Biscotti Recipe

Italian Almond Cookies

 

Here are some of the materials you will need!

• Baking sheet
• A spoon
• A whisk
• 2 Large mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Parchment paper
• Sharp knife for chopping
• Serrated knife for slicing

Ingredients for Biscotti using butter:

• 1/2 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1 large egg
• grated zest of one lemon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure: Part 1

1. First preheat your oven to 350°F

2. Next put all the almonds onto the baking sheet and put them in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, and remove them when the almonds are browned and fragrant as pictured below.  Once the almonds are cooled chop them very finely with the sharp knife. Note- you must keep the oven on after removing the almonds.

3. Then you will combine all the wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl and whisk them together; eggs, lemon zest, sugar, butter, almond extract and vanilla.

4. In another mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients; the chopped almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, stirring thoroughly with a spoon. Once the dry and wet ingredients are combined stir together until the dough is stiff.

5. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Shape your dough into a log about 6-8 inches long, 1 inch high, and 3 inches wide.  The dough should be sticky so you may need to wet your hands in order to form the dough shape.

6. Once the dough is shaped put it in the oven for 14 minutes and then rotate the sheet and bake the dough for an additional 14 minutes. When the loaf is done cooking take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 12 to 15 minutes. The biscotti should look like the picture below.

 

Procedure: Part 2 Twice Baked

1. When the loaf is cooling reduce the oven temperature to 250°F.

2. After the biscotti has cooled use the serrated knife and slice it into ½-inch-thick pieces.

3. Next place the biscotti on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing them ½-inch apart and bake for 7 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet and bake for an additional 7 more minutes, or until the biscotti are slightly crisp

4. Finally remove them from the oven and let the biscotti cool completely.

 

Your biscotti should be crisp and you should be able to see some of the almonds peeking through the middle!

Below is the end result of the Biscotti Van and I made!

When we made our biscotti we made it with butter but the lab group next to us, Elise and Nikki, made their biscotti with olive oil instead. Below is the side by side comparison of the completely cooled olive oil biscotti and butter biscotti, and in both pictures above and below you can see the interior texture of both types of biscotti. In the video at the bottom of the page the comparison between the two types are discussed.

Lab Questions

1. Why is butter a solid at room temperature while olive oil is a liquid.

Butter is a solid at room temperature because it is considered a solid fat. Butter is 50% Saturated and 50% unsaturated fatty acids and olive oil on the other hand is a liquid fat consisting of 85% Cis unsaturated and polyunsaturated and 15% saturated fatty acids. Solid and liquid fat is based on the type of fatty acid in the triglycerides.

2. Butter is a fat that contains ~15% water, compared to olive oil (or shortening) which contains < 1% water. Explain the textures of the two different types of biscotti.

When a food has a higher water content the end product is more moist, tender and chewy where as foods with a low water content are hard, dry, and tough and have a crunch to them. Since butter is 15% water and olive oil has less than 1% of water in it, this explains why the butter biscotti was more soft and chewy compared to the more dry and hard olive oil biscotti. In olive oil there is a lower water content so the end product will be more crisp and dry, while butter has more water present so the end product will still be crisp but will be more soft and chewy than an olive oil biscotti.

3. When mixing the ingredients you added the flour mixture slowly to the fat/oil mixture. What effect does the fat/oil have on gluten formation in the dough? What about your biscotti supports your conclusion?

The oil coats the flour therefore making the oil/fat mixture to prevent the gluten from being formed. However, there is still enough gluten for the dough to be cohesive. When little gluten is in a mixture it causes the end product to crumble, just like our biscotti did when you bit into it, and it makes it more dense instead of light texture which is a correct description of our biscotti.

Below is the video discussing the Biscotti we made!

http://vimeo.com/256852087

 

Ciabatta Bread Recipe

Ciabatta bread is a light risen bread that has an amazing airy texture to it. With this type of bread many large holes form giving it its signature look which comes from the weak gluten network that is inflated by the steam of the excess moisture in the dough once its put in the oven. Ciabatta may be hard to work with because of its wet and loose structure but the end result is worth it.

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Recipe

Part One: Creating the Sponge

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose Flour
• 1/8 tsp Rapid Rise Yeast
• 1/4 cup room temp water

Materials:

• Sturdy spoon
• Small glass bowl
• Measuring Cups and spoons
• Plastic wrap

To begin your bread you must first combine the flour, instant/rapid rise yeast and water in a bowl and stir with a spoon until a uniform mass forms.

Then you will have to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Allowing the dough to sit lets the yeast to ferment and start the flavor of the bread to come through.

 

Part Two: Making the Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/4 teaspoon rapid rise or instant yeast
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons milk (room temperature)
• 1/3 cup room-temp water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Materials:

• 2 baking sheets
• Large glass bowl lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray
• Parchment paper
• Scissors
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Ice cubes or cold water
• Kitchen towels
• Digital thermometer
• Cooling rack
• Serrated bread knife

After the sponge has been fermenting the dough should look something like this

Then get your baking sheets ready with parchment paper that is sprayed with cooking spray with flour put over top.

Directions: Making the Dough

1. First place the sponge you made earlier and all the dough ingredients into the bowl of the mixer using the paddle attachment and mix on low until a shaggy dough forms (1 minute). Then once this happens up the speed to medium low and continue this until a mass that collects at the bottom of the paddle and pulls away from the sides of the bowl (4-6 minutes). once this is done change to the dough hook and knead the bread on medium speed, it should be smooth and shiny yet sticky (10 minutes).

2. Next perform the windowpane test on the dough

3. After that transfer the dough to a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour so the dough can rise. 

 

Directions: Shaping the Dough

1. After the 1 hour fold the dough over itself by gently lifting and folding the edge of the dough toward the middle. Do this for a total of 8 folds and let the dough sit for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and put an empty baking sheet onto the bottom rack. This sheet will be used for ice/ steam when the ciabatta is cooking.

3. Once you have waited 30 minutes split the dough using a spatula creating 2 inch deep dough halves.

4. Shape each lump into a rectangle

Directions: Baking the Bread

1. Measure out 1 cup of ice into a glass measuring cupPlace the baking sheets with the ciabatta in the middle rack once the oven is at 450 degrees F.

2. Place the baking sheets with the ciabatta in the middle rack once the oven is at 450 degrees F.

3. Dump the ice into the empty baking sheet that is on the bottom rack in the oven; The ice creates steam which allows for the surface of the bread to not harden quickly and also allows for the dough to expand more when its baking 

4. Bake until the crust is a deep golden brown for about 20-22 minutes and the loaves register 210 degrees F.

5. Put the two loaves onto the cooling rack and let then cool completely before cutting them.

The bread will come out hot, puffed up, and smelling and looking delicious!

When we made this recipe the bread tasted delicious and the inside had all the special unique characteristics Ciabatta bread is supposed to have, like the holes inside that we discovered more of as we ate the amazing bread. The outcome was exactly as expected and everything went very good during our baking process. The video below discusses our reaction to the Ciabatta we made and also discusses the science behind the holes in the bread and suggestions as to what we would do differently in the future.

http://vimeo.com/253914200