Frustrated W/ Flaxseed Crackers

[myjourney]

HELP ME!!!
I am very frustrated w/ my flaxseed crackers. Either they are too thick and are taking 24 hours to dry then come out more chewy than anything, or I get them too thin and they dehydrate to the mesh screen after about 5 hours.

I'm ready to throw the dehydrator out the window. Any suggestions?

Lisa

[sport]

Pretend that you never tried it and just start again. Be positive.
Are you using soaked or crushed flax or a mixture.

[raweater]

I don't understand what you mean by "I get them too thin and they dehydrate to the mesh screen after about 5 hours", are you not using dehydrator sheets?

[lanettasmouse]

well one thing for sure is you don't want to use the mesh screen until they are dry enough to flip over. you need to be using the paraflexx, or non stick drying sheets. once they are dry enough to flip then you can transfer to the mesh screen so that they dry out on both sides. i usually flip mine around 12-16 hours, you just have to check them and play with it, after flipping i let them dehydrate another 12 or so hours. (i like mine really crispy). good luck and just keep trying in small batches and once you have your technique down then you can do a larger batch.

[kaybee]

maybe try using ground flax seed instead of whole soaked flax seed if you are currently using the whole soaked.

[Stina]

Hi-jacking here- Raw terrorist

Anyone got any feedback on ground versus unground flax seed crackers?:)

[RawHeaven]

I would agree you will need to use the telflex sheets if you have them or as a last resort, parchment paper. My first batch took forever to dry because I did make them a little too thick. They were still yummy. It takes trial and error sometimes, you just have to experiment with your technique. Eventually it will work. Getting them to a 1/4 of an inch spread seems to work just right for me.

[Anastasia Alston]

Anyone got any feedback on ground versus unground flax seed crackers?:)

I & my family prefer flax crackers made from ground flax seeds. I ground them as needed when I'm about to make crackers. My family doesn't like them from whole soaked flax; they told me they feel like they're eating bird seed treats! :D

- Stasi, Pea Pod (Morab), Rosie Cotton & Binnabik (the Pibble Posse)

[kaybee]

hey stina--ive always been a bit puzzled about flax too: maybe someone else can shed some light on : see, heres the issue: most nuts and seeds we SOAK to REMOVE enzyme inhibitors, right?, so that the nut/seed is 1. activated into growing so becomes a better food source for us, and 2. THE ENZYME INHIBITORS ARE WASHED OFF SO THEY DONT GO INTO OUR BODIES AND INHIBIT ENZYMES... so heres the thing: if you grind flax seeds, you cant then soak and rinse them, so theyre raw but not LIVE, just like any other nut or seed you grind without soaking. and my understanding is that they have to be ground in order for our bodies to absorb them (or chewed really well), otherwise they just come out whole and go right through us with no benefit.... BUT if you soak em, you dont usually rinse them because part of the stickiness that holds the flax crackers together/ie gives flax its binding power, is in that mucilage/slimy stuff that comes out in the water that you soak them in... so if you soak them, you activate their life force, but if you are also using the water you soaked them in, then arent you also consuming the enzyme inhibitors, etc that you washed off in the first place (ie when you soak almonds, for example, you wouldnt use the soak water in a recipe, because its all brown and has the stuff in it that you were trying to get rid of. ).... but if you rinse them and toss that soak-water, then youre not gonna get the binding power that makes the crackers stick together. i guess if you have a vitamix you could rinse them and then grind them and maybe acquire a little more stickiness, but i dont have a vitamix, and any other blender/fp cant really grind them when theyre wet (which means theyre gonna just go right through you unless you chew them well anyway because theyre not ground to start). SO, are flaxseeds and specifically flax-soak-water exempt from the rules that there are concerning soak water in regards to all other nuts and seeds? or are they just exempt because we need the contents of the soak water in order to hold the crackers together???? or do they not really have enzyme inhibitors in the first place, and hence it doesnt matter whether you soak them first or just use them ground....? either way, unless you soaked then rinsed them, your gonna be consuming the enzyme inhibitors; the advantage to soaking them is that you get a LIVING flax seed not just a raw one, but the advantage to grinding them is that you get a flax seed that wont just go right through you.....
ANYONE, ANYONE? to shed light on this question? ive wondered about this for along time and just never got around to posting it on the board.

thanks

kb

[Revvell]

HELP ME!!!
I am very frustrated w/ my flaxseed crackers. Either they are too thick and are taking 24 hours to dry then come out more chewy than anything, or I get them too thin and they dehydrate to the mesh screen after about 5 hours.

I'm ready to throw the dehydrator out the window. Any suggestions?

Lisa

As someone else here said... spread on the teflex sheets and dry for about 12-15 hours; then flip onto the mesh. How to do this "should" be stated in the recipes. It "should" also say how thick/thin each recipe should be... usually about 1/4 inch methinks.

Revvell

[Revvell]

Hi-jacking here- Raw terrorist

Anyone got any feedback on ground versus unground flax seed crackers?:)

As far as what?