January 2021 is almost over and, sadly, the holiday season has ended.
It is time for a little introspection about healthy lifestyle. In the interest of healthy eating, I’ve decided that cookies are no longer daily staples for me. Neither are they forbidden. The goal in removing them from the daily roster is not to punish or deprive myself but to make room for other snacks or, sometimes, no snacks at all.
Variety is one of the cornerstones of healthy eating, a good way to get the required nutrients and make meals and snacks most enjoyable. (Maybe I could introduce variety by having a different kind of cookie every day?)
I wonder whether all the snacks I consume are even necessary. It’s possible that I’m sometimes not even hungry at snack time. Physical hunger is only one of the reasons we eat; there’s also sociability, habit, celebration, appetite for something tasty, the need to take a break, fatigue or thirst. I intend to pay attention to what I am looking for when the urge to snack appears, knowing that eating cookies might not be the best way to meet the need I’m experiencing.
For the times when a snack is in order, I’ve been thinking of options that don’t take long to prepare and have a bit of protein for satiety. Here’s a short list that comes to mind: hummus with mini pitas, fruit and cheese, crackers with peanut butter, nuts and raisins or other dried fruit, plain yogurt with fruit or mini muffins.
Since I jumped on the sourdough bandwagon, I have tried several recipes that make use of the discard that’s left when the starter is fed. Here is one of the many versions of sourdough crackers. They are easy to make, have a tiny bit of tang and taste good with cheese or tuna. I found that, when packed in a plastic bag, they stay fresh for longer than the week stated in the recipe.
Note that the recipe calls for white whole wheat flour, which you should be able to find in the natural foods section of the larger grocery stores. Although it’s white in colour, white whole wheat flour is a whole grain product containing the bran, germ and endosperm of the wheat. It’s made from white wheat berries, which lack the red pigment that accounts for the tan colour of whole wheat flour made with red wheat berries. Products made with white whole wheat flour are lighter in colour than those made with regular whole wheat flour and have a milder flavour.
Sourdough Crackers
Adapted from kingarthurbaking.com
- 250 mL/113 g (1 cup) white whole wheat flour
- 2 mL (½ tsp) sea salt
- 250 mL/227 g (1 cup) sourdough starter, unfed/discard
- 60 mL/57 g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 30 mL (2 tbsp) dried herbs of your choice, optional
- oil, for brushing
- coarse salt, such as kosher or sea salt, to sprinkle on top
Mix together the flour, salt, sourdough starter, butter and herbs to make a smooth (not sticky), cohesive dough.
Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a small rectangular slab. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to a couple of hours, until the dough is firm.
Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
Very lightly flour a piece of parchment, your rolling pin and the top of the dough.
Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough to about 15 mm (1/16 inch) thick. The dough will have ragged, uneven edges; that’s OK. Try to make it as even as possible.
Transfer the dough and parchment together onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush with oil and sprinkle the salt over the crackers.
Cut dough into 3 cm (1¼ inch) squares; a rolling pizza wheel works well for this. Prick each square with a fork.
Bake the crackers for 20 to 25 minutes until the squares are starting to brown around the edges. Midway through, reverse the baking sheets, both top to bottom and front to back, to help the crackers brown evenly.
When fully browned, remove the crackers from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Store airtight at room temperature for up to a week; freeze for longer storage.
Margaret Prouse, a home economist, writes this column for The Guardian every Friday. She can be reached by email at [email protected].
