September Daring Bakers — Lavash Crackers and Dip
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
Well, once again I’m far behind … The September Daring Bakers Challenge was supposed to be posted a week and a half ago. I made it on time, but with going out of town for the Biochemistry Retreat last week, I wasn’t able to get it posted on time, but here it is now.
Thanks to Shellyfish for hosting this challenge — Lavash Crackers. This challenge was a lot of fun, and while I’ve enjoyed all the sweets lately, I was really ready for a challenge not topped with buttercream. I’d been wanting to make crackers for awhile, so of course this was the perfect excuse to try it out. We could make this recipe either gluten free or not, and since I didn’t want to buy xanthan gum, I decided to stick with the conventional version. I topped mine with an assortment of seeds and spices, including poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, rosemary, sea salt, cumin seeds, and fennel seeds. I made one batch with stripes of different flavors and one batch with everything mixed together, which I liked better. All of them would’ve worked better if I had pushed them into the dough a little bit, as everything tended to kind of fall off when you bit into the cracker. Overall, I really enjoyed the crackers though, and would definitely make them again. They turned out deliciously crispy and crunchy, and were a great dipping vehicle.
I did also try a sweet version covered with cinnamon sugar. I think these would’ve been good, too, except that they were thicker than the other batch, and so they came out chewy instead of crunchy.
As part of this challenge, we were also supposed to make either a vegan or gluten-free dip to go along. (This was the first “alternative” Daring Bakers challenge.) Unfortunately I forgot about that part when I decided to make a caramelized onion dip. I’m pretty sure it’s gluten free, but definitely not vegan since it contained sour cream. I guess this obeys the letter of the challenge, though probably not the spirit, since I made a gluten-free dip to go with non-gluten free crackers. I’ll try to read more carefully next time. At any rate, I’ll put the recipe for the dip up sometime in the next few days, because it turned out really well.
And don’t forget to check out the Daring Bakers’ Blogroll to see how everyone else fared. You may have to scroll back a few posts since I’m so late, but it’ll be worth it!
If you want the recipe for the crackers, check out Shellyfish’s post.
