Crisp Sesame-Semolina Flatbreads
It will be a long time before I buy crackers again.
Flash back to two hours ago: I need to decide on a flatbread for this month’s BreadBakingDay. Our host Petra (Chili und Ciabatta) has mandated no pizza. Pitas are out, because I just posted about those last month. I’d like to try Ehtiopian injera, but the 3-day fermentation doesn’t fit into my schedule just now.
I’m really in the mood for something thin, crisp, flavorful but not overly complex. And quick. I thumb through the newest addition to my baking library, Savory Baking from the Mediterranean, by Anissa Helou. The Sardinian Crackers (Pane Carasau) look interesting, and the wheels start turning.
What if I add sesame seeds to the dough, as Helou suggests as a variation? How about making them black ones, to add a bit of visual punch? I wonder if I could use a pasta roller to make them super-thin, and wouldn’t baking them on a stone make them super-crisp? And I’m thinking just a bit of olive oil and coarse salt would work well for topping.
I dive in. The dough is the definition of simplicity. The pasta roller attachment to my KitchenAid mixer works like a dream, although I can obviously get the flatbreads only so wide with this, and they are, accordingly, rather long. I roll them successively to number 7, which is the second-thinnest setting on this roller. It’s pretty darn thin, with no extra flour needed for the rolling. And as when I make pasta, I find myself engaged, in a calming sort of way, by the repetition of the rolling and the hum of the machine. But a rolling pin would work fine too.
When I pull the first batch of two flatbreads off the stone, they are as thin, crisp, and tasty as I had hoped. They are the poster child for “just do it.”
Now my mind is achatter with myriad possibilities: combinations of flours, dough additions, and toppings are limitless. Yes, it will be a long time before I buy crackers.
As always, thanks to Zorra for founding and keeping BreadBakingDay, and to Petra for this month’s excellent theme. If you want to partcipate, you have until March 1 to bake a flatbread.
Sesame-Semolina Flatbreads
(adapted from “Sardinian Crackers” in Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou)
Yield: 12 large flatbreads
Time:
- Mix/rest: 45 minutes
- Roll/bake (total time for 12 flatbreads): 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 150 g flour
- 150 g semolina
- 22 g (2 T.) black sesame seeds
- 6 g (1 t.) salt
- 170 g lukewarm water
- olive oil for brushing
- coarse Kosher salt for topping
Method:
- Preheat the oven, with baking stone, to 450F.
- Mix flour, semolina, sesame seeds, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add water are stir to incorporate into the dry ingredients.
- Turn dough onto an unfloured counter and knead for 3 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- Knead for another 2 minutes. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 12 or more pieces and form them into balls.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper the approximate size of your baking stone.
- Roll a ball of dough through a pasta roller, starting with the thickest setting and adjusting the thickness setting down with each successive pass, to the desired thinness. Alternatively, roll out as thin as possible with a rolling pin.
- Place the rolled flatbread on the parchment. Repeat with as many flatbreads as will fit on the parchment.
- Brush the flatbreads lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with a small pinch of Kosher salt.
- Transfer the breads, parchment and all, onto the stone. Bake until the edges are nicely brown and rippled, and the tops have golden brown patches, about 3 – 4 minutes.
- While one batch is baking, roll out the next batch.
- Cool on a wire rack. Break into pieces to serve.
Tracy February 21 2008 at 09:17 pm 1
Wow, those look delicious. When I saw the photo, I couldn’t figure out how you got them so thin. A pasta roller! Now I wish I had one.
sid February 21 2008 at 11:31 pm 2
these look good!
have you tried indian [north and south indian] appetizers/accompaniments called ‘papad’ and ‘pappadam’/poppadom [western name] and ‘appalam’? The first one ‘papad’ is quite similar in appearance to what you’ve made though the composition is different.
Sid
Astrid February 21 2008 at 11:39 pm 3
Oh my how I wish I had a pasta roller! I can’t believe I could achieve anything comparable with a rolling pin. These look amazing.
Joanna February 22 2008 at 01:54 am 4
SO inspiring … these look really good, and pretty straightforward. My (hand-cranked) pasta roller has been at the back of the cupboard for too long, and I’ve been meaning to get it out … now I’ve got the perfect reason.
THANK YOU
Joanna
Lien February 22 2008 at 05:05 am 5
What a great looking cracker/bread. I’ve got helou’s book too, ánd a pasta-roller… so there’s nothing stopping me. Beautiful photó’s too!!!
baking history February 22 2008 at 05:24 am 6
Susan, these look perfect!
Jeremy February 22 2008 at 06:06 am 7
Hey I love these Susan, we did them in school! You could garnish them with eggs and tomato sauce, a particular garnish I saw in an Italian book!
Petra February 22 2008 at 07:04 am 8
What a perfect contribution for bbd #7. Thank you very much for taking part, these crackers look great!
Laura February 22 2008 at 09:49 am 9
A pasta roller is the best idea I have ever heard. I never make crackers because I am terrible at rolling stuff so flat. I have been planning to get a pasta roller attachment for the Kitchen Aid–now I have twice the incentive. Brilliant. Your recipes are great for ideas like this.
Gretchen Noelle February 22 2008 at 07:59 pm 10
What beautiful crackers!!! I am still pondering what I am going to do! I just don’t know! Love this idea and I am wishing I had a pasta roller as a result!
Susan February 23 2008 at 07:52 am 11
Tracy and Astrid, I think you could get pretty close with a rolling pin. I’d roll them out, let them rest for a few minutes to allow the gluten to relax, then roll some more.
Sid, I thought of pappadam too, when I saw the blistery surface. I’ve never made them before. Do you have a recipe you could recommend?
Joanna, you’re welcome. Let me know how it works for you!
Lien, I just got the book, this is the first thing I’ve tried from it. Do you have any favorites you’d recommend?
Baking History, thanks!
Jeremy, I’ve been thinking about a lot of different things that could be done with these, but I admit eggs and tomato sauce is not a combination I had though of! At the risk of sounding very stupid, would these be put on before or after baking?
Petra, thanks, and thanks for hosting this month!
Laura, I think you will like the attachment. It is of course great for pasta too. You can get the roller by itself, or in a set with two cutters. I can’t say whether it works any better than a hand-cranked machine, though.
Gretchen Noelle, I’m sure you will come up with a beautiful flatbread — all your baking is so wonderful.
Nicisme February 23 2008 at 09:27 am 12
Saw this on Tastespotting - your breads look awesome and I’ve bookmarked them to try!
kellypea February 23 2008 at 03:08 pm 13
Great idea on the pasta roller. I’ve been meaning to get one…Yummy looking flatbread. I tried a basic semolina bread I haven’t posted yet and it was great. The sesame seeds look really gorgeous in this.
MyKitchenInHalfCups February 23 2008 at 07:12 pm 14
Gorgeous crackers!
It’s delightful to get all worked up about something and then when you do it, you can’t understand what had you worried. I so so enjoy your: They are the poster child for “just do it.”
Jeremy February 24 2008 at 05:55 am 15
After baking!
katy February 26 2008 at 07:24 am 16
those look absolutely fantastic! now i’m going to have to scour amazon/ebay for a pasta roller!!!
Örjan February 26 2008 at 10:54 am 17
Thanks for the recipe.
They worked out beutifully.
Took a ball of the dough, size golf ball. Rolled it out by hand with a rolling pin in lots of flour to an oval shape.
No risk of rolling to thin, since the sesam seeds decide minimum thickness.
Will include them with my menues in Sweden, and will serve them with lunch tomorrow
ejm February 27 2008 at 05:43 am 18
I thought the same thing as Sid, that your bread looked like pappadam.
They also look like some wonderful rosemary flavoured flatbread we had in Tuscany; I suspect those ones were made in a similar manner.
Colour me green with envy! Your bread looks fantastic. You are brilliant to use your pasta maker to flatten the dough!
-Elizabeth
Allison March 3 2008 at 12:14 pm 19
These were great! I used a rolling pin and it worked fine. Also, just for fun, I substituted whole wheat flour for the flour and used flaxseed instead of sesame (I didn’t have any sesame, and the batch i made without seeds were nice but…)
These are now a staple at my house. I served them for dinner the other night with a big pot of tortellini soup, and my husband eats them every morning with goat cheese and crisp bacon.
This is a great recipe . thanks.
Aparna March 5 2008 at 07:07 pm 20
These look beautiful. Saw the pictures among the Click entries.
These remind me of Indian “Khakhra” , a snack which are very thin rounds made of whole wheat flour and cooked on a iron griddle till crisp.
RezkonvSuite » Blog Archive » Schwiegermutterzungen March 8 2008 at 07:32 am 21
[...] aufgetaucht, einmal bei lamiacucina mit dem herrlichen Aroma von frischem Rosmarin und bei ‘Wild Yeast’ eine Variante mit Sesambelag, ein Grund für mich nun endlich einmal diese knusprigen Brote [...]
Y March 8 2008 at 12:40 pm 22
I love the top photo of these flatbreads/crackers, and I bet they taste great too! I used to make watercrackers in a similar way all the time, but haven’t recently.
D Legal April 2 2008 at 04:04 pm 23
this looks absolutely amazing! I’m going to have to get a pasta roller now.