Here’s another breakfast food that is extremely popular in Italy but almost unknown on the British tables: ‘fette biscottate’, literally ‘biscuit slices’! Biscotto in Italian means twice-cooked:, and although this definition has been so broadly applied to the point it became just another word for ‘cookie’, it would originally refer to the technique of baking a dough to the point it’s cooked through but still soft enough to be sliced and then baked again at a low temperature to reach a crunchy, crispy texure.
We all grew up with fette biscottate. They should never miss in an Italian family’s pantry, ready to be dipped in our morning caffelatte or enjoyed instead of toast with a layer of jam, honey or (on lucky days!) Nutella. Fette biscottate are also a staple breakfast buffet food in any holiday resort during the summer holiday, and can be also easily found at the train stations’ vending machines ready to be grabbed as a snack before a long journey.
The shelves of the Italian groceries shops are stocked with a wide variety of brands and types of fette biscottate: plain (also called classiche), golden (dorate), wholemeal, multigrain, with barley… you name it!
However, our beloved fette are not as popular here in UK. Some supermarkets sell something similar to fette biscottate with the name of French Toasts or Crispbakes, but the taste is not as satisfying as our home brands such as Mulino Bianco or Gentilini. Indeed, they are considered more as crakers and salty snacks.
That’s exactly when Linguini comes to help you fixing that longing for a familiar snack. So, let’s make fette biscottate at home!
We promise you the process is quite straightforward, but just like any other leavened dough it takes a few hours’ rest in between steps, but the process is quite simple and the result is delicious. And if you try our bi-colour version with a wonderful cocoa spiral, it happens to be very beautiful too!
Best way to enjoy homemade fette biscottate?
Naturally, with our homemade Nutella (https://linguini.uk/ricetti/homemade-nutella/)!
Fette Biscottate – Rusks/French Toasts/Crispbakes
Ingredients
- 500 grams Flour
- 170 grams Milk (at room temperature)
- 100 grams Water (at room temperature)
- 50 grams Sugar
- 50 grams Butter (soften)
- 7 grams Dry Yeast
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1 pinch Salt
- 15 grams Cocoa powder + 3 tbsp Milk
- Egg wash (1 egg + some milk) for the surface
Instructions
- Add milk, water, dry yeast, honey and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix everything with a whisk.
- Add the flour and turn on the stand mixer (with the hook) to start kneading all the ingredients.
- When a dough is formed pour the salt and keep kneading.
- Lastly, add the soften butter a bit at a time. Wait until the butter is completely absorbed into the dough before adding another piece. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer it on a table. Cut the dough into two pieces of approximately the same size. Put one of the two halves back in the stand mixer. It is now time to make the cocoa dough.
- Pour the cocoa powder in a glass with 3 tbsp of milk and stir until the cocoa is dissolved (you can warm up the milk to help the process). Add the mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and knead again until the cocoa is completely absorbed into the dough. If the dough is too dry, you can add other 1 or 2 tbsp of milk.
- Remove the cocoa dough from the bowl and transfer it on a table. Shape both the white and the cocoa dough into a ball and let them proving until they have doubled in size (approximately 2-3 hours)
- Once both the white and the dark doughs have proven, transfer them on the table and roll them with a rolling pin. You must give both the doughs a square shape of approximately the same size.
- Overlap the white and the dark square (the dark dough must go inside the white dough), and gently press with your finger to make them stick to each other.
- Roll up the dough and shape it into a sausage (the dark dough must remain inside). Put the dough into a loaf pan (14x26cm) and let it proving again for approximately one hour
- When the dough has reached the edges of the loaf pan, brush the surface with some egg wash and a cook the loaf in the oven at 180° for 30 minutes. Take the loaf out of the oven and let it cool down completely.
- Once the dough is cool, cut it into slices of approximately 1cm. A black and white spiral should appear on each slice
- It is now time to toast ("biscottare") the slices. Put all the slices on a baking tray and cook them in the oven at 150° for approximately 30 minutes (until they are crispy and golden brown). Be sure to turn the slices every 10 minutes. Once the slices are toasted, let them cool down.
- Your fette biscottate are ready! You can keep them in a airtight container for several weeks.
