A back to basics day with two simple bakes.
First - gluten free crunchy-outside-chewy-inside almond cookies that take 5 mins to mix and another 13 to bake.
To make 30 small cookies
Mix 200g of ground almond with 130g of icing sugar - it's also possible to make ground almond by blending whole, flaked or chopped almonds. Add 2 egg whites (around 70g) to this. This becomes a very sticky ball. Leave this in the fridge for at least 30 mins before shaping. To bake: shape cookie balls and press down onto almond flakes, if desired. I love the difference in texture between the cookie and the roasted almond flakes, but it's still a tasty cookie without the flakes. Bake at 170 degrees for about 13 mins. The middle will be quite soft when it is just done. After it's cooled, the middle will be chewy and the exterior crunchy.
Second - just a simple 60/40 durum semolina/white flour loaf made with a biga at 80% hydration. All the durum went into the 14-hour biga. BF took 4 hours and proofing took 1.5 hours at RT 22 degrees (a lot of sun streaming into the kitchen today though it was 0 degrees outside!). Baked at 220 degrees for 50 mins. We enjoyed this very much with a pea-potato soup.
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That's some crumby bread you've baked there. A work of fine art!!!
Rob
Many, many holes this time. Good for dipping but not so much for butter ;)
I love this easy almond cookie recipe. I think it is called Ricciarelli. Tastes like marzipan. A delicious variation is with orange zest. I believe any citrus zest would be delish. I have made this as a GF and sugar free at the request of a friend. Any sugar sub you can bake with works fine.
The bread resembles Glass Bread! Very hole-y.
Had to look up Ricciarelli - how beautifully cracked they are! And the lemon and orange zest is a great idea. I sometimes substitute ground almonds with dessicated coconut, using the same formula. Love that a lot too.
And, yes - glass bread! Thankfully this dough was much easier to handle. Love seeing these durum loaves completely puff up in the oven.
Oh wow, such wonderful biscuits! And the bread is even outdoing that, I'm impressed with the lovely colour and crumb.
Brrrr... can't imagine winter right now. It has been a very hot summers day here!
Overnight it seems the weather gods have become kinder and given us a mild 10 degrees today! Much better.
Thanks for the very kind comments, Jon. I was pleased with these standard but comforting bakes. Just polished everything off today unfortunately so it's time to run new experiments.
Awesome crumb on that durum bread. Those cookies look tasty as well ☺️
Appreciate it. Slightly off topic, but I was thinking of making some broa de milho, and chanced upon your post from 2014. Really informative post. Have you made more of it since then? Any further insights or updates to the recipe?