Spiced Lavosh Crackers Recipe

A recipe for thin and crispy spiced lavosh crackers bursting with oriental flavours. Made from scratch, these delicious crackers are a must have for all cheese and wine lovers! Although these can be enjoyed on their own or with a selection of your favourite dips.

Having a French mother and French culture, I am a great lover of cheese. Growing up, Fromage was part of every meal. At home here in Australia, we do not eat cheese every day but I still enjoy putting a cheese platter together (while sipping on a glass of wine bien sur) maybe 2-3 times a week.

Trying to reduce my bread intake, these spiced lavosh crackers have become the perfect pairing for my cheese board. They not only have a sublime crispiness to them but they taste and smell insanely delicious due to the spices in the dough.

Jump to:

• WHAT IS LAVOSH?
• HOW TO MAKE LAVOSH CRACKERS
• FAQ'S
• WHAT TO EAT LAVOSH CRACKERS WITH
• Spiced Lavosh Crackers Recipe

Read through and follow our step by step recipe for spiced lavosh crackers. They are quick to whip up and will make enough to cater for any unplanned cheese cravings.

WHAT IS LAVOSH?

Lavosh or lavash is a thin flatbread that originated in the Middle East. The word lavash means 'to knead'. Traditionally made with yeast and sugar, baked in a tandoor oven; nowadays the modern version, uses an oven instead.

In commercial bakeries, the dough is rolled on a machine called a dough sheeter which makes them paper thin and extra crispy. However making them at home, we need to make sure we roll out the dough with a rolling pin, as thin as possible.

INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING LAVOSH

This cracker recipe is very versatile. You can add in or swap ingredients to make the recipe more suitable to your needs. For example, we mostly eat the lavosh crackers with cheese, hence we do not add any chilli flakes. But if you will be serving it with dips, you can certainly add some to the dough.

Flour, plain all purpose flour for the dough, preferably organic.

Whole wheat flour added in equal amount to the plain flour.

Black and white sesame seeds toasted and added to the dough. If black sesame is not available, you can use poppy seeds instead.

Spices we added fennel, cumin and caraway seeds. These can be replaced with any other spices you might have at hand, like coriander or anise seeds.

Sesame oil keeps the dough from sticking to the kitchen surface while kneading. It also adds tenderness and flavour.

Water binds the ingredients together.

Sea salt sprinkled over the rolled out lavosh before baking, adds a beautiful texture.

HOW TO MAKE LAVOSH CRACKERS

To make this spiced lavosh crackers recipe, we need to first release maximum flavour from the spices.

SPICE MIX

Toast the fennel, cumin and caraway seeds in a medium hot pan without any oil. Move the spices around in the pan frequently until they are toasted and become fragrant and darken slightly. They will not take long to reach this stage hence watch carefully the spices don't burn.

Let the spice mix cool for 1-2 minutes and grind to a powder consistency with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

Toast the sesame seeds the same way but leave them whole. Mix the sesame seeds with the spice mix

LAVOSH DOUGH

In a bowl combine the plain flour with whole wheat flour and water. Next, pour in the sesame oil, and add the spice mix into it

Using a hand blender or kitchen aid with a hook attachment, bring the dough together using the machine on its lowest setting.

The dough will feel wet but not sticky because of the sesame oil. Knead the dough on your kitchen surface for a few more minutes. Finally, cut the dough in six equal parts and set aside. Prepare your baking trays with baking mats or baking paper.

Rub your rolling pin lightly with sesame oil and start rolling out a ball of dough on the baking mat or a plain kitchen surface.

Note that rolling out the lavosh dough does not require any additional flour for dusting in this recipe.

BAKING LAVOSH

Roll the dough thin making sure it fits the size of your baking tray. Once you are happy with the thickness, place the lavosh dough on a baking sheet (unless you rolled it out on a baking mat) and continue rolling out the remaining dough.

Bake the lavosh at 175°C (350°F) for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

Once they have cooled down you can break them into smaller pieces and serve with a dip or with your favourite cheese selection.

AS A NOTE: I baked the sheets with lavosh one by one and found a nice brownish colour around the 18 minute mark but even the first one baked at 15 minutes was perfectly crispy.

It all depends how thin you rolled out the dough hence I suggest you check the consistency and colour of the lavosh already after 10 minutes and decide if you want to leave them longer.

FAQ'S

How to store lavosh crackers?

Store the lavosh crackers in an airtight bag or container in a dry place. Storing them correctly will not only extend their shelf life, it will also help them stay crunchy.

Stored that way you can keep lavosh crackers for up to 1 month.

Are lavosh crackers gluten free?

Even so our recipe for spiced lavosh crackers is not, they can be made gluten free. So far we haven't experimented making this version.

But occasionally we like eating seeded crackers which are gluten free naturally, you can try these mixed seed cracker recipe from a fellow blogger.

WHAT TO EAT LAVOSH CRACKERS WITH

Lavosh is best enjoyed on a cheese plate with condiments like this quince paste.

These especially come handy for snacking and your entertaining needs! Here are all the ways we love to snack on these crispy crackers:

With an easy to make creamy carrot and cashew dip or this refreshing persian yoghurt dip from Mrs Jones's Kitchen

Or a perfectly smooth caramelised onion dip from nothangryanymore

Serve with a middle eastern kale and zaatar shakshuka

As a base for canapes like our beet cured salmon gravlax ,this hamachi crudo or this salmon tartare

Instead of bread, we enjoy these crackers as a side to our roasted artichoke soup

AS AN IDEA: Homemade lavash makes a cool DIY gift, to give friends and family for Christmas. Put them in a nice cellophane bag and tie a rustic yarn around the top with a personalized note.