Ingredients
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500 gr 00 Flour
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100 gr Lardor alternatively you can use butter
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140 gr Sugar
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20 gr Anise seeds
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5 gr Cinnamon powder
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150 ml Waterlukewarm
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25 gr Brewer's yeast
Directions
11 November is St Martin’s Day and, in keeping with good Sicilian tradition, where we have typical food for every feast day, here in Sicily we usually eat the very typical biscotti di San Martino, Sicilian biscuits with a hard texture that are eaten with marsala or a good moscato wine. The characteristic texture of these delicious biscuits is achieved by baking them several times in the oven at different, gradually decreasing temperatures. Once the baking cycle is complete, the biscuits are left in the oven to cool completely, which gives them a remarkable crunchiness – watch your teeth!
Steps
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1
Done
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Sift the flour into a bowl. |
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2
Done
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Add the sugar, lard, aniseed seeds, cinnamon and crumbled yeast and start to knead with a spoon. |
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3
Done
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Add the lukewarm water a little at a time, until all the water has been added. At the end, the dough should be compact and similar to bread dough. |
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4
Done
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Move the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and cut out sticks from the dough, a little less than a finger thick and about 20 centimetres long. Our suggestion is to take about 50 g of dough at a time and form a stick. Wrap the sticks around the tip of your index finger in an upward spiral so that you get little doughnuts about 3/4 cm in diameter. Remember to roll the stick on itself in a slightly oblique way, so as to form a sort of little hill and give the biscuits their classic shape. |
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5
Done
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Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper and place all the biscuits on it and allow them to rise for an hour in a warm place. |
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6
Done
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When the biscuits have risen well, bake them in a preheated oven at 200° for 15 minutes, then take them out of the oven for two minutes. Now lower the oven temperature to 180° and bake them for another 20 minutes. Take out of the oven for another two minutes and bring the temperature up to 160°, then bake for another 20 minutes taking care that they do not darken too much (and be very careful, every oven is different, so these guidelines are only indicative!). |
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7
Done
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Turn off the oven and leave the biscuits in the oven until they have cooled for at least a few hours, so that they acquire the typical texture of these biscuits (again, always check during this cooling period that they do not become too dark). |
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8
Done
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Take them out of the oven and serve with a glass of marsala or moscato wine! |
