Three Seed Crackers and Mushroom Dip

I think I might need a flour intervention.

Saturday morning I counted, and I have four types of wheat flour. FOUR. All-Purpose, Cake, Whole Wheat, and White Whole Wheat. All from King Arthur, of course. If you don’t use King Arthur Flour, you really should. It’s the secret to really fantastic baked goods, and once you use King Arthur you won’t go back. All of their wheat is grown and processed in the US, and their flour is always unbleached and unbromated. You don’t really want to eat bleach, do you? No I don’t work for them, I just really, really love the company, their products, their recipes, and the website. So back to flour–I also have almond meal and cornmeal, and multi-grain baking mix. Oh, and did I mention I ordered a 25 pound bag of All-Purpose Sunday morning? Yeah, I might be close to the point of intervention.

So why would anyone possibly count their bags of flour? Well Saturday morning was cracker time at the Ratskellar. There was a blogger meetup scheduled for Saturday night, and I had been too slow on the draw to claim a sweet item on the potluck list. But I was still determined to bake, so crackers it was! I went to pull out the two types of flour I needed to make the crackers (All-Purpose and White Whole Wheat) and I think it took me three trips to the pantry to get the right combination of flour bags! And then it hit me, if I kept pulling out the wrong sacks, maybe there was a flour problem. And then I counted. Eek. A bit startled at the revelation, I just closed the pantry door and went back to my baking and my coffee. I use them all, so it’s okay, right?

Crackers weren’t the only thing I had planned for meetup. I also had mushroom dip, which I had just been waiting for an excuse to make since I saw Deb make it back in December. Mushrooms + Shallots + Butter/Wine/Cream = OMG DELISH!

But sadly for my Baltimore Food Blogger Friends and Sweet Mary (who I’m sure did lots and lots of prep for our arrival) Mother Nature had other plans for Saturday. Instead of that dusting of snow the TV folks had been calling for, we ended up with more like 6 inches of snow (Mr. Foot was right!) and woefully bad roads and negative visibility. So we postponed meetup and some usual suspects helped to eat the crackers and dip. I was sad not to see everyone, but happy not to be on the roads!

Three Seed Crackers
Adapted from the King Arthur Website (I told you I love it–it’s a fantastic recipe resource!)

These crackers remind me of the fancy flatbreads that you can buy at the store–crispy, crunchy, and full of flavor. The seeds that load down these guys make them especially tasty and surprisingly filling. And the mix of All-Purpose and White Whole Wheat gives these another element of nutty flavor. You could probably substitute regular whole wheat for the white whole wheat, but don’t try with only all purpose–you’ll lose a critical flavor element!

Ingredients:

Crackers

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder or sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons raw sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Topping

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, midget preferred
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup flax seeds

Directions:

To make the dough: Mix and knead together all of the cracker ingredients (except the seeds) to a smooth, fairly stiff dough. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of water if the dough is dry.

Knead in the seeds. Then let the dough rise, covered, for 60 to 90 minutes, until it’s expanded a bit. Dough should spring back when touched.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time on a well floured surface, roll it into a 16″ x 11″ rectangle, about 1/8″ thick. Sprinkle each half with 1/4 of the topping seeds, pressing them in with a rolling pin. Turn the dough over and repeat with the remaining topping seeds. If the seeds won’t stick, brush the dough with water and gently roll your pin over the dough to work seeds in.

Cut crackers into strips. Place cut crackers on a lightly greased baking sheet. Prick all over with a fork. Let rise for about 30 minutes; the dough will get just a bit puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the crackers are a medium-deep brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

Mushroom Dip
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This dip is fantastic and in my book it tastes like a trip to France. Melt on your tongue mushrooms, butter, shallots, cream–I felt like Julia was looking over my shoulder as I whipped this up in a Paris kitchen, even though I was really in snowy East Baltimore. This is best eaten when it’s hot, but you can rewarm it with a bit of extra cream. And if you’re serving a crowd you might want to double the recipe below, because this goes fast!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large or 2 small shallots, chopped
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Clean excess dirt from mushrooms–don’t skip this step because mushrooms like this are typically grown on manure! Slice mushrooms in half lengthwise and brush away any grit; chop into 1/4-inch pieces.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until very limp, about three minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes. Add wine, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for five minutes more. Don’t worry about the mushrooms becoming overly brown–they’ll stew nicely in that bit of wine. Don’t lift the lid though, all of the moisture needs to stay in!

Remove lid and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until most of the remaining liquid has evaporated, about two minutes. Stir in cream; simmer until slightly thickened and light brown, two minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Be nice to your friends and neighbors and don’t wolf all of this immediately. But if they get distracted by something silly like this, then feel free to eat as much as you want!

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