Flour · ish

(makes ~8 dozen)


In an apartment of 4 girls, sometimes our groceries get mixed up, and we forget whose stuff is whose. So there's been this box of Trader Joe's Raisin Rosemary Crisps sitting on the pantry shelf for weeks, and we don't know whose it is. Eventually one of my roommates bought her own box because we were curious what they tasted like--and they are SO YUM!! The dried fruit, nut, and fragrant herb combination created a nice balance of savory/sweet (slightly too sweet for me), and the crackers have a light crunchiness that is dangerous when it comes to snacking. We think they would pair well with some goat cheese or brie. Sounds fancy, right? But actually! The ingredient list was short (and buttermilk was the first one listed--and I wanted to use up leftover buttermilk), so I thought, why not attempt it? It involves double-baking like with biscotti but is an easy process overall. And I actually thought the bread (pre-becoming crackers) was delicious itself--so you can enjoy this recipe two ways (as pictured above)!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (1 cup all purpose, 1 cup whole wheat worked well)
• 2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• a pinch of black pepper (experimental!)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 cup raisins (soak in warm water for a few minutes for plumper raisins)
• 1/2 cup chopped or whole sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup flax seed, ground
• 1 T chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the buttermilk, brown sugar and honey and stir a few strokes. Add the raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed and rosemary and stir just until blended.
3. Pour the batter into two 8”x4” loaf pans that have been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack.
4. The cooler the bread, the easier it is to slice really thin. You can leave it until the next day or pop it in the freezer. Slice the loaves as thin as you can and place the slices in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet. 
5. Reduce the oven heat to 300° F and bake them for about 15 minutes, then flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes, until crisp and deep golden.