Grapefruit & Fennel Crispbread

I decided to take a break from my weekly sourdough boules and do something a little different with my sourdough starter this week. This is a rift on the dill crispbreads I made this past summer; similar process, but with a slightly different flavor profile. Instead of fresh dill, I’m using freshly grated grapefruit zest, and I’ve also added some rye flour to the mix. Traditionally crispbreads have a rye flour base, but last summer I had a hard time tracking rye flour down, so I improvise. I’m still having a hard time finding rye flour in stores, or even online, but I did have enough to pull this recipe together.

Ingredients:

42 g Leaven (or 10 g Yeast)
105 g Rye Flour
142 g Bread Flour
20 g Whole Wheat Flour
7 g Salt
142 g Water
50 g Fennel Seeds
zest from 1 Grapefruit
coarse Sea Salt (to sprinkle on before baking)

Directions:

Combine the flours, salt, and fennel seeds.
Mix together the leaven (yeast), water, and grapefruit zest.
Gradually mix in the flour.
Knead until dough has a nice spring to it.
Store the dough overnight in the refrigerator.
Pre-heat the oven to 425 F (~ 218 C). Make sure you have two oven racks evenly spaced in your oven to encourage good air circulation.
Divid the dough into 8 equal pieces.
Run the first piece (copiously dusted with flour) through the pasta machine at it’s thickest setting. You can also roll these out by hand. It can be a challenge, but try to get them as thin as possible.
Run the dough through a couple more times at a decreasing setting.
Place the dough on a piece of parchment about the size of a baking sheet.
Proceed to roll out the remaining dough in a similar manner, placing 4 crispbreads on each piece of parchment.
Lightly brush the crispbreads with water and sprinkle with the coarse sea salt.
Use a lip-free or an upside down baking sheet to slide the crispbreads directly onto the oven racks. The only thing between them and the racks should be the parchment paper.
Bake them for 10-15 minutes.
Continue to dehydrate the crispbreads by reducing the heat to 200 F (~93 C) and leaving the oven door ajar for another 10-15 minutes.