November 16, 2009 - 11:27am
Windowpane Crackers
Peter Reinhart's Thin Wheat Crackers on p.291 in Whole Grain Breads
My interpretation used Spelt Flour type 700 glatt (fine) with additional 30g flour to the recipe.
Twentyfour hour rest on the counter top before cutting into small shapes and making windowpanes. Place on parchment and continue to thin out the crackers... Keep a towel handy to wipe off oil. If I do this again I will use two tablespoons less oil in the recipe. I like mine without the salt wash, which does give the crackers a little more strength but the crunch is better without it.
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Nice, Mini. They look delicious.
Those look fantastic. Will have to get that book out and try them.
Is this to go with cheese and spreads or to eat on its own?
Shiao-Ping
Clearly, I need to bake more from this book. Thank you for sharing.
As someone who is pregnant and queasy this is the first TFL picture that has looked appealing today! There's just something about plain crackers.....
Summer
Thank you for your responses.
I haven't even dipped or put anything on them yet. They are like chips or crisps really. They taste better when they get golden. Mine baked in 4-5 minutes per pan. I had about 120 crackers. I plan to make them again on Friday and take to my nephew's birthday party.
If you add more flour to the dough do it in the initial mixing. If added after the 20 min rest, it will result in strange lumpy dough that doesn't work very well. My dough reminded me of a breast implant made out of dough. It's a lot like strudel dough.
Here's a closer look
Mini, did you really stretch every piece of that dough to form a windowpane? How big were the original pieces? Did you bake them on parchment? They look wonderful but I have never heard of this method - maybe it's a Mini original? A.
Yep, I stretched every single one. The dough lay there on the counter top in a pool of olive oil. I flattened it out to a 6 inch square and with the pizza wheel cut off strips of dough, then went back and cut the strips into little squares. Each when rounded about the size of a marble. But I didn't round them, I just pulled out their corners and made window panes out of them. I set them onto parchment and squished the thick edges thin. My cookie sheet looked a lot like a flagstone patio. No two alike. The dough was very translucent and placed them very close together but not overlapping.
Does that help?
Mini
Mini, many thanks for explaining how you made those beautifully thin crackers. I searched PR's recipe and couldn't find any reference to windowpaning. Hmmm, 120 windowpanes - I wonder whether the grandgirls could help? I have spelt flour in the freezer. Happy birthday to your nephew, A.
I just never got that far. Stretching the dough was fun and seemed natural, more natural than rolling them out. I can imagine your troup will have lots of fun. Keep some paper towels handy for the oily hands (it kept running down my arms to my elbows) and prepare several trays before turning on the oven. It took me longer to make a tray than to bake a tray but I was alone. The dough sticks pretty good to the parchment until baked. I used only one baking tray and kept switching the parchment. It would be easy to bake two trays at a time, faster too.
Thanks for the good wishes. I'll tell him.
Mini
Lovely crackers, Mini!