Fig, hazelnut and fennel crackers - a work in progress.

A few weeks ago, I bought a box of these Ryvita fine rustic bakes. They were really fabulous, with stilton and brie, but I couldn't help thinking that there were other flavours I would like to try them in. Figs, with some fennel seeds, for example.

Since they very rudely don't make them in that flavour, I had a go. I made a basic yeasted dough, 2/3 strong white flour to 1/3 rye, and kneaded in hazelnuts, marinated baby figs, slightly bruised fennel seeds, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds. When the loaf was cooked and cooled, I sliced it as thinly as I could and baked the slices until they were crisp and brown.

It was a good first attempt. The flavour was almost there - I think if I used a sourdough it would have more of the punch I was after, but the fruit, nuts and seeds were exactly what I wanted. I also struggled a bit to cut even slices, and they just weren't as thin as I wanted. Not quite sure what to do about that, though. The advantage of the rather chunky slices was that we only needed one with our pre-dinner drink though!