Della’s Way Bread

or Biscotti. You may or may not have tried Hard Tack which is what unfortunates such as British sailors used to have to subsist upon. Italian sailors were better chefs so they came up with Biscotti. Della has tweaked their recipes for this wonderful food until it is just perfect. It is as good as the ‘Elvish Waybread’ that Frodo and Sam enjoyed for many days in ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

Della has two (almond flavoured) versions below (a hard and a soft one). The hard one would have slightly better ‘keeping’ qualities and would stay together better. Remember though that this food was intended to be consumed continuously on a voyage for years! You can ‘dunk’ them in a cup of tea, coffee or chocolate – which is what Della does. I prefer to eat them straight. They are delicious, filling (and quite fattening). Quite the best biscuits I have ever eaten – and I have eaten rather too many of them. They are likely the best DIY hiking rations you cold take on a trip.

ALMOND BISCOTTI

1. HARD BISCOTTI

Ingredients:

3 cups unsalted whole almonds

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 ½ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon salt

4 large eggs at room temp.

1 tablespoon almond essence

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon lemon zest
Or-

2. SEMI-HARD BISCOTTI

3 cups unsalted whole almonds

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 ¼ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs at room temp.

1 tablespoon almond essence

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon lemon zest

½ cup olive oil (or vegetable oil)

Method: (for both recipes)

*   Toast almonds in oven for 10 minutes at 165 degrees then cool

• Combine dry ingredients
• Whisk together wet ingredients in a large bowl.
• Stir in dry ingredients and then stir in cool almonds.
• Divide mixture into 4 and roughly form 4 thin logs to run the length of 2 standard oven slides, about 3 inches wide and ½ inch high.
• Bake 165 degrees Celsius (329 F) for 20 minutes ( until golden)
• Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes only
• Carefully slice each log into biscuit fingers about ¾ inch wide and stand up on slide spaced approx. ½ inch apart
• Return to oven for 5 minutes only at 165 degrees Celsius (329 F) , then remove and cool on a wire rack
• When completely cool, store in an airtight container.

See Also:

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/07/02/hardtack/

https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/07/29/a-hiking-food-compendium/