seeded crackers
These crunchy crackers – made by my French neighbour Ursula one night for supper – are the perfect accompaniment to her fig and olive tapenade. The recipe is delightfully flexible: the first time she made them for us, Ursula used some sweet potato flour mixed in with the chickpea flour. She added some of her local Basque piment d’Espelette, which gave the crackers a slight kick, but she sometimes uses chopped fresh rosemary instead.
Choose any mixture of seeds that you like, but I would recommend that you include some chia seeds, as they help to keep the crackers crisp. If you find the crackers have gone soft before you’ve had time to eat them, refresh them by heating them in the oven at 170˚C for 10 minutes.
SERVES 4
80g chickpea flour
60g buckwheat flakes
150g mixed seeds of any sort you like, such sunflower, pumpkin, chia, sesame, linseed or poppy
1 generous pinch salt
2 pinches piment d’Espelette (or sweet paprika, cayenne or Aleppo pepper)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 170˚C, and line a 30cm × 40cm baking tray with baking paper.
In a bowl, combine the chickpea flour, buckwheat flakes and all of the seeds. Add the salt, olive oil and 250ml cold water and mix together well (the water will be absorbed quite rapidly, so work quickly). Tip the mixture into the lined baking tray and spread evenly with a spatula.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove and immediately cut into crackers of the size you prefer. Return to the oven and cook until they have lightly browned, another 30–35 minutes.
Serve with fig and olive tapenade and perhaps a soft goat’s cheese.
