Today, my darn husband took the car. I am stranded at home with only a mediocre grocery store within walking distance and I've got a hankering for some crackers. I'm giving myself a day off. That means I'm going to binge watch Netflix and munch on munchie food until I have to pick - up the kids.
It also means I've got to rummage through my pantry to come up with the most satisfying & appropriate cracker-making ingredients. After a bit of brain storming, I've settled on quinoa flour, brown rice flour, cornmeal and chia seeds. I don't often buy quinoa flour as it's SO expensive and I rarely use it as a sole flour in recipes. So when I need some, I just grind dry quinoa in the coffee grinder. It works like a charm!
Before you do anything, get your chia seeds soaking. 1/4 cup of whole seeds in 1/2 cup of filtered water. Let them soak until they have completely absorbed all of the water - about 5 - 10 minutes. Get started on the other ingredients while you wait.
Grind 1/2 cup of dry quinoa in a coffee grinder. This will make 1/2 cup of flour.
Combine your quinoa flour with 1/3 cup of cornmeal and 1/2 cup of brown rice flour + salt and spices (you can use which ever herbs or spices that you'd like. Today, I was in a sage/rosemary kind of mood).
Give all of this a stir with a fork. Your chia seeds are probably good and plump now.
In a similar fashion to mixing dry & wet ingredients in pancake & muffin recipes, make a little well in the centre of your flours and pour in the chia seeds. Top that off with 3 TBSP of olive oil and 1 TBSP of filtered water.
Start off by stirring all of this with a fork, and then get in there with your hands. Work it this way until it is well combined.
Have a cookie sheet-sized piece of parchment paper on your counter, ready to go and roll the dough out directly on it. I didn't use any flour for dusting - it's not necessary. This dough contains a good amount of oil, which should prevent any sticking. Start off by pressing with the palm of your hand, then move on to the rolling pin. Again, just roll gently, no flour necessary.
Roll it out as thin as you can.
With your fingers, pinch the edges in a bit, as they tend to cook a bit faster. You don't want any burning!
Drizzle a bit of olive oil over top of the whole thing and spread it around with a pinch of salt and a bit more of your spices.
Bake at 350 Degrees F for about 25 minutes, checking on it to make sure the edges aren't burning. After 25 minutes, take it out of oven and, with a pizza cutter, slice your cooked dough into cracker shapes (I do this now, rather than before baking for the sake of ease).
Pop this back in the oven for another 5 - 8 minutes to crisp them up.
And Voila! Delicious! Let these guys cool for just a few minutes. They will crisp up as they do.
Sage & Rosemary Chia Cornmeal Crisps
- 1/4 cup whole chia seeds
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 1/2 cup whole, dry quinoa (uncooked)
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/3 cup cornmeal (non GMO, organic)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp dried sage + a pinch for sprinkling on top
- 2 tbsp dried or fresh rosemary + a pinch for sprinkling on top
- 3 TBSP olive oil + a pinch for drizzling
- 1 TBSP filtered water
- Soak the whole chia seeds in 1/2 cup filtered water for 5 - 10 minutes
- Grind uncooked quinoa in coffee grinder
- Combine quinoa flour, brown rice flour & cornmeal with spices and salt, stir to combine
- Add soaked chia seeds, olive oil and 1 tbsp water to dry ingredients
- Stir with a fork and then with your hands until well combined
- Roll out on a cookie sheet-shaped piece of parchment paper
- Transfer the whole thing (parchment and all) to a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt & spices
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 - 25 minutes
- Remove from oven & cut into cracker shapes
- Bake for 5 - 8 minutes more to crisp
- Cool before digging in
Enjoy!
