Olive, Tomato and Basil Sourdough Crispbread (or Crackers)

When you've got nice dips and cheese, you want something to scoop them from their containers and into your mouth. There is a fantastic recipe by Katie for sourdough crackers, but I wanted them there and then (or at least soon) and I hadn't added flour to starter 7 hours ago. You can't just pour your starter into the baking tray, because it's too liquid. Or can you? I like sourdough pancakes or crepes, because I don't have to plan in advance, I just mix up some starter with an egg and then pour the batter into a frying pan. Burst of inspiration and primary school-style curiosity. So I made my batter as usual but minus the sweet additions, then once I cooked my pancake, I cut it up and placed it on the baking tray to crisp up. It worked perfectly!

So if you need a shortcut, or shorter-cut at least...

Anyway, I topped mine with some slow-dried cherry tomatoes, black olives, plain yogurt, and fresh basil leaves. THEN as I bit through all those flavours, I thought why not flavour the crispbread/crackers with this combination?

So I chopped up the tomatoes and black olives, grated some parmesan, and added some dried basil to...THREE types of batter. One with egg white, one with egg yolk, one with both. Might as well make it a proper experiment since I already got myself into it.

Olive, Tomato and Basil Sourdough Crispbread/Cracker

Ingredients

1/4 cup starter

1 egg white OR 1 egg yolk OR 1/2 egg (check below for verdict. I recommend the 1/2 egg.)

small amount of grated parmesan

1 tbsp finely chopped slow-dried cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp finely chopped black olives

pinch of salt, pepper, dried basil

1 tbsp unrefined palm oil (or you can use coconut oil. or olive oil even. but I think palm oil helped it to crisp up?)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

1. Mix all the ingredients together except the oil to make a batter.

2. Over medium heat, melt palm oil in the pan, swirl about, then pour the batter in.

3. Cook for about 2 min till set, then flip and cook for another 1 min.

4. Cut into desired shapes. Arrange on a baking tray without overlapping. Put into oven for 20 min till crisp.

My experimental crispbreads.

Verdict:

(from left to right) Results of egg white batter, egg batter, egg yolk batter

The one with both yolk and white gives an in between result. It's more like a crispbread. Bit more depth to the flavour than no yolk.

The one with the yolk gives an almost biscuit-y texture, because the batter's quite dense, you get a very thick "pancake". After baking, when you bite into it, you get a "crunch" instead of a "crack".. do I make sense?

The whipped egg white one gives you a cracker, because the batter's more runny, you get a thinner "pancake/crepe", and crispier result after baking. But (I find) less flavourful?

This is how a "crack" looks:

Lastly, if you don't put them into the oven at all, you get a yummy gently tangy flatbread that actually works great for dips too! For that I recommend the egg white one because it feels lighter and has less..egginess? so the flavours are less confused.

Ok that's all. My old science teacher would be proud.

UPDATE: The crispbreads/crackers don't stay crispy till the next day, so you'll have to pop them back in the oven. I guess that's why you shouldn't do last minute work, but still, if you didn't prep your dough the day before, and will munch them up at a go anyway ..why not hehe.