How I fell in love with crick cracks

Hello! Hello!

To state what most of you already know, I love to bake! I’m kind of an indiscriminate baker – I like baking all kinds of things and my standards are easy: If it’s delicious, I’m happy. But I reserve a special kind of “happy” for recipes that surprise me. I was surprised when Sasha’s Grated Apple Cake actually became a cake – it didn’t look promising when it went into the oven. I was surprised that the fun-to-make Goose Feet cookies puffed like puff pastry and brought back so many memories. I’m always surprised when I make something that I think can only be made by pros or machines – I was so proud of myself when I made English muffins. And I was happy – really happy – when I made the crackers with the most adorable name in crackerdom: Crick Cracks. I was happy because they were delicious; happy because I had a good time making them; happy because they made other people happy.

Mary Dodd, who tests all of my recipes, finished baking two batches and wrote on her notes to me: “These are delicious and taste like perfect store-bought crackers. I never thought I could make crackers that taste like good crackers from a cheese shop.” (Mary had the English-muffin brand of happiness – one of my favs.)

Michael Greenspan opened the box that just a few days earlier had held the Crick Cracks I’d made, found it empty and said in his best deadpan, “Well, I guess they were ok.” Then he mumbled something, and I caught the words “addictive” and “too good”. I don’t know if it made him feel better or not, but I let him know that he hadn’t polished off all 100 or so crackers solo – I’d happily munched my share.

The little savories got their final endorsement over the weekend, when Gemma gave them the thumbs up and added the word “crackers” to her vocabulary. A triumph!

I first tasted these at their source, Sofra Bakery & Café in Cambridge, MA, where Ana Sortun is Sofra’s chef and Maura Kilpatrick is the pastry chef. After I ate twice my weight in salad and sweets, I saw the Crick Cracks and that was it – love! In the chefs’ cookbook, SOFRAMIZ, Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes from Sofra Bakery & Café, Maura explains that the name for the crackers was invented by one of Ana’s mentors, Ayfer Unsal, whom she’d met in Turkey. Then she says, “After almost fifteen years of creating plated desserts at Oleana [that’s Ana’s original restaurant] and cookies, pies, and pastries here at Sofra, this is the recipe I am most proud of. Creating the perfect cracker was a big challenge, but the result is irresistible.”

There it was – the declaration that the cracker is perfect and irresistible. Mary, Michael and Gemma hadn’t read those words, but they knew it. I did, too.

There are many pleasures to be had with these bite-size morsels. There’s their texture – they’re flakey and crispy, but because they’re buttery, they’re tender too. And their flavor – rich, with a bit of tang from the buttermilk and a touch of sweetness from cornmeal. Also, they’re beautiful. And as good as they are eaten like a snack, they’re great with dips, spreads and cheese. Maura suggests using the dough to make Cheese and Honey Fatayer, a Lebanese hand-tart that in Maura’s version looks like hamantaschen. (You can find her recipe for Fatayer here, just keep scrolling.)

Bake, dip, spread and nibble. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday.

Adapted from SOFRAMIZ, Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes from Sofra Bakery & Café, by Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick

Plan ahead: This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment recipe – you need to chill the dough overnight and then again for another 4 hours the next day.

Rolling the dough: The dough is very easy to make and then slightly finicky to roll. The good news is that it’s forgiving. If it tears (mine did), it can be mended: just pinch the pieces together or smooth them over with a wet finger. If it sticks to the counter (as mine did), you can dust the surface with more flour. If it gets soft (as mine did), you can pop it into the refrigerator or freezer and work on a different piece. The dough seems indestructible and unflappable – mess it up a little here or there and it still turns out stellar crackers.

Pricking the dough: Maura’s instructions say to dock the dough – ie, prick it all over with the tines of a fork – so that the crackers don’t bubble. Mary pricked and I didn’t and we both got good crackers. Confession: I loved the little bumps and bubbles in my crackers. I loved them so much that I didn’t prick when I made the recipe again.

Cutting the dough: Just as I went rogue with the pricking, I cut the crackers unevenly and made them smaller than Maura suggested. Mary followed the directions and cut the crackers into 3-inch squares with a pizza cutter. I used a ruler as a straight-edge and cut crackers that were about half the specified size. I also used a ravioli cutter, so I got rick-rack crick cracks (couldn’t resist). Cut the crackers to any size that appeals to you and that will work with the way you want to serve them. The baking time is the same no matter what size you cut – it’s the thickness that makes the difference here.

The topping: Maura tops the crick cracks with salt and sesame and nigella seeds, “gluing” the topping on with water. Simple and delicious. The white and black seeds look pretty, but really, almost anything will look and taste good on these crackers. You could sprinkle the top with a different seed mixture: Mary used everything bagel topping and I made a batch with poppy seeds. Herbs would be good on top. And so would the lightest sprinkling of cheese. I scattered powdery Parmesan cheese over the sesame seeds and loved it. Play, play, play and make your own house cracker!

Makes about 1 pound of crackers, 3 dozen or more (depending on size)

For the dough:

For the topping:

To make the dough: Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. (Alternatively, you can make the dough in a large bowl with a sturdy hand mixer.) Add the bits of butter. Mix on low speed until the butter breaks down to almost invisible pieces; the mixture will resemble sand. Add the buttermilk. The dough will come together and be quite wet.

Lightly flour a work surface. Transfer the dough to the work surface and form it into a flat rectangle about 8 by 4 inches and about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Divide the dough into quarters – work with one piece at a time and keep the remaining dough in the fridge. Lightly flour a work surface and the top of the dough. Roll out the first quarter of the dough into a rectangle approximately 12 inches by 14 inches and 1/16 inch thick. Don’t worry about rolling the dough into a perfect rectangle; it is more important that it rolls out to the thickness. Keep dusting the work surface and the top of the dough with flour – it’s a soft, wet dough and needs flour (see above) – and turning the dough over to check that it’s not sticking.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of cornmeal. Carefully lift the rolled sheet of dough and place on the prepared baking sheet. Place another sheet of parchment paper on the top of the rolled dough on the baking sheet. Roll out the remaining pieces of dough, layering them on the baking sheet, each separated by parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal; cover the last piece of dough with a sheet of parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or for up to overnight. If you have room for the dough in your freezer, pop it in there – the dough is very soft, so the freezer is your friend here.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F.

To make the topping (see above): Combine the sesame and nigella seeds. Have a small bowl with cold water, a pastry brush and some kosher salt at hand.

Transfer one sheet of dough on parchment to a baking sheet. Leave the others in the refrigerator or freezer.

Using a dough docker or a fork, prick holes over the surface of the dough to prevent the dough from bubbling up as it bakes – or don’t (see above). Brush the dough with water (don’t overdo it). Sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon salt and about one-quarter of the seed mixture (no need to be exact here). Using a ruler, a pizza or ravioli cutter or a knife, cut the dough into 3-inch squares – or don’t (see above). Don’t worry about separating the crackers – they’ll do that themselves in the oven. When this batch goes into the oven, pull the next sheet of dough out of the refrigerator or freezer and top and cut it.

Bake, rotating the pan, until lightly browned, 15 to 17 minutes. Watch the first pan for exact timing. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the crackers cool on the sheet.

Continue baking the remaining dough.

STORING: The crackers will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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