Wafer thin

I’ve always been a bit sniffy about crispbreads and wafers, but for a long time I had been meaning to try out Dan Lepard’s white bean wafers from his book The Handmade Loaf (one of my favourites). I recently got round to it just after having a sudden desire to make tapenade, something I hadn’t concocted for while.

Tapenade is a dip or spread made from ground olives, capers and olive oil, with various other more minor ingredients. As you might imagine with core ingredients like those, it isn’t a dish associated with subtlety. For that reason, my own tapenade recipe is rather minimalist. There are plenty of different formulae for tapenade, including additions such as garlic, lemon juice, herbs of various kinds, and even brandy. But I stick with olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. I don’t even add pepper. These are powerful flavours in their own right, and I don’t like to muddy the waters by cramming in yet more ingredients.

Any condiment needs a vehicle, and that’s where the white bean wafers came in. Lepard’s recipe is quite simple: flour, a little water, baking powder, and pureed white beans to add body. I used haricot beans; butter beans would also do well. The ingredients are mixed to a fairly dry, crumbly dough, rolled out and cut into rectangles before baking for 15-20 minutes. The key to success with wafer biscuits like these is rolling them out thinly. The dough needs to be as thin as you can reasonably get it, which isn’t very easy as it tends to be both dense (and therefore requiring lots of pressure) and fragile. I lay a sheet of baking parchment over the dough before rolling it out, to prevent the rolling pin from sticking, which no amount of flour seems able to do. Really go for it with the rolling out – you want the dough to be about a millimetre in thickness. Prick the wafers with a fork before baking (it looks nice).

200g cooked white beans, drained (tinned is fine)
200g plain flour
50g butter
30g water
1 tsp baking powder
4g salt

Puree the beans in a blender or mortar and pestle. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter, then add the beans and water. Use your hands to combine the ingredients and make a stiff dough. Now roll out the dough on a floured surface until very thin. Use a knife or dough scraper to cut the dough into rectangles 10cm by 5cm (that’s not a legal requirement, and you may want to adjust these dimensions if the fancy takes you). Bake for 15-20 minutes in an oven preheated to 200°c. I turn mine over half-way through, but you don’t have to.

These wafers deliver a pleasing combination of chewiness and crunch quite unlike shop-bought equivalents, and are a great carrier for any number of toppings. If you have a mind to try tapenade, here’s my recipe:

100g black olives
1tbsp capers
2 anchovy fillets (more of a starting point, this…)
olive oil as needed

Chop, pound, mash or blend the ingredients as you see fit. I vary in my tastes, sometimes appreciating a rustic, rough-chopped texture, and other times preferring a blended-to-hell puree. Add the oil as you go, and according to taste. I daresay you might enjoy an aperitif with this combination – white wine or a dry martini could work. So I’m told.