Today I am going to make shortbread, a delicious biscuit that goes very well with a cup of tea and a dollop of cream.
The ‘short’ nature of the biscuit comes from crumbliness, a result of the high fat content of the butter, anyone interested in an actual history and other facts about this tasty treat should check out this Guardian article on Shortbread, they include their own recipe which I cannot comment on as I have never tried it, I can vouch for my own though, it is tried and tested and I have no reason to alter it.
Ingredients
- Plain Flour 260g
- Caster Sugar 100g
- Rice Flour 40g
- Unsalted Butter 200g
- A pinch of Salt if you think you need it
- More caster sugar to sprinkle over the shortbread at the end
Equipment
- A food mixer
- Scales
- Two 7’ sponge tins, the removable bottoms are essential
- A fork and a spoon
Method
Start with the butter, cut it into small cubes and leave to soften, if fresh from the fridge this will take quite a long time. A good tip is to half fill a saucepan with lukewarm water and place the cold butter cubes into it, it should take around 10 mins to soften the butter to the point where you can easily squash a cube between your fingers.
Next weigh out the plain flour, the sugar and the rice flour into the mixing bowl, mix this for about 5 mins on a low speed, be careful of going too fast as the mixture is very fine and will puff up in a dust.
When the butter is soft pick the cubes out of the water, shake off any excess water and drop into the powder mixture, mix slightly faster than before until most of the large lumps are gone and the mixture is like fine, moist sand, if the dough is a solid lump you have mixed for too long. The idea of shortbread is to be light and airy, I cannot be sure but I believe this texture comes from the looseness of the dough at this stage, if you mix for too long the dough combines into a very dense slab and when cooked retains the denseness, still nice but not ideal.
Divide the mixture equally into two 7’ sponge tins and press down evenly with the back of a spoon, again try retain the looseness of the dough by not compacting it too much, if the mix is firm enough mark out the portion size with a flat knife and prick the dough in the relative pattern, I often don’t bother with this stage and just bung them straight into the oven.
Bake on 180°C, 350°F for 20-25 mins, I prefer to overcook mine slightly, I allow the full 25 mins and allow the edges to crisp up and go quite a dark brown, it’s a fine line between well done and burnt and any longer than 25 mins is too long.
When they are done take them out and immediately sprinkle with a little more caster sugar, be liberal and don’t worry about making a mess, leave to stand for 10 mins before pushing the bottoms up and leave for a further 30 mins or until completely cooled to remove from the tin bottom, place on a wooden board and cut with a long knife.
Store in an airtight container, but eat within a couple days anyway.
VisceralPlasma 