powder and chilli flakes. And did not really bother with the dip..

I seriously, seriously love Deb's humor, love her recipes. Hers is one of those blogs which I LOVE to visit every now and then. So presenting, Crisp Spicy Flat Bread from Smitten Kitchen.




 Recipe adapted from here .Have made no changes to the basic recipe, just made more number of smaller, thinner crackers.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
Water - 1/2 cup
Olive oil - 1/3 cup plus more for brushing
Mixed Italian herbs - 1 1/2 teaspoons ( alter to suit your taste)
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic powder - 1 teaspoon (alter to suit your taste)
Red chilli flakes - 1/2 teaspoon or to taste

Procedure: Pre heat oven to 230 degrees C (aprox) / 450 degrees F. Keep ready pieces of aluminum foil. Grease lightly.  The size of the foil good enough to fit in the rolled dough and your baking tray or tin. In a medium sized bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center, add the water and the oil. Gradually stir into the flour with a wooden spoon till the dough comes together. Knead dough gently on  a work surface for about 4-5 times. The dough will be very soft and oily too.

Roll the dough into thin circles or a more rustic uneven circle, dredging with little flour if needed. I made into 8 equal portions. Nope could not roll them directly on the foil. Siplat mats?? Sigh!!

Keep the rolled circles in waiting covered with another foil to prevent drying out. If rolling out one by one, keep the dough covered.

Transfer the rolled circles onto the aluminum foil and onto the baking sheet or pan. I used a 10'' round tin (but did not roll the dough into 10'' rounds). I did not roll them into 10'' rounds as I was not sure about transferring them onto the foil without tearing the dough. Remember the dough is very soft. 

Once on the pan, if you find any areas which are thicker than the rest or feel that the circle can be bigger, just push the dough gently around with your finger. Since the dough is very soft, it will easily oblige. Brush with additional oil. I did not do this. I have just pressed some chilli flakes on top.

Bake for about 11 minutes or till light golden in color. This may taken a minute or 2 extra depending on your oven and thickness of the rolled dough. Do not let it over bake or it will taste funny.

Variations: Use rosemary and sea salt as in the original recipe. Salt and pepper, jeera. Asafoetida and fresh coriander? Sesame seeds / flax seeds and salt?

Blogger buddies, this could be one of those posts you can come up with when your drafts folder is empty;-).And now tell me your fav quick posts:-)

19 comments:

divya said...

Very tempting recipe....nice clicks...

Anonymous said...

can i use baking soda instead of baking powder??
seeing the snaps i wanna bake them soon.
thanks.


geethika

chef and her kitchen said...

Thats definitely a nice recipe dear...n the foto is good,do not bother much abt it.

Indian Khana said...

Looks so yum n inviting ...nice recipe

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

yummy n tempting ....
sanyukta
http://creativesanyukta.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Looks wonderful Suma. As you posted on a tuesday, feel free to link it to my bookmarked recipe event :)

Hari Chandana P said...

Looks very tempting and perfect... inviting shots :)
Indian Cuisine

Prema said...

Very tempting snacks,luks so nice...

Anonymous said...

Oh these were heavenly when you brought them with you to the HyperCITY event Suma...loved them. They'd be perfect with the proverbial afternoon cuppa no doubt. Will def make them soon and post my feedback here too :)

PS: If I had a Silpat mat, would I still need the aluminium foil sheet you think? Yessssss...I know what you're thinking :P I got a silpat mat and so many more goodies from the US just yesterday, and I cannot wait to flaunt them...hehe :)

Anonymous said...

PPS: To everybody reading this - Like Suma says, dont worry about the pics one bit...these are just out of the world!! :)

Priya Suresh said...

Wow can have it with some mango salsa or guacamole,yumm!

M D said...

That looks yummy. I am craving for some pls!

Saji said...

yummy n tempting tooo

thesaji.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

these are like the south indian thatais - crunchy, crispy and totally blissful!

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

thats perfect low cal crackers. can we replace flour with whole wheat flour?

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

thats perfect low cal crackers. can we replace flour with whole wheat flour?

Lena Jayadev said...

woww.. this looks awesome.. super crispy.. happy to find you.. and so happy that you are from Banglore.. :)

Lena Jayadev said...

just saw the details abt the shops in Bglr wr to get baking stuffs.. thanks Suma :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent blog and recipes! Keep it up!