This is it: Day 12 of The 12 Days of Crackers and the final in the olive oil cracker series. When I was coming up with ideas for flavoring all these crackers, I took stock of my spice selection. To put it bluntly, it is a vast assortment; the accumulations of multiple development projects, travel adventures and an irresistible urge to buy interesting things. Digging through a cabinet, I noticed I had 4 or 6 different bottles of Japanese seasonings, the majority in the togarashi family. I should probably use them.
In a sense, togarashi reminds me of za’atar. Technically togarashi is a small, hot red Japanese chili pepper but it’s also part of a traditional seasoning blend by the same name that commonly contains seaweed, orange zest, ginger, and sesame seeds. It’s delicious and seeing all the bottles on my shelf made me realize I should use it more. I have a rather traditional one, a version that is very spicy with wasabi crunchy things, one with bonito flakes and another with yuzu (a Japanese citrus). You can probably find it at regular grocery stores and certainly online but for fun, stroll down the seasoning aisle of your local Asian market and check out the endless varieties. If you’re unsure which direction to take, start with the traditional.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of a togarashi cracker. A little umami and spice would work well with the crispy olive oil cracker. I chose the most traditional of the bunch and got started. Along with some of the togarashi, I added cayenne and salt to the base dough for flavor. To the top, I sprinkled more togarashi, sesame seeds and a pinch of salt. Delicious! Keep in mind, what you add will depend heavily on your blend. If it’s a spicy one, maybe skip the cayenne. If it’s sesame heavy, maybe you don’t need the extra seeds on top. Your call.
And now we’re at the end of another season of 12 Days of this or that. I hope you enjoyed – and made! – some of these crackers. Or maybe you made a bunch of cookies from my past posts. Or maybe you did nothing. That’s cool too. Do what you need to do to enjoy the holiday season. Now go put your feet up and have a glass a wine and toast yourself. You got this. Happy Holidays!
To start: base cracker doughs
Day 1: Cheddar Old Bay Crackers
Day 2: Blue Cheese & Fig Crackers
Day 3: Goat Cheese & Chive Crackers
Day 4: Parmesan & Rosemary Crackers
Day 5: Mediterranean Olive Shortbread
Day 6: Apricot & Tarragon Shortbread
Day 7: Savory Shortbread Thumbprints
Day 8: Lemon Herbes de Provence Shortbread
Day 9: Everything Spice Olive Oil Crackers
Day 10: Za’atar Parmesan Olive Oil Crackers
Day 11: Piment d’Esplette Olive Oil Crackers
TOGARASHI OLIVE OIL CRACKERS
Makes 6 sheets of crackers
Taste your togarashi and adjust your ingredient additions based on the blend i.e., more/less heat, salt, sesame, etc.
¼ batch olive oil cracker base dough, room temperature
3 Tablespoons togarashi, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
additional kosher or flaky salt for topping
olive oil, for brushing
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF and line several sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, break the base dough into several small pieces.
- Add half of the togarashi and all of the cayenne and salt; mix on low until everything starts to work in – maybe 30-60 seconds or so. Do not overmix.
- Turn the dough onto the counter and knead a few times to incorporate all the seasoning (including anything remaining in the bottom of the bowl.)
- Divide the dough six pieces. Work with one piece, keeping the others covered with plastic wrap until needed, and roll thin. You have two ways to do this, I much prefer the pasta machine method but you can do it by hand.
- By hand – lightly flour the work surface and the top of the dough and using a heavy rolling pin, roll as thinly as possible.
- With a pasta machine – Roll one piece of dough through setting 1, fold in half and roll through again. Repeat this folding/rolling process a total of 4 times on #1.
- Change the setting to #2 and run through twice, lightly flouring the dough if it appears sticky. Repeat this process, twice on each setting, through #5 then run it through once on #6.
- You’ll have a long very thin sheet cracker. Cut in half if it’s too long to handle easily and place on the prepared sheetpan.
- Continue the same process with the remaining pieces of dough.
- Lightly brush each cracker sheet with olive oil and sprinkle with some of the remaining togarashi and some of the sesame seeds as well as an additional pinch or two of salt if you like.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes until golden brown and firm, rotating the pans front-to-back and top-to-bottom halfway through baking.
- Slide the parchment from the sheet pan and let the crackers cool on a wire rack.
- Once cool and crispy, break in shards.
- Crackers will keep, tightly wrapped, for 5 days.
- Do ahead: you have a bunch of options. Remember the holidays are stressful enough. Don’t add to it if you can help it.
- Base dough: refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months
- Flavored dough: refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days or freeze for 3 months.
STRESSCAKE 
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