July 19, 2013 - 4:56pm
almond biscotti recipe adjust
let's start with a basic recipe.
I have 8 different variations on this.
1 1/2 cups whole almonds
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tsp orange zest or candied orange peel
I've found this recipe to come up to wet and the result are biscotti don't have the texture of what I get in da Bronx or Court St, Brooklyn. Which are hard yet not rocks.
I add cinnamon oil and powder and I tried some anise powder last time.
But the question is what would be the theoretical result of changing one egg to just the yolk?
Or just the white?
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I have been making biscotti the last few holiday seasons and have learned a lot about adjusting for texture. I wanted a firm, crisp but not a toothbreaker and not a cookie texture.
In a nutshell:
Recipes with all eggs come out pretty hard (toothbreaking department) and harder if all egg whites are used. The fat and lecithin in the yolk help soften the crumb a bit.
Recipes made with butter are cookie-like in texture. Break easiy, in general.
Recipes made with all oil are sturdier than those made with butter but still a bit cookie-like and, of course, lack the butter flavor.
If the oil to flour ratio is high (more oil), the biscotti can be like a dense pastry with the oil coating the flour particles.
Recipes made with a mix of some oil and some egg seem to get to the texture I like-firm,crisp,handles dunking well but easily enjoyed without dunking.
Here is my basic recipe. I have many different variations based on this recipe.
Biscotti-Basic
INGREDIENT
VOLUME
GRAMS
Yield: 6 doz small biscotti
Flavor extract
1 tbsp
11g (Vanilla goes in all sweet variations in addition to chosen flavor)
-Anise is traditional
Oil
½ cup
88g?
Reduce to make harder
Sugar
(white or brown)
1 cup
½ c white= 95g, 1 c white=195g
½ c brown=114g, 1 c brown=225g
Can be ½ white & ½ brown
Increase to 1 ¼ c for chocolate
Reduce for savory
Whole Eggs
3 large
150g-160g
Using only egg whites makes them crisper
Mix eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and extract of choice.
In separate, larger bowl, mix together:
Flour-AP
3 ¼ cup
460g
Baking Powder
1 tbsp
11 g
FRESH!
Salt
1 tsp
7 g
Increase for savory
See variations …………
(next page)
Then mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
When well mixed, let dough sit for 10 minutes (improves handling).
Notes:
Butter makes them more cookie-like and crumbly.
No oil makes them rather hard-these are better for dunking
Because they are drier than cookies, they need higher amount of flavoring.
If they are being dunked, regular amounts of flavoring are recommended.
Roundy’s choc chips tend to not melt into dough and break off edge. Use Nestle’s.
thanks for the science.
that is what I was looking for - experiments and experience.
I'll try altering my fat blend a bit. Since I've just bought a bucket of cold press org unfiltered coconut oil, I may try a bit of that for both texture and flavor as well as some butter. I'd moved away from butter completely because the first batch of all egss was so much closer to what I want.
Have you ratio'ed the recipe down? Figured I might make smaller batches until I get it close to where I want it.
I have the gram measurements in the recipe so the math can be done but with this caveat: I have often found that new-to-you recipes should be tried using your own ingredients and measuring tools to get the final working recipe that will work for you. When I started converting my recipes from volume to weights, I found that in my house I can develop a consistent set of measurements for ingredients in my kitchen using my ingredients and my tools but a 1 cup measure of an ingredient may weigh differently in someone else's kitchen with their locally sourced ingredients and their tools. I find the same when I try a new recipe written in grams that is purported to be "spot on" and consistent. I always have to make adjustments. It is easier to gets consistency each time I make the recipe and to scale up and down but doing a recipe from another person/kitchen is not guaranteed.
So try a single recipe and check the measures/weights, then do the math. I do small homebakes and had no need to scale up/down so just never did the math myself.
I have several flavor variations, if you are interested in them-all based on using this recipe as the "base".
sure. more to compare. basically I like the "brooklyn" versions.
They are all cinn, almond, orange, and one other spice, that may be anise (in one form or another) or cloves or ....?
But I'm sure playing with the fat ratios is what I need to work on. Once the texture is in, I'll fine tune the flavors.