Maria’s Flaxseed Crackers
During menopause the phytoestrogens from plant foods fool the body into thinking it still has some oestrogen. The oestrogen receptors in your body ‘recognise’ and accept any substance that has a similar molecular structure to endogenous oestrogen. So where oestrogen would normally latch on, phytoestrogens fill their space. So, your brain says, ‘Hang on a minute! I have some oestrogen so I don’t need to have that hot flush now!’. Flaxseeds are a brilliant source of phytooestrogens and something I recommend women start to include in their diet from their forties onwards. On the cheeseboard seems like a good place to start!
A big thank you to my mum, Maria for this recipe. This will make six large trays so you can feel free to halve the recipe. Or do like Maria does, and send all her kids home with a container each! Lucky us!
Dry ingredients
100 g (3½ oz) pumpkin seeds
100 g (3½ oz) sunflower seeds
150 g (5 oz) sesame seeds
150 g (5 oz) flax seed
50 g (1½ oz) chia seed
33 g (1 oz) (6 tbsp) psyllium husk powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
Wet ingredients
3 cups water
100ml olive oil (little less than ½ cup)
Directions
Chop sunflower and pumpkin seeds roughly into smaller pieces by blitzing briefly in a blender.
Mix all the dry stuff and stir it together.
Mix in the wet stuff and stir it all together.
Let it rest for half an hour until it becomes a solid ‘glug’ or dough.
Take a portion of the dough and put it onto a piece of baking paper.
Add another piece of baking paper on top.
Roll between the two sheets until very thin and you can’t roll it anymore.
Remove the top piece of baking paper.
It is possible to ‘cut’ the crackers or make impressions with a knife before it goes into the oven.
They will close over a bit while baking but they help to break the crackers into more even pieces.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes at 175°C.
Just touch the centre of the tray to see if it is actually hard.
Take it out of the oven, remove the baking paper and allow it to cool on a rack.
If the paper sticks and is hard to remove, the cracker is not fully baked.
Break it gently into sizes you prefer.
Store in an airtight container.