Back to crackers

I’ve sort of fallen off the wagon with my cracker making. I think it was because I had taken a wrong turn with cooking the bread in the pressure cooker. It made crackers that were too tough. And any added spices or flavorings mostly got killed off by the pressure cooker. So I decided to go back to baking in the oven.

Just before I switched to the pressure cooker I realized that I don’t want to add any leavening to the recipe; a brick is what’s needed. But I’d been experimenting with a recipe that had lots of added ingredients; potato, oil, and milk. So I decided to start from scratch, bake a recipe with just flour, water, and salt to see how that worked in the oven. Of course I couldn’t just do it with plain flour so I used half atta flour and half dark rye flour. The first batch was as follows:

1 cup	wheat bran
1/2 cup	atta flour
1/2 cup	dark rye flour
1/2 teaspoon	salt
3/4 cup	water

After mixing I put it in a small plastic bowl with a lid and let it rest for 2 hours. Then I baked it in a mini loaf pan for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven. I did the usual of letting the bread cool after it was baked, then wrapped it in a paper towel (to absorb any moisture that might otherwise collect on the inside of the plastic bag), then put it in a plastic bag and let it get fully cold in the fridge. Then I sliced it about 4 mm thick and dried it in the food dehydrator set at 105 degrees.

The crackers were fine.

Next I decided to get a bit more rigorous and use weights instead of volume measurements and add some potato.

54 grams	wheat bran
62 grams	atta flour
62 grams	dark rye flour
22 grams	dried potato flakes
1/2 teaspoon	salt
240 grams	water

The potato makes the crackers a bit tougher. But the flavor isn’t any different.

I also did one with egg, no potato; the total fluid was about 240 grams. These were no different than the first plain batch.

Next up was corn flour:

54 grams	wheat bran
62 grams	atta flour
62 grams	corn flour
1/2 teaspoon	salt
225 grams	water

And millet flour:

54 grams	wheat bran
62 grams	atta flour
62 grams	millet flour
1/2 teaspoon	salt
180 grams	water

Notice that I used less water. It turned out that the corn flour dough had too much water; after it had rested for 2 hours there was some water puddled at the bottom of its container. For determining the water needed I was eyeballing and feeling the dough; I should have been feeling it more than eyeballing it since its visual appearance is deceptive.

These two are sliced and drying in the food dehydrator.

The millet flour loaf was quite crumbly and difficult to slice without the slices falling apart. I tasted some of the crumbs and bits before it was dried and it was noticeably bitter. I think I’ll try another batch with it and the potato, and maybe also an egg if the potato doesn’t help. Or perhaps use a cup of pumpkin puree.

I need to go back to the original wheat and rye recipe and try it with milk. The milk might make it more crumbly.

I’m thinking of doing something off the wall and baking the loaf for 30 or 45 minutes, then cook it in the pressure cooker for just a few minutes, at the lower pressure setting. I’m wondering if that will help make the bread denser (and easier to slice) without making the crackers too hard and not dull the flavors.

After drying: The 50% corn flour crackers are definitely crunchy with lots of snap. But the flavor is completely unremarkable. Looks like corn flour can be useful for adding crunch to the crackers.

The 50% millet flour crackers have a bit of a bitter taste. I’d say that the millet flour is a dud.

Next up is 50% sorghum flour.

Standard procedure for making the rusks.

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