Whisk together the whole grain flour with half of the salt and ground fennel seed. Make a well and pour in the water and olive oil. Whisk in the liquids and then knead for about 5 minutes. Alternately, place everything in a stand mixer with a dough hook and set on low for about 5 minutes.

Knead or mix until the dough is tacky & sticky. Cut into a few balls, place back in the bowl and cover with a towel. Moisten the towel slightly if your home is dry.

Preheat the oven to 450, place a pizza stone or your baking sheet in the oven to heat up.

Take one of the balls and roll out the dough until thin. Combine the fennel pollen and remaining salt and sprinkle just a pinch all over the dough. Using the rolling pin, roll over it one more time to help adhere these toppings.

Cut into squares or using a cookie cutter (as we did for the photo) cut into shapes. If using a cookie cutter, ball up the dough, to be re-rolled. Keep in mind that every time you roll the dough it becomes a bit tougher so keep the ‘re-rolls’ to only once or twice. Remember, cooked up scraps make excellent snacks for the chef or assistant! We keep them for our own meals and serve the fancy ones.

Place the cut shapes on a piece of parchment paper or a second thin baking sheet. Place the crackers on the hot baking sheet or stone. Bake for about 4-7 minutes, but keep a close eye on the crackers as they will go from golden perfection to burnt in just moments.

While they are scrumptious warm out of the oven they are delightful served cool with an appetizer or wrapped up to be given as a gift.

They will keep stored in an air-tight container for a couple weeks.