Natural Yeast, Mulit-grain, Seeded Crackers

My husband loves these crackers with raw milk cheddar cheese most days in his lunch.  He needs the calories, I don't so I have just a few crackers out of every batch and I like them with fermented bean dip or kefir cheese dip or with cheddar cheese.  This recipe makes about 4-5 dozen.  Soaking for 8 hours or more reduces the phytic acid on all grain and seeds which frees up the nutrients and makes them more bio-available.  Using natural yeast or sourdough allows the yeasts to start the process of deconstructing the starches and proteins that can be very difficult to digest without help from our friendly microbes.  Soaking with live cultures makes the grain flour more digestible.

The idea is to mix the flours with sourdough or natural yeast starter and water or whey or kefir and let sit at room temp for 8 or more hours.  I let my dough sit for 2 days, but this long, I put the dough in the fridge.  A food processor is useful making this recipe because the dough is rather stiff and hard to mix.  I like mixing and squeezing with both hands.  

Dough

1/2 cup starter

1/2 cup whey, or milk or kefir or yogurt

1 1/2 cup whole spelt flour or wheat flour

1/3 cup rye flour

1/3 cup millet flour

1/3 cup oat flour or brn rice flour

1/2 tsp chia seeds

1 TBS  flax seeds or toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp Real Salt

1/2 cup soft butter

1 1/2 tsp baking soda (right before baking)

When mixed either by hand or in processor, put dough in a bowl and cover with plastic.  Allow to soak for at least 8 hours, like overnight  or 24-48 hours but in fridge. Prepare for baking by working the baking soda into dough with hands or processor then roll  out dough on floured surface or pastry cloth to 1/8 " thickness.  Cut into squares and with spatula carefully remove to a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper on cookie sheet.  Brush each cracker with melted butter and pierce each cracker  with a fork about 4 times.  Bake in oven low temp about 150 degrees for a couple of hours until very dry.  I like to broil the crackers first to turn them a golden brown....but you have to keep an eye on them so they don't burn.  Broiling is not necessary.  After broiling them to get nice surface color, I transfer them to my dehydrator for a few hours at 100 degrees to dry them out. They store nicely in a large zip lock bag or covered plastic container.