Tartine's Sourdough Crispbreads
Adapted from Tartine Book No 3: "Modern Ancient Classic Whole" by Chad Robertson (from http://mydiscoveryofbread.blogspot.com/)

Faith: I had these crispbreads at a party given by a colleague at work, Bob Herring. His wife, Maria, made these using a pasta machine. They were so thin and just delicious. So good, I took one home and looked up this recipe.

Crispbread is a flat, dry bread or cracker mainly made from delicious rye flour. It has a distinctive bubbly texture and knobbly appearance. Its relatively bland flavor makes it perfect for toppings from cream cheese to smoked salmon. Crispbread or "knäckebröd" ("bread which can be broken") is a popular food in Scandinavian countries. Traditional crispbread is unleavened, but some recipes now use fresh or dry yeast or even sourdough to aid the formation of air pockets in the dough.

Because of its dry texture, crispbread has a longer shelf life than most other breads. You can store the cooled crispbread in an airtight container for up to one week.

Leaven
0.5 tablespoon mature starter
20 grams unbleached flour (550)
20 grams water

Place the mature starter in a bowl and feed it with flour and water. Cover the bowl with a lid and let the starter rise overnight.

Dough
42 grams mature leaven
142 grams warm water
142 grams unbleached flour (550)
85 grams spelt flour
57 grams whole wheat flour
20 grams wheat germ
7 grams salt

Toppings
sesame seed (black and white)
nigella
flax seed
flaky sea salt

I tested the leaven with the float test (a bit floats on the water).

Pour warm water into a large bowl. Add the leaven and stir to disperse. Add the flours. Use your hands to mix the dough until all of the dry bits of flour have been incorporated. So I wet my hand and worked the dough until no dry bits of flour remained. Let the dough rest for 25 to 40 minutes. Then add the salt and knead it until incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a plastic container with lid. Leave for bulk fermentation for 2 hours. Every 40 minutes stretch and fold the dough (stretches a corner of the dough onto the main dough, fold it like an envelope). I placed the dough in the refrigerator for the night. The next morning I took it out and let it adjust to the room temperature.

Chad describes how he makes the crispbreads by hand, but he also mentions the use of a pasta machine. I made my choice and used the pasta machine. I divided the dough in 4 portions. I flattened the dough with my hands before I fed it through the machine.

I fed it through no 7 each time I gave it a nod. Chad goes all the way to no 1 on the machine. I stopped at no 2. It gave evenly thin sheet of dough, which I still could handle with some care.

I sprayed the sheet with some water and sprinkled the seeds and flaked salt on top. With a plastic bag I rolled the seeds and salt into the dough.

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (425°F).

Bake the sheets 10 – 15 minutes, until golden brown. It can brown quickly, so keep a close eye on the color. Place the baked sheets on a wire rack to cool. When you are finished with all the sheets, lower the temperature to 95°C (200°F). Collect all sheets and place them back in the oven. Even though the crispbreads are baked, they still need to be further dehydrated and crisped. Leave the door slightly ajar and bake 10 – 15 minutes longer until thoroughly dehydrated. They should not darken in color.

Transfer them to wire rack to cool completely. Place broken pieces in an airtight container to keep them crisp. You can re-crisp them by heating in a 150°C (300°F) oven for 10 – 12 minutes.

Makes 8 big crispbreads