Ottolenghi's Olive Oil Crackers

Crisp, with a hint of sea salt and sesame seeds, these Olive Oil Crackers are the best reason to get the rolling pin out. They come together quickly and keep for days.

Ahh, the magic of homemade crackers! Once you realize how easy to make and superior in flavor they are, compared to commercial ones, there's no turning back.

I have been infatuated with Ottolenghi ever since his first cookbook, Plenty. I bought it by chance and discovered a whole new vegetarian world. I'm a meat eater, huge fan, so that says a lot. It turns out the whole planet had discovered him too, haha, and he climbed to celebrity chef status in no time.

Steps for making this recipe

1. Make the dough: it's fairly simple since it doesn't have yeast.
2. Let the dough rest: you mix all the ingredients and let the dough rest before rolling it - similar to the Cheese Naan Bread (image below, left).
3. Cut and shape: cut small nuggets of dough (image below, right) and roll each individually. Put them in the oven sheet pan.
4. Baking: brush with water and add seeds and salt. Bake until crispy and dry. Keep in airtight tins or containers.

If you’ve never made crackers at home, they’re a one-way trip. With simple ingredients, they’re easy to make and will make you look like a superstar. Which you are, of course. But that jaw-dropping when they find out you actually make crackers at home, no credit card buys that.

It’s such a supermarket and bakery staple, some people have a hard time understanding that we bakers actually find it enjoyable. Working with flour is therapeutical for me. So calming. And the smells! Nothing like baked things coming out from your oven to feel like everything is all right.

Tips & tricks

• Resting: once you have a good dough - no dry spots, not overly wet either - let it rest for 1 hour. The dough needs to relax in order to become pliable enough to roll thinly. Flour has gluten and it develops when you work it. The resting period makes this gluten structure relax and allow the dough to become more elastic.
• Rolling: the dough nuggets need to be rolled thin, otherwise, your crackers will be thick and not crunchy enough. If you see that you roll the dough and it shrinks back, it needs to relax some more. Leave it covered with a clean kitchen towel for a few minutes and try again. Eventually, it will roll to the desired thickness.
• Toppings: I brush the rolled pieces with water and sprinkle with Maldon salt and sesame seeds. Press them gently so they adhere to the dough. Many of them will fall anyway after baking, so you might consider adding the sesame seeds when you make the dough ball. So you have the seeds in the dough and not as a topping. Or omit them altogether.
• Keeping: they keep well for a week if kept in airtight tins (ideally) or containers. Metal tins with good lids are the best.

These olive oil crackers blister while baking and crash the minute they touch your teeth, with a subtle wheat flavor and the heat of spices, depending on how much you used. I also sprinkled some Maldon salt flakes on top, and that salty punch here and there was perfect.

And the second batch came out darker, and, in my opinion, better. This recipe is versatile. Use whatever spices and seeds you want. Maybe some dried thyme?

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