Daring Baker Lavash Crackers

Once again it is Daring Baker time!!!!! Browsing and clicking through the blogosphere today take a few minutes to see what the over 900 Daring Bakers have been up to this month. The Daring Bakers is the brainchild of our beautiful and talented co-founders Lis at La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice . We are given a challenge each month, choose a day to bake our little hearts out and then we all post our top secret recipe on the same day. Today is that day!!!!!

Today you are inundated with Lavash Crackers.This months challenge was hosted by Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl. They have a gluten free option for making this dish. We were given a lot of leeway this time around and able to make these crackers our own with large helpings of creativity and personality. We were also to create a vegan dip, spread, salsa or relish to accompany our creations. I was more than excited to be making a savoury dish this time around rather than sweet!!!!!!!!!! The recipe comes from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread, by Peter Reinhart. Copyright 2001. You will find the recipe here.

Lavash crackers are similar to many other Middle Eastern and North African flatbreads known by different names. You may have heard of mankoush or mannaeesh (Lebanese), barbari (Iranian), khoubiz or khobz (Arabian), aiysh (Egyptian), kesret and mella (Tunisian), pide or pita (Turkish), and pideh (Armenian). The main difference between these breads is either how thick or thin the dough is rolled out, or the type of oven in or on which they are baked. Many of these breads are cooked on stones or red-hot pans with a convex surface.The key to a crisp lavash you ask? Roll out the dough paper-thin!!!!!! The sheet can be cut into crackers in advance with a pizza cutter or snapped into shards after baking. The shards make a nice presentation when arranged in baskets.

We were supposed to prepare a vegan dip to serve with these but I already had this goat cheese and artichoke dip in mind for L'il Burnt Toasts birthday. The Lavash crackers were well worth the effort. It was fun to decorate them with seeds and spices. I added layers of poppy seeds, sesame seeds and hot chili pepper flakes.

In breaking British Columbia news our Premier Gordon Campbell Campbell said that as of 1 pm Friday, the tolls that have been in place since the Coquihalla Highway's opening in 1986 are being removed. Yay!!!!!!!!The announcement was the highlight of my day!!!!!The Coquihalla's toll was $10 for cars, with other vehicles paying between $5 and $50. In the 1980s, Bill Bennett's Social Credit government said the toll was meant to pay for fast-tracking construction of the Hope-to-Merritt section. But when that amount was paid off in 2000, the fees remained. This means that when I drive to Vancouver it won't cost me an extra $20 on top of our mounting gas prices. Gas is up to $1.46 a litre already!!!!The many local Merritt employees who worked at the toll booth will lose their jobs but they have been promised government jobs. This almost makes me want to vote for Gord Campbell in the upcoming election....but he is implementing the carbon tax...so no way!!!!!!!! Sorry just a political snippet there.......on to the food!!!!!!!!!!!

**Baked Artichoke, Goat Cheese & Pesto Dip**

1 lb Goat Cheese
1 lb Neufchatel cream cheese
1 cup pesto (See pesto recipe below)
1 cup half and half
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
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Soften goat cheese and neufchatel cheese to room temperature. Put goat cheese and neufchatel in a food processor and blend until smooth with no lumps. Add pesto and half and half and pulse until combined evenly. Remove and add chopped artichoke hearts stirring with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper to taste as necessary. Pour into an oven-proof casserole dish and top with grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 350° F for 10-12 minutes or until top becomes golden brown. Serve with olive oil crostini or your favorite crispy bread or crackers....pr...in this case Lavash crackers. Enjoy!

Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup toasted walnuts

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

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Combine ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.