Daring Bakers and the Lavash Cracker

The challenge for this month was Lavash Crackers from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Natalie from Gluten A Go-Go and Shelly from Musings from the Fishbowl. We had creative license for the flavoring of the crackers, as well as the dip that accompanies it, though it had to be vegan. I settled on oregano and kosher salt as the topping and a cucumber salsa I saw in a Vegetarian Times magazine.

My thoughts on this dough was that it seemed like a basic pizza dough-like recipe. Also, I don't think my dough rose enough, so I probably should have put it in a warmer place.

When it came time to roll it out, I couldn't get the gluten to relax and, as you can see in the picture, as soon as I cut out a shape it shrunk. Bummer. I had enough remaining dough to stretch out in a rectangle as best I could and sliced into larger rectangles.

The salsa was really good, cucumber, avocado, seeded and deveined jalapeños, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and kosher salt. A nice twist from a tomato-based salsa and it was like a chunky guacamole, too.

The lavash crackers, though, I wasn't too impressed. It tasted like chewy pizza dough and didn't have the characteristic of a cracker at all. Judging by the other Daring Bakers, I did something wrong because theirs came out well, and I think it was that the dough didn't really rise so the gluten didn't develop as much as it should have. I might try this again, though, because it seems like I should have gotten a pita-chip like cracker from it, and it should have browned more, too.

Don't forget to peruse through the Daring Baker blogroll to read more.

(EoP)