Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Crackers

The gluten-free, dairy-free cracker market is not particularly exciting. Wellness Warehouse and Spar both have some options made from all sorts of flours. Problem is - along with the gluten-free flour, they contain a list of crappy ingredients, none of which benefit your health in any way.

The alternative is rice crackers. I've been eaten plenty of 'em. But it's basically consuming empty, airy, useless carbs. Meh.

Now, the idea of being gluten-free is not to substitute every gluten-containing product you previously ate with a gluten-free alternative. 

This is a really important. Being gluten-free is about taking care of your gut and microbiome by eliminating the foods from your diet that creates inflammation in your gut. So, by feeding your body so many other substitutes don't feel right, does it? 

Then you get these: 

Heleen Mills Gluten Free
 

These seed crackers from Woolies are great... except for:

  • The extortionate price! R40 bucks for 5 crackers? Please man.
  • Also, these ones have dairy in 'em. The listed ingredients are: Water, Sunflower seeds, Sesame seeds, Parmesan cheese (6%) (Contains: Milk, Salt, Microbial rennet, Egg protein), Linseeds, Pumpkin seeds, Psyllium husk, Salt.
  • They're tasteless. No herbs. Sigh. 
 
 

So, for some time now I've been playing with the idea of making my own crackers. I have all the right seeds after experimenting with this. All that was missing was the psyllium husks, which I luckily ran into at the Atlas Trading Store in the Bo-Kaap last week. So, this morning I figured that I'll give it a go.

After briefly reading some recipes, I gave it a crack. Ha. It went something like this:

  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 0.5 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 0.5 cup linseeds
  • 0.25 - 0.5 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons chia 
  • 3 tablespoons psyllium husks

Mix that. 

  • Melt 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • Add 300ml water

Mix it all together and let it stand for 10 - 15mins. It becomes goo-y. 

  • I halved the mix and spiced one half with Za'atar and the other half with Oregano (*wanted to use Rosemary, but had none in the cupboard)
  • Put the oven on 150 / 160 ish. Get 2 baking trays and baking paper. 
  • To flatten the mix on the tray, use another baking sheet and a roller. Using only a spoon doesn't work. 
  • Using a knife, cut 'em or create cutting lines. You can't do this afterwards... it will be like trying to cut a Provita. 
  • Bake for 20 - 30mins. Pull em out, and flip them around so the bottom side's on top for about 10mins. 

That's pretty much it.  Now you have gluten-free & dairy-free crackers, sans all the nasty ingredients, to put some avo on :) 

Bio Hacking, Gluten FreeHeleen Mills1 Comment