Thin, near-black ragi crackers with cracked pepper and sea salt, snapping cleanly and tasting faintly of malt and toasted sesame.
Ingredients
From the TrooFoodz pantry
- Sprouted Ragi Flour 1½ cups
Fresh
- Cold-pressed sesame oil 3 tbsp
- White sesame seeds 2 tbsp
- Black pepper, coarsely cracked 1 tsp
- Flaky sea salt 1 tsp
- Warm water about ½ cup
Method
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Rub in the fat
Work the sesame oil into the Sprouted Ragi Flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like damp sand. Coating the flour in fat is what makes the cracker short rather than hard.
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Bring together
Add the sesame seeds, half the pepper and a pinch of the salt, then trickle in warm water until a firm dough forms. Do not knead it long.
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Roll paper-thin
Roll between two sheets of baking paper until you can almost see the paper through the dough. Thickness is the single biggest factor in the snap.
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Cut and dock
Cut into squares or long shards with a pizza wheel and prick each one twice with a fork so steam escapes and they bake flat.
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Season the top
Brush lightly with water and press on the remaining pepper and flaky salt so they stick through the bake.
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Bake and cool
Bake at 180°C for eighteen to twenty minutes until the edges go matte and dry. Cool completely on a rack — they crisp as they cool, not in the oven.
Why this works
Ragi has no gluten to toughen, so the dough tolerates being rolled very thin without shrinking back. Coating the flour in fat before adding water limits starch hydration and gives a short, brittle crumb rather than a hard one. Docking the crackers releases steam that would otherwise puff them into uneven pillows.
Make it your own
- Sprouted Ragi Flour → Sprouted Jowar Flour Paler and milder; the same thinness and bake.
- Cold-pressed sesame oil → Olive oil Fruitier; slightly less nutty finish.
- Black pepper → Ajwain and chilli flakes More Indian in character, sharper on the tongue.
