Dan Lepard's Extra Thin Rye Crispbreads

Lunch - home made crispbread, yogurt, beetroot and cucumber

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how I needed to give up baking and start watching what I eat as I've gone a bit mad on the baking front over the last week.  That's not to say that all I've done is eat cakes and bakes - but reading my blog over Easter week, you'd think I had.

Yesterday I posted about how I also need to watch my consumption of certain things.  Wheat and Rye are both on the exclusion list.

So what did I decide to do today?  Make something packed with spinach?  Nope.  I made Dan Lepard's version of Ryvita.  I bought the rye flour last week with a view of also at some point in space and time giving his sourdough recipe a go.  And despite the fact that I'm not supposed to eat rye (in truth, I forgot this until I wrote yesterday's post), I thought that the low fat benefits of my chosen lunch far outweighed the potential for other nasty side effects.  I may come to regret that assumption later.

As a child, my favourite treat when we visited Tyrrell and Green's tea rooms (a real old-fashioned tea-room in a Seventies department store) was to have two Ryvita with a chocolate milkshake.  Goodness knows why when there were stunning seventies cakes on offer.  Or toasted Mother's Pride slathered in butter.  I think it was something to do with being able to spread butter on the dimply side and then pick it out with my fingers.  Whilst recalling that memory, I had to chuckle to myself because I now complain about Miss A eating butter straight from the little portion packs when I take her out for a cheese scone.  Like mother, like daughter.

Posh flour

Anyway, Lepard states that he can make these from start to finish in just 20 minutes.  As I was working from home, this seemed like a perfect lunch break activity.  I get thirty minutes.  20 minutes to create, ten minutes to eat.  He mentions that the dough is sticky and needs lots of flouring, but he also says that it's easier to roll than it sounds.  My first three were a bit of a disaster but the second batch in the picture were much better.

The flour is pleasingly Ryvita-like.  In fact it looks just like someone has just ground up a whole load of Ryvita and packed them in a posh brown paper bag.  You then add some butter, salt, sugar milk and baking powder to form a very soft dough that looks a bit like mushed up Weetabix (I'm really not selling it here, am I?) and then roll it out into thin slices before drying out in the oven.

Given that I only had a short period to make them, I managed six and a picture (and also fielded several calls from work while I was at it).  The first three were a  little soft for my liking so I whacked the heat up a notch because my cooker is a little fickle.  The second batch were more crispy and very tasty.

I had intended to top some with seeds or chilli flakes but a payroll-is-broken-and-nobody-is-getting-paid-this-month crisis meant that I forgot to do that bit.  Would definitely make again if I was home and had the time and was after a healthy lunch.  Served with Greek yogurt sprinkled with chives, beetroot and cucumber slices it was really pleasant.  I'm sure they'd work well with anything you would care to stick on a Ryvita.  Other crisp bread brands are available.

Work in progress

A little later in the day, I then made a few more.  The dough was easier to work with and stuck a lot less once it had time to 'mature' although it still needed a significant amount of flour to stop it affixing itself to the rolling pin.  I also discovered a wooden rolling pin is a better option than a non-stick one.  Go figure!  As I'd already inadvertantly pre-heated my baking tray in the oven whilst cooking tea for Miss A and the husband, I placed the second batch on a scalding hot tray and baked at 170c (fan).  This time, they were crisper and had a lovely brown bottom - obviously from the existing heat from the tray which had been warmed to 200c (fan) first.

I made a slightly thicker one so I could make it all dimpley - the end of a lemon reamer is a great tool for this job.  And I sprinkled some sesame seeds and chilli flakes on a few but those didn't stick and just fell all over the worktop when i was removing them from the oven.

The recipe makes 16-18 and they work out at around 60 cals per slice.  Slightly higher in calories than branded crisp breads, but then they're lovingly homemade.  And isn't that the point?

I couldn't find the recipe online so if you own a copy of Short and Sweet, I'd suggest making them.  And if you don't, why don't you?