Taste of the Old Country

Some notes on my Japanese biscotti making experience...

Family loved them. Biscotti appealed more to the family than the chocolate chip cookies or pumpkin pie that was made in the past. Explanation was that they were not sweet, or very sweet. Still don't understand the way Japanese people measure sweetness. There is plenty of cake out their that they pay crazy prices for and the japanese sweets are the sweetest things on earth. As far as cookies go, sweet is bad.

Tasting notes. I did a few things differently because I was not in my kitchen. First, I used almond extract because there is no anise in Japan and I thought almond would go better with Japanese people. Not the original taste, definitely more suited for tea or milk than coffee or red wine.

Second, the walnuts in the house were store-bought chopped. Not hand-chopped. Size of the walnuts were smaller overall than my typical preparation. I think they tasted better this way. The oils from the walnuts were better able to get into the cookie. But I also like enormous pieces of nuts in my biscotti. Solution: Use whole or halved nuts plus some pulverized dust in a food processor. Note the size of the pieces as well as texture of the crumb. Light, uniform (see item 4 below after reading item 3)

Third, I had no access to a broiler and instead of using the Grandpa method of 1 minute toasting under the broiler, both sides I did 20 mins in a 300 degree oven after cutting and standing the biscotti up. Much easier, less burns on hands and cookies. Don't know how much this affected the 4th and most important tasting note...

Fluffy? Light? Flaky? Where did this come from? Biscotti are typically pretty tough customers. They are hard, and supposed to be hard. Not rock solid, but a heavy hitting cookie. These were the lightest biscotti I ever ate. Light on the tounge and in the hand. As they were baking, they puffed up more than I have ever seen. Wish I had taken a picture because I was thinking there was no way I was cutting these buggers without them breaking at this height. They looked like bread loaves in the oven. I have to say, these have to be the best I've made. And I'm in Japan. When I go back to the states, I'll have try again. Using a combination of Grandpa toasting style and the conventional. Possible causes of the delightful lightness

FRESH BAKING POWDER. This is obvious but maybe not the entire explaination. I bought baking powder and used it. Was not sitting around and not past expiration.

Usage of shortening rather than butter. Grandpa's recpie has both ways but have only used butter up till today. I don't know enough about baking science to make a call on this one but according to Ochef.com, shortening's higher melting point allows flour and eggs to set and you get less spread and more fluff to your cookie. But this is in the context of chocolate chip cookies, not biscotti, which are formed into loaves, not dropped on a pan, hence spread should not be much of an issue. There is only expansion. Another difference is shortening does not impart a creamy texture, but biscotti are not creamy so on that account, butter is the loser, I should continue with shortening for any non-spreading effect it has.

Final bake at 20 mins in 300 degree oven. This is a wild guess, but maybe the remaining water was able to evaporate in a more orderly fashion this way instead of the Grandpa broil method, leaving a more uniformly dried cookie.

Recipe:
3.5 cups flour plus more for dusting
1/2 cup shortening
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 (depending on taste) TBSP extract
3 tsp baking powder FRESH
1 cup stuff you want in the biscotti (nuts/fruit)

Whip shortening and sugar until creamy. Add eggs 1 by 1 and continue mixing. Add extract. In separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, salt. Form well and add wet into dry. Add nuts and/or fruit Mix to a workable dough. May need to add more flour.
Flour a cutting board and hands, preheat oven to 350. Grease pan or use parchment paper (my new love) Form dough into 3 or 4 loaves of uniform thickness. Bake 25 mins until outside is golden brown.
Remove from oven and cut into desired length, slightly on diagonal is nice. Stand biscotti on baking tray at least 1cm apart. (using metric now in Japan). Bake for 20 more minutes at 300 degrees. Remove, let cool, store outside of fridge in metal tin.