cracker batter

We've all messed with cracker dough, but I've come across a formula for making crackers with a batter... and cooking them in a microwave.

Here is the prototype... a tahini cracker.

This recipe utilizes the rice puree.  Other ingredients are tahini, egg white, and a little AP flour.  Salt the batter or add with the seeds for true cracker effect.  To get the proper consistency, I started with measured amounts judged by eye and tweaked as necessary (having an erasable marker board is quite handy).

Unfortunately, I don't have any flexi-molds... hopefully that will change soon.  Improvisation turned my eyes towards the little plastic 2oz souffle cups that we use to send BBQ sauce and honey mustard out to the pool and beach areas for orders.  Following the recipe above, pour 5 grams of batter into the cup, sprinkle the top with sesame seeds, and microwave on HI for 1:30.  Microwaves vary with wattage and models so you may have to tweak the recipe to fit your kitchen.

Before...

... and after.

Notice the slight shrinkage as the batter loses moisture.  This allows for the cracker to be easily popped out.  The texture is light and crisp.  Perfect timing for the cooking is necessary to achieve the right amount of browning.  Even without professional molds, the souffle cup can be used for several times... vert vraiment!

Comments

[H. Alexander Talbot]

glad to see you working with rice puree. an amazing product. have you tried your batter with par-cooked rice?

[chris]

chad, I'm wondering what the texture of the cracker is like. I imagine it would crisp up but is it as crispy as a cracker? I haven't messed around with using the microwave too much when it comes to crackers, I can see using it to set them up but do they require further drying, say in a dehydrator for a little while or a low oven to get the moisture out?

[Tony Gibson]

Like the crackers, how about other flavourings. I made some saffron crackers on my blog, checkit out. Since then have used squid ink, clorophyl and beetroot. All very effective visually. Any vegetable or fruit you can geta could juice from you can then cook the rice in this juice. Theres no limit to the choices. Have fun.

[foodplayer]

Just got my first look at the MF DVD's...I started with Adria...nice take on the gallettas. Thanks again.

[chadzilla]

Alex, I haven't used converted rice. What's the advantage to it?

Chris, the texture is very crispy. Once you tweak the time to get the slight browning, it's done. 2 seconds more and it tastes over-toasted. The batter is very liquid, but the microwave takes care of that. So far I've only 'cooked' one at a time, so I'd have to adjust things for bulk microwaving.

Tony, good suggestions. I was planning on doing follow-up variations. My first thought was replacing the 4g lemon juice with whatever other flavored liquid... cilantro juice, hot sauce, whatever.

FP Linda, thanks. Good place to start, but it's just the beginning. Give me a holler after you watch Bo Bech... amazing guy.

[Lars Kiilerich]

Nice results with the crackers, are they too liquid to bake in the oven like normal crackers? I reckon the microwave would have trouble baking bulks of crackers, as it heats mostly in the middle of the oven (at least mine does).

re: Bo Bech, he owns Restaurant Paustian in Copenhagen (1 Michelin star) (http://www.restaurantpaustian.dk/), and is currently also in Season 2 of "Med Kniven For Struben", a Danish pendant to Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. (http://www.tv3.dk/medknivenforstruben)

[chadzilla]

Lars... I have not tried baking the batter. Hopefully I will be ordering some flex molds from JBPrince soon, and then I can adjust the time to do 12 simultaneously... a little more feasible for restaurant production.
I wish the Bo Bech site (and show) were in English. He's such a badass. The only time I've ever seen him was for the Madrid Fusion. He went onstage completely alone and knocked out about 5 dishes... each one was thought provoking.