Taralli

Italian "biscotti" made from flour, olive oil and white wine, these have become a firm favourite in our house.It took me three goes to get them just right.



Ingredients

 500g Pasta '00' flour
100g Olive Oil
200g White Wine
7 g salt. 
(Note No Yeast or baking powder)

Mix all the ingredients and then knead for 15 mins. Rest for 1 hour.  Divide into three and add 1 teaspoon of your favourite flavourings. Here I've used fennel seed, chilli flakes and rosemary. There's no rules but I would encourage you to try fennel seed, which is traditional, even if you don't think you will like it. The combination is wonderful. After that it gets a bit hectic (hence no pictures). Knead in the flavouring and divide each lump of dough into 20 parts. Each mini lump is rolled out into a pencil shape at least 4 inches long and then the ends are pressed together to make a ring. Once you have your sixty hoops drop them into a pan of gently boiling water 20 at a time and wait for them to rise to the surface before fishing them out (a slotted spoon is invaluable). Dump them on a tea towel to dry off a bit before loading them onto a baking sheet (or rather two).  (Optional - brush with beaten egg) Bake Gas mark 6 for a full hour, swapping the trays around half way through. They are still pale when ready so don't burn them.



Flavourings

 All you need do then is cool them on a wire rack. Once cooled they keep for up to a month in an airtight container (yes a month) but they won't last that long.

While they were cooling, to fend off the gathering vultures I had to rustle up some tattie scone


Tattie Scones


And while I'm at it here's soda bread ala Dan Lepard. Another nice filler.

Soda Bread



Still a couple of taralli left after two days!