Daring Bakers: What A Cracker

Sarah  from All Our Fingers in the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers' host and she challenged us to use our creativity in making our own crisp flatbreads and crackers. I was quite pleased with the challenge simply because I love eating crackers and flatbreads and this was the impetus I needed to actually get down to baking some for myself (sometimes when it comes to munchies like crackers, I find myself buying them rather than making them).

As I looked at the recipes Sarah left on the Daring Bakers site, my eyes lingered on the one for Onion and Poppyseed Crackers. I love everything and anything onion and poppy seeds are such a delighful addition be in cakes, breads or even crackers. I read through the recipe and was intrigued at how Sarah uses real onions, not a flavouring in her crackers and we're not talking about a hint of onion, we're talking about a whole cup of pureed onions (which in my case came from 3 medium onions that were chopped and then blended). 

Whoa, this has to be one helluva onion cracker. I was pleased. I decided to add a couple of ingredients o the recipe: cheese (for I do love my cheese and a cheese cracker is just the most perfect crunchy snack) and chilli flakes (for I am an Asian who needs heat in anything I eat). 

Sarah's recipe (you can get it from her blog, or by clicking here) was a breeze to follow and her method was uncomplicated. The only bump in the road I encountered had nothing to do with the recipe but my execution of it. My first batch of crackers turned out more puffy than crisp simply because I didn't roll the dough out thin enough. As it turned out, the puffy, chewy crackers were delicious also, so that wasn't too much of a  bump!

I made these crackers in the morning and took them with me to the office. They were gone by midday. Everyone loved them .. well, not the onion haters as the flavour of the allium was definitely apparent. The addition of the cheese and chilli worked out well too, the kick of the chilli and the saltiness of the cheese (I used cheddar) added punch to an already delicious cracker.