Gluten Free Crackers...Perfected!

I have finally hit upon the perfect recipe for gluten free cheese crackers!

After much trial and error, here it is:

Gluten Free Crackers

• 1 cup flour (1/2 a cup each of two types for the best flavour) - make sure you pick smooth flours, e.g. rice flour works well, but maize flour is gritty!
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp margarine
• 1-2 tsp seasoning - I usually do Italian Herb Crackers, e.g. oregano and basil, but try out finely grated cheese, onion powder and finely chopped chives...whatever you fancy!
• 3-4 tbsp water

Mix all the ingredients except the water together. Then, 1 tbsp at a time, work the water in slowly (best done manually). You're aiming for a dough that you can push your knuckles into and form an imprint without cracks appearing in the dough and without the dough sticking to your hands. Depending on the flours you use, you may need more or less water.

Once the dough is formed, pull off a handful and put it on a well-floured wooden board. Lay a sheet of grease-proof paper over the dough and roll out as thin as you can - the thinner you roll the dough, the better the crackers will be. 1-2 mm thick is ideal!

When your dough is rolled out, gently peel the greaseproof paper off, get your cookie cutter and cut circular crackers. Pop them onto a greased tray, brush with olive oil (to make them brown) and put in a pre-heated oven at 210 C for 10-15 minutes, until browned.

And that's all there is to it! A couple of tips:

• Each time I roll and cut out a new handful of dough, I collect the spare dough together. Then, when I've rolled out and cut all the dough, I rebind the leftovers by dipping my fingers into water and working it together again. The dough is surprisingly resilient to being rerolled over and over again, but it does need encouraging a bit!
• Experiment with flavours! I would really like to make onion and chive crackers, so my next task is to buy some powdered onion and give it a go! If you hit upon a winning combination, please let me know!
• These crackers will keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight tin, so although they're a bit fiddly to make, doing a big batch is really worth the effort.
• I initially made these with all olive oil rather than some margarine, but the crackers came out teeth-breakingly crunchy! However, you might want to make them crunchier or softer. The key is that you need 2 tbsp of oil/margarine. Oil makes them crunchier, marg makes them softer. Play with the amounts of each until you get the right texture for you!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and love these crackers - now that I've got them right, I'm going to be making them all the time!