Without my trusty Vita-wheats, I had to find something to replace them. Luckily there are a few good home-made options. Sadly they’re not quite as robust for hiking, but they can be a reasonable substitute, and better than anything else out here…
Some recipes that looked like contenders:
Seedy crackers from the ‘wholegraintexan’. Looks great, but I don’t always want to go gluten-free (which in this case means subbing cheaper wheat flour for more expensive seeds).
Crunchyrock’s crackers. Yeah, more like a plain Vita-wheat rather than 9-grains which were my fave. And slightly more ‘American’ style (more bready, sweet, fatty).
Happy crackers from ‘mynewroots’. Also look great and nice flavour combination ideas – but who has the patience or has left enough time to cook both rice and the crackers before their outing or dinner?
So it’s time for a mash-up…
Ingredients
- 1 c flour (wheat, whole wheat, rice, or ground oats/nuts/seeds, whatever)
- 1 c seeds (mix of whatever)
- 1/2 c flax seed – required for binding ingredients together
- oil (0-2 tbs)
- water
- some salt / chicken boullion / soy sauce
- flavourings, if desired.
Feel free to vary the proportions of flour to seed. I think my current go-to mix is about 1c flour, 0.5-1c seeds, depending on what I have in the cupboard – and I include a pack of ramen seasoning and some dark soy sauce for colour.
Preheat oven to 180C
Feel free to blend up seeds a bit if you want a smoother cracker. If so, blend in at least some of the flax too. For the other seeds, sesame and poppy seeds or similarly sized seeds can be used whole, pumpkin seeds are great (but use more sparingly whole).
Then mix it all, with enough water, to a relatively stiff dough. The next part is easiest if you let it rest for 10mins to relax first. Depending on the side of your tray, divide dough in two, and roll each out (easiest between two pieces of parchment) until cracker thickness. Plop onto a parchment lined baking tray, and score (lightly, particularly if you haven’t rested the dough much) into cracker sized crackers, and top with flavourings (salt, more seeds, herbs, cheeses – see the Happy cracker link for some ideas). Some may need to be ‘rolled’ in. Update: my current mix (1c flour, 0.5-1c mix seeds) fits nicely on a large baking tray (North American large), and I roll it directly onto a silicone baking mat before sliding that onto the tray.
Bake for 10-12 minutes – but keep a check on them, they’re done when golden and sound ‘dry’ or aren’t raw-dough squishy when tapped. If the oven is uneven, can remove the ones that are done, and then keep cooking the rest. If they’re thicker or wetter, they may need up to 20 mins or more. They’ll crisp up a bit more as they cool.
These are great with home-made dips such as hummus or beet or bean, to make a great vegan-friendly (and potentially allergy friendly) starter.
I’m yet to make them slightly larger and thicker for hiking, but reckon they might work with a little baking powder to make them slightly less dense.
Recipes 