Yesterday I drove out to the country to meet a blog-friend, Gill and a small group of women who were keen to learn about making prints on fabric using freezer-paper. I had a wonderful crafty time away from my own small people, driving for an hour alone in the car (listening to the Arts on Sunday programme uninterrupted- bliss...) and joining in with a new group of women talking about their lives and craft interests. I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is to be creative in a group- I am usually quite solitary in my work.
For organising the supplies, Gill very kindly gifted me this beautiful market bag, as well as some of her retro jam. I'm looking forward to using them both.
We've been doing baking this morning. My children love anything involving a rolling pin, and they each have their own small ones, so I made a batch of homemade crackers and they rolled some of the dough and cut it out into shapes. Not that different from play-dough really, except that the finished product is edible, of course.
We get through a lot of crackers in this house, so this is one of my favourite recipes to make during the week. I think it originally came from an Alison Holst Kitchen Diary belonging to my Mum in the 80's. The directions are for mixing the dough by hand, but I usually use a food processor, because I'm lazy.
Homemade crackers
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
50gm cold butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup cold water
toppings- rock salt, poppy or sesame seeds, cracked pepper, etc.
Sift together the dry ingredients, rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs, then gradually stir in water until a firm dough is achieved (you might not use all the water.) Knead the dough for a minute, and roll very thinly on a floured surface. At this point, you can sprinkle any topping- seeds, salt, pepper, etc over the dough, then roll it again to press them in. Cut the dough into rounds, or squares, transfer to a floured baking tray, and bake at 190 degrees Cel for 10-15 mins. Cool on a rack.
They're nice with butter or cheese.
