Sometimes mistakes can lead to breakthroughs. We had, originally, set out to create something not far from a giant savoury loaf-like scone, or a richly flavoured soda bread, but it just wasn’t working. We made it flatter and, although it baked better, it still didn’t taste of much. Discouraged, we went home for the night.
The next morning, Gerry Moss (bless his soul) decided to cut our abandoned loaf into thin slices and toast them in the oven. Suddenly we found ourselves with something incredibly delicious crisp, savoury and moreish. Whether the flavours needed that extra time to come together, or it was the way the loaf had dried out overnight, we couldn’t say but something magic happened.
‘Biscotti’ means twice-baked, so while you might not want to dunk one of these in your coffee, it’s an accurate description nonetheless. They are delicious served with soups, cheese, charcuterie or salads.
Ingredients
- 1 sweet potato (190 g peeled weight)
- 75 g cooking chorizo, cut into thin slices
- 190 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 red onion, grated
- 3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves only, roughly chopped
- 100 g feta, crumbled
- 75 g stoned Kalamata olives
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp buttermilk
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- First, roast the sweet potato. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Wash the sweet potato, dry it well, wrap it tightly in foil and roast for 30–45 minutes until you can push a sharp knife all the way into it with no resistance. Unwrap it carefully and leave until cool enough to handle, then cut in half. Scoop the flesh into a mixing bowl and mash roughly with a fork, then set aside.
- Meanwhile, roast the chorizo in a small baking dish for 5 minutes until cooked through when ready, it will begin to ooze its bright orange oil, and shrink a little. Set aside, but leave the oven on.
- To make the biscotti, mix together the flour, baking power and bicarbonate of soda. To the bowl containing the sweet potato, add the grated onion, the rosemary, the feta, the cooked chorizo and the olives. Give the mixture a good stir with a fork until everything is combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the sweet potato mixture and toss with your hands so that everything is coated with the flour.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg into the buttermilk along with the mustard. Pour the egg mixture onto the sweet potato mix and stir to combine into a rough, loose dough, but don’t overwork it.
- Dust a baking sheet with flour and pour the sticky mixture onto it. With floured hands, shape into a flat round of dough, about 7–8 cm high. Dust the top with a very sparing amount of extra flour, and bake for 1¼ hours until cooked right through. Leave to cool for 5–10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- Finally, slice your cooked dough into the ‘biscotti’. With a sharp, serrated knife, cut the loaf into 1 cm-thick slices. Lay these evenly on a baking sheet, and put back into the oven until toasty and very crisp, but not totally dried out.