Sourdough discard cracker with chive blossoms
One of my favourite spring greens are chives, and I love watching them blossom. These flavourful, purple flowers are the secret to this sourdough discard cracker recipe.
Gardening is one of my passions, but considering the time and energy required to maintain one, I mostly plant edible species. As a self-proclaimed floravore, I can vouch that there are many benefits to including edible flowers in your garden. Not only do they add wonderful coloring to the landscape, but they can also attract a larger array of pollinators. There exists a wide range of edible flowers, whose flavours range from sweet to peppery, and everything in between. A personal favourite is the onion-y tang of chives. Chives, like green onions, leeks, and garlic, are part of the allium genus. Every part of these plants are edible, from its roots to its petals.
Chives are amongst my first perennials to pop out of the ground, bringing fresh, verdant flavour to my kitchen. Like most alliums, the papery thin flowers are clustered in dense spherical umbels. Bees love these delicate purple pom-poms, and so should you! They look and taste great in salads, pasta, eggs, compound butter, and they are the key ingredient in my sourdough discard cracker recipe. (Protip: Try replacing the wild garlic in this recipe with chives and chive blossoms.)
I employ a lamination technique using a pasta roller to sandwich the edible flower petals between two thin sheets of cracker dough. The aesthetic is striking when paired with other, larger edible petals like viola (violets and Johnny Jump-Ups). Also, you can incorporate the chive blossoms directly into the dough when mixing, and sprinkle extra on top before baking.
Sourdough discard cracker with chive blossoms
130g water
80g sourdough discard or spent levain
180g whole grain flour
80g AP flour
7g fine sea salt
Two dozen chive flower petals and other edible flowers such as violas or herbs.
Mix all the ingredients together (except the flowers if you are using the laminated technique).
Place the dough in a covered medium-size bowl.
Every 30 minutes, for 2 hours, stretch and fold the dough 2-3x.
Leave the dough out overnight (if your house is like mine and gets to about15°C) or place it in the fridge.
Lamination technique*: The next day, flour your work surface with whole grain flour, cut the dough into two pieces and roll out the dough until it fits into your pasta roller at the largest setting.
After the last pass through the pasta roller, brush on a little bit of water on half the length and generously sprinkle on the edible flowers.
Place on a baking sheet, cut into desired shapes and brush on melted butter.
Bake at 425°F for 8-15 minutes, until golden brown. Keep a close eye on them!!
Depending on your filling, you might need to further dehydrate or re-crisp your crackers.
After baking all the dough, simply put it back in the oven and bake with the door ajar at 200°F for 10-15minutes longer.
Let cool on a wire rack and store in a sealable container.
Rolling pin technique: Divide the dough into 6 pieces.
flour your work surface with whole grain flour and roll out as thinly as possible.
Place on a baking sheet, brush lightly with water and sprinkle chive flower petals.
*Rolling pin technique: Divide the dough into 6 pieces.
flour your work surface with whole grain flour and roll out as thinly as possible.
Place on a baking sheet, brush lightly with water and sprinkle chive flower petals.
Repeat for remaining dough and bake in batches.
Bake according to instructions above.
