Chickpea Crackers

St. Patrick's Day was on Purim this year, so I had to make a choice.  And since the religion I practice takes precedence over the one I don't, Purim's vegan theme won out.  I haven't made baba ghannouj in a long time, so I had that with fresh veggies from the garden, nuts, dates, and olives.  I still needed some kind of bread, and decided to kill off the last of the chickpea flour in the freezer.

I've never made crackers, at least not intentionally.  I've definitely never made them gluten-free.  The use of chickpea flour seemed like a great accompaniment to a tahini-based dip.  I settled on the recipe from Elephantastic Vegan because she gives detailed instructions and ways to fix the recipe.  She's even updated it several times as it has been perfected, instead of letting a flawed recipe stand.

I was going to give these a :) rating, but they really are easy.  I was just making them the day after I gashed a finger rather badly and probably should have gone to get it professionally patched up.  I'm a bit accident prone.  It's all about paying attention.  I don't do that, never have.

Her recipe includes black sesame seeds as the garnish.  I chose poppy seeds instead because I have a full jar of them.  You could use flax seeds, dried herbs, or any other spice you like as an accent flavor, or even leave them plain.

In a massively unusual move for me, I'm increasing the salt content.  She must have been using table salt instead of kosher.  Without dip, these were kind of bland.

*1 C chickpea flour
*1 Tb sesame or other seed or dried herb
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp plus sprinkling)
1 tsp coconut oil, melted
3-4 Tb water

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  In a bowl, stir together chickpea flour, seeds, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt.

2.  Stir in melted coconut oil and 2 Tb water.  The mixture will start to clump and get crumbly.  Add another tablespoon and it might come together.  If not, add a fourth.  Knead briefly, until the dough sticks together properly without being overly sticky.  Pretty sure I put in too much water, because mine was sticky.

3.  Pour out dough onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Cover with another sheet, and roll thin between the two.  And I mean very thin.  Some of my pieces were slightly over 2 mm thick, and they were quite hard.  Get these as thin as you can.

4.  Carefully peel off top piece of parchment.  Using a pizza cutter, cut shapes of desired size.  Slide parchment onto a baking sheet.  If desired, sprinkle tops with salt and/or spices, seeds, or herbs.

5.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, until firm.  Allow to cool, then break into pieces along the scoring lines.

Makes about 4-6 servings

Difficulty rating  π