Shatter-Thin Everything Bagel Crackers

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

All the flavor of a bakery everything bagel in a cracker you eat by the handful. A lightly yeasted, malt-sweetened dough gets rolled paper-thin, brushed with an alkaline baking-soda wash the way bagels get their boiling-water bath, then buried in a from-scratch everything blend with toasted sesame, poppy, garlic and onion. They bake in about 12 minutes and snap like glass.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 g), plus more for rolling
• 3/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tbsp barley malt syrup (or honey)
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup warm water (about 100°F), plus up to 1 tbsp more

• 1 tbsp white sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tbsp dried minced garlic
• 1 tbsp dried minced onion
• 1 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt, lightly crushed

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Make the dough: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant yeast and fine sea salt. In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir the barley malt syrup and olive oil into the 2/3 cup warm water until the syrup dissolves. Pour the liquid into the flour and stir with a fork, then switch to your hands, until a stiff, shaggy dough forms. Add up to 1 more tablespoon water only if the flour won't come together.
2. Turn the dough onto a clean counter and knead 4 to 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic — it should feel firm, like pizza dough, not sticky. Return it to the bowl, cover, and rest at room temperature for 45 minutes. It will not double; the rest is for flavor and for relaxing the gluten so it rolls thin.
3. While the dough rests, toast the seasoning: put the white and black sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat and toast, shaking constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the white seeds are pale gold and smell nutty. Slide them onto a plate to cool, then stir in the poppy seeds, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion and crushed flaky salt. Do not toast the garlic and onion — they scorch and turn bitter.
4. Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the upper third and another in the lower third. Stir the baking soda into the 1/2 cup warm water until dissolved; this alkaline wash mimics a bagel's boiling bath, giving deep browning and true bagel flavor.
5. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Keep 3 covered. On a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper cut to fit your baking sheet, roll one piece as thin as you possibly can — 1/16 inch, thin enough to see the parchment's texture through it, roughly 10 by 14 inches. If it springs back, let it sit 2 minutes and roll again.
6. Brush the sheet of dough evenly with the soda wash — damp, not puddled — then scatter about 2 tablespoons of the everything seasoning over the surface. Press the seeds in with your palms or give the dough one light pass with the rolling pin so they anchor and don't shake off after baking.
7. Cut the dough right on the parchment with a pizza wheel or knife into 1 1/2- to 2-inch squares or diamonds; no need to separate them. Prick each cracker once or twice with a fork to keep them from puffing, then slide the parchment onto a baking sheet.
8. Bake 10 to 14 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through, until the crackers are golden brown with darker edges and completely dry in the center. Thinner spots brown first — pull any dark ones off with tongs and give the rest another minute or two. Underbaked crackers go soft as they cool, so err toward deep gold.
9. Repeat with the remaining three pieces of dough, rolling and seasoning one while another bakes. If you have two sheet pans, bake two at a time on the upper and lower racks and swap their positions halfway through.
10. Cool the crackers completely on a rack — 10 minutes — then snap them apart along the cut lines. They crisp up fully as they cool. Serve plain, or with whipped cream cheese, smoked salmon or a soft goat cheese.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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