These are EXTRAORDINARY:

HERBED PARMESAN CRACKERS

Makes about 40-50 crackers

Ingredients

8 Tbs (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Parmigiano reggiano
1 Tbs fresh, chopped oregano
1 Tbs fresh, finely chopped rosemary
1 Tbs fresh-milled pepper, medium grind
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl or in the food processor, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add the cheese, herbs, pepper and egg yolk and mix well. Add enough of the water to form a dough that will hold together in a cohesive ball. The texture will be somewhat crumbly, but the dough will hold together when pressed.

Divide the dough into 2 equal portions for rolling.

On a floured surface or pastry cloth, roll each into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out individual crackers about 2 inches across with a cookie cutter or sharp knife and arrange them on an un-greased baking sheet. Prick each cracker 2 or 3 times with the tines of a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the crackers over and bake another 5 to 10 minutes, or until medium brown. Cool the crackers on a rack.

SAVORY HERB BISCOTTI

Makes about 80 small cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp dried thyme leaves
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried rosemary, finely chopped
4 large eggs
2 Tbs honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.

Combine all dried ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Add eggs, honey, and mix to combine.

Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a cylinder about 12 inches long.

Arrange cylinders of dough on the prepared cookie sheets, flatten them slightly.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until they are firm and slightly golden. Cool them on baking sheets on wire racks.

Lower the oven temperature to 325°F. Cut the cooled logs into thin slices, about 1/4-inch thick. Place the cut biscotti on prepared baking sheets, and bake for about 20 minutes or until they are dry and golden.

Allow biscotti to cool on baking sheets for a couple of minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

Joe

Lars makes some that look so good it makes me hungry!

Here's his recipe...but you have to see the photo...Lars...where are you? Your photo pretty please.

Lars' Flatbread
Ingredients
1-1/3 cups water (lukewarm)
2 tbsp dried malt extract
1 tbsp dry yeast (or one package)
1/2 cup oatbran
1/2 cup rice bran
1/2 cup rice flour (optional)
1-2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seed oil
2 tsp sea salt
3 to 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour

Toppings:
1 egg + 1 tbsp water (for brushing on top of dough)
garlic powder
onion granules
caraway seeds
poppy seeds
sesame seeds

Pour lukewarm water into KitchenAid mixer bowl and add malt extract. If you use liquid extract, you will have to double the amount and use less water. Whisk in yeast until all is dissolved. Then stir in oat bran, rice bran, and rice flour. I added in rice flour by accident the first time, thinking it was rice bran and then had to add the rice bran on top of that! I think the rice flour actually helped the texture, and so I left it in the subsequent batches.
Allow this mixture to rest for half an hour or more, and then add the oils. You can add less oil if you want a harder cracker. Then add 2 to 2-1/2 cups flour that has been sifted with the salt, and put the bowl in the machine with the dough hook. Mix at high speed (with the splash guard on) until blended. Then add flour in small increments until the dough makes a ball that is not too sticky. Finish kneading by hand, or simply place in a bowl that is lightly greased with olive oil, and allow to rise for a couple of hours, or leave it in the refrigerator covered overnight. I let my dough rise twice.

Preheat oven to 375°. Pinch of balls of dough about 2-1/2 to 3" diameter and roll the dough on a wooden board into a somewhat rectangular shape about as thin as possible. Make the shape fit the shape of the baking sheet you will be using. Prick the dough all over with a fork or similar tool and brush lightly with egg wash. Dust very lightly with garlic powder and onion granules. You dont want this to be too heavy. Sprinkle caraway seeds (if desired), about two per square inch. You dont need many of these, and it is easy for them to be overpowering. Then sprinkle poppy seeds evenly over, as desired and finish with the sesame seeds. Its better not to overdo the seed toppings (especially the caraway), but I havent had a problem with the poppy seeds so far.

Pat the seeds into the dough with your fingers and then cut the dough in quarters vertically and then horizontally using a pizza cutter or ravioli cutter. I only have a ravioli cutter, and I had to dodge the caraway seeds, or else the wheel would get stuck.

Transfer the dough, using a metal spatula, onto an ungreased baking sheet, and bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes, or until toasty in appearance. You will need to watch them closely towards the end, as they will burn easily, once they are done. I use a toaster over for most of them, but sometimes I bake them in the regular oven until almost done and then finish the untoasted ones in a toaster oven at a lower temperature about 350° for 2-5 minutes. You can always toast underdone ones later, if you want to, and add cheese to them at that point.
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This may seem like a lot of effort, but it is really very simple and doesnt take that much time, until you get to the baking stage. I think the results are worth it, and you can vary the toppings so that the batches are not all the same. Ruthannas idea of using onion juice for part of the water is a good one, but I havent done that yet.

SharonCb

My brother and I are no longer doing web hosting, and so I haven't yet re-uploaded my photos. We have some domain names reserved and will be putting up new web pages fairly soon, but we aren't there yet.

As for my cracker recipe... I've made it quite a few times, and it is based loosely on some crackers that I had in Sonoma. If you don't have malt, you can substitute 1 tbsp sugar, but the malt gives it a better flavor. I bought a dough docker to make these easier to make, but a fork works fine. I generally vary the toppings on mine, depending on my mood.

Thanks for posting the recipe - I did notice a typo or two, however! I would be interested to know if anyone ever made this recipe. I made it up using the ingredients on the package of crackers from Sonoma as a guide. If I could buy those crackers here, I probably wouldn't make my own!

Lars

Okay Lars....I found your photo after doing a search on my drive. I had saved it together with your recipe in another place on my computer.
They still look so good and crunchy, but I haven't yet made them.

SharonCb

I used to make the following two recipes quite a lot when my kids were teenagers. I had to - they kept disappearing at an alarming rate!

Water Biscuits
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
30g butter
pinch salt
water

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, rub in butter. Add enough water to make a firm dough. Roll out several times, making the last rolling as thin as possible. Cut into small rounds, place on an oven tray and prick with a fork. Bake at 230°C until golden brown. Use as a base for hors doeuvres, dips, or serve spread with butter.

Variations:
Add 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper to the dough before rolling out, or sprinkle rounds with paprika, curry powder, celery salt or garlic salt before baking.

Cheese Savouries
1/3 cup grated cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch cayenne pepper

Sift flour, salt and cayenne into a bowl, add cheese, then work in the butter. Mix to a stiff paste with the well-beaten egg. Roll out thinly on a floured surface. Cut into small rounds. Bake on a greased oven tray at 180°C for about 15 minutes. When cold, serve with cheese or dips.

Variations:
Omit cayenne pepper and add 1 teaspoon dry mustard.

Omit cheddar cheese and add 1 cup grated blue cheese.

Add 1/3 cup finely chopped chives and 1/4 cup finely chopped onion.

Add 1/4-1/3 cup chopped bacon.

Add 1 tablespoon caraway seeds.

Add 1/3 cup chopped pecans.

Add 1/3 cup chopped pumpkin kernels.

Dust basic recipe or any of the variations in any of the following: toasted sesame seeds, poppy seeds, equal amounts of paprika and parmesan cheese, equal amounts of curry powder and coconut, toasted coconut, cracked black pepper.

These are wonderful! I'll link the Martha Stewart recipe...

Thyme Crackers
Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients
* 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
* 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh thyme, plus small sprigs for garnish
* Coarse salt
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse the flour, thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. With machine running, add cream; process until dough forms.
2. On a lightly floured surface, briefly knead dough. Divide into 4 pieces; shape into rectangles. Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of dough into a very thin rectangle. Transfer to a baking sheet. Score the dough into 4-by-2-inch diamonds. Brush with egg white, and sprinkle with salt. Garnish each diamond with a thyme sprig. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bake until golden brown and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Break diamonds into individual crackers.

Oooh! I do! I do!

Love love love this recipe for seeded or rosemary crackers from Fine Cooking...

Seeded Crackers

For the topping:
1 tbs. sesame seeds
2 tsp. poppy seeds
2 tsp. fennel or caraway seeds (I used fennel)
3/4 tsp. kosher salt (I used sea salt)

For the dough:
6 3/4 oz. or 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
2 oz. scant 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. table salt (I just used kosher; I don't have table salt)
3 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil (but not your best. the flavor doesn't really come through)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 450F.

Stir the seeds together in a small bowl. Fill another small bowl with water and set it aside along with a pastry brush and the kosher (or sea) salt.

In a large bowl, whisk the ap flour, w.w. flour and salt together. Add the olive oil and 1/2 cup water to the flour; stir with a rubber spatula until it collects into a soft crumbly ball of dough. Use the spatula or your hands to press the dough against the sides of the bowl to gather all the stray flour. (At this point, I let the dough rest ten minutes or so, which makes the first roll easier.

Set the dough on a lightly floured work surface and portion it into thirds. Pat each portion into a square. Set two squares aside and cover with a clean towel. Roll the remaining dough into a rectangle about 1/16 inch thick and 7 or 8 inches wide by 14 or 15 inches long. (It's pretty important to get to 1/16 inch; otherwise the crackers will not crisp up properly.) Whenever you feel resistance, lift up one edge of the dough and sprinkle more flour underneath before you continue rolling. [Note that a pasta maker works GREAT for rolling this dough out]

With a pastry brush, brush the dough lightly iwth water and sprinkle about a third of the seed mix evenly over the surface. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt. With a dough scraper, pizza cutter, ravioli cutter, or sharp knife, cut the dough in half lengthwise and then cut across to make rectangles roughly 2 by 4 inches. Don't bother trimming the edges; rustic edges add character. (I trimmed a little bit; my edges were not as nice as theirs were). Transfer to an unlined baking sheet. Bake until nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

While each batch is baking, clean your work surface as needed and repeat the rolling and cutting with the remaining portions of dough. Store the cooled crackers in a zip-top plastic bag. They'll keep for up to a week.
(Do make sure they are well-browned and if they bend easily, leave them in for a minute or so longer.

Rosemary Variation:
Add 2 tbs. chopped fresh rosemary to the dry ingredients in the dough. Skip the seed topping and instead sprinkle each batch of crackers with 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt.

These all sound so good :-) I might just have to try making some biscotti :-)

I made Walnut Thyme Biscotti yesterday. They're so good, especially when wrapped with a bit of Prosciutto de Parma!

Walnut Thyme Biscotti
Try different combinations of nuts and herbs in these savory biscotti.

1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cheese, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, sugar, thyme, and basil. Stir in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts. Shape dough on baking sheet into a 12-inch-long log. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and firm in center. Remove log from oven. Cool log about 15 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 300 F.

Slice log crosswise diagonally into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Arrange slices on wire cooling racks and return to oven for 10 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KNH/is_6_9/ai_80206353/pg_2/

Lori

Yum! I made regular almond ones and dipped them in chocolate. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I think biscotti might be my soul-mate baked good. They're SUPPOSED to turn out hard and flat!

lars, are those lavash type crackers ?

Mitch, yes they are a type of lavash cracker. I suppose you could use lavash bread and put the egg wash and toppings on to get a similar result, but I haven't tried that yet. Normally, I only use lavash bread with hummus, but I have toasted it as well.

Lars