Chilli Garlic Crackers

This year's bake-a-thon has not been hectic because I decided to post just 3 times a week. But, it has been hectic in another way and hard for me to manage. Too many people went on vacation at work and I had to share their load of work with others who were working. Along with that, I took few projects at home and got busy with them.  With all these activities, I managed to bake whatever I found easy and didn't put too much creativity into them. Here is one of them where I took time and used the base of a tart dough recipe and converted them into a savory cracker.

One Year Back - No Knead Bread Sticks, Vegan Banana Chocolate Cake (lowfat)
Two Years Back - Rava Laddoo
Three Years Back - Cake Decorating Basics - Part 9
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups
Sugar - 2 tsp (optional but brings the flavors well)
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp + a generous pinch
Butter - 3 TBSP cold cut into few cubes
Canola or Olive oil - 2 TBSP
Cold Water - 3 TBSP (Start with 2 TBSP and add the final TBSP if necessary)
Green chillies - 4 - 5 (I used 4 and they weren't that spicy for an Indian palate)
Garlic - 2 pods

Method:
Make the dough:
Take flour, salt, green chillies, garlic, baking powder, sugar into the bowl of a food processor fitted with chopping blade. Pulse till garlic and chillies are minced and mixed uniformly. Add butter cubes and oil. Pulse to get butter incorporated. Do not pulse too much and make sure there are tiny flakes of butter left as chunks. Add water and pulse till you get the crumbly dough. If you can make a ball out of it (not a smooth one though), it is done. Take it out and flatten it into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. I felt the dough was easy to handle when it had chilled overnight in the refrigerator.

To Bake:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Adjust the oven racks into the lower most and middle ones. Take out the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit 5 minutes at room temperature. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough fairly thin. You can dust the top surface with flour if it is sticking to the rolling pin. Roll it thinner than 1/4" almost to 1/8" thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter or any other cookie cutter. You can also just cut them into squares or rectangles if that is easy for you. Dip a fork in flour and pierce it uniformly all over the cut cracker dough. Gently transfer them to the baking sheet and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. You will be baking the crackers at the lower most rack for the first 12 minutes. Then transfer it to the upper rack for the remaining 3 minutes. It all depends on how thin you have rolled the crackers and how big the area of the cracker is. Do a test batch and go from there. Cool on the wire rack and you can either serve them warm or cold. They become flaky and perfect to go with a cup of coffee or tea. Great for cocktail parties or topped with cheese for those cheese lovers out there.

Notes:
You could add your choice of herbs here if you wish but I kept them simple. For cheesy crackers, fold in half a cup of Parmesan cheese while making the dough.

Check out what my friends are baking -  Preethi, Veena, Priya, Srivalli,  Sumana and Jayasri.

Enjoy.

Pin It