Autumn Fettle
Get the flours in formation, sort that spice drawer and curate your cookie cutters...
Hello from NL 36. This is Bake Sense, the somewhat ordered record of ramblings that concern the world of baking, from championing flavour and wholesome ingredients to questioning where those ingredients come from and how we can make the most of them. Along the way, you’ll find recipes and insights from life in and out of the professional bakery and plenty of fruitful chat.
The daylight hours have dipped enough to affect my brain chemistry, and my internal master clock tells me it’s time to hunker down.
As melatonin production upregulates, so does my desire for biscuits, which I believe is a natural biological response to a lack of light and cold temperatures. And if late capitalism won’t let me hibernate from now until March, I’ll have to bake it out and modulate my fluctuating mood with the only thing I know how…biscuits. For those subscribed to the Extra Credit portion of the newsletter, you can join in with access to the first of many biscuit recipes that will pepper this letter in the very long season ahead.
For sanity's sake, I’ll navigate the next few months via the index of every cookbook I own, thumbing to the back to find ‘B’ and scanning for the one word that brings hope and joy…Biscuit. It’s not so much the eating of them but the making and sharing that soothes. If I were to think in sounds, a biscuit recipe would be a lullaby, whereas a cake recipe is a cacophony that can all too easily vex, even if its intention is simple.
There are as many reasons as there are recipes to the question ‘Why biscuits?’. Here are three for a start…
The ingredients, mixing method, shaping, and post-decorating can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Hand mix, stand mix or food process the dough to speed up or slow the tempo as your energy levels allow.
Most doughs can be prepared right up to the point of baking and frozen for use later. They’re like the online order you placed and forgot about that turns up like a gift from another.
They store well once baked, and most brilliantly, they can be made sturdy enough to pack up and post across the country and sea (if international shipping regs allow).
To make biscuits easy breezy over the busy months ahead, consider the following an action plan for Autumnal fettling.
Organise the fridge. Make it good to receive bulk buys of butter. Ask yourself, how many partially consumed jars of jam are there, and how many jam thumbprints could I make with them? Take stock of any other weird, wonderful ingredient that could make the dangerous game of 123 shortbread all the more interesting…preserved lemon? Yes. Miso? Yes. Ketchup, NO!
Locate seasonal-specific cookie cutters. Ask yourself…Where is that witch’s hat? Is the set of star cutters complete enough to make 3D trees, and which of these gazillion unique snowflake cutters will I use this year? If you’re stateside, then don’t forget to find the turkey.
Sort out the spice drawer. Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cardamom, Anise Seeds, Whole Black Pepper and Clove. The essential collection. Bonus points for Mace, Caraway and Coriander. Extra bonus points for Hjorthorns Salt and Potaske.
File Flours. This is a step particular to those who have a fixation on the fine stuff and have gathered varieties too numerous to store separately. Bring out any part bags, the ones containing less than 100g and combine them to make your unique blend that reduces the risk of decision fatigue and flour weevils.
Take note of nuts. As the days get shorter, the likelihood of nuts featuring in your biscuits significantly increases. A good supply of your favourite ground and whole nuts is a blessing. What you splurge on nuts will be offset by the ability to make the most of every egg white.
Preserved Lemon Ricciolini
Egg whites are, more often than not, an enemy that engulfs the pastry chef and baker who is keen for custard at every turn. Luckily, there are many macaroon-like biscuit iterations to bake your way through. If you can, try to source unblanched whole and unblanched ground almonds for this recipe. The almond skin offers more flavour and, along with the briny nature of preserved lemon, balances the very sweet nature of this crisp and chewy Italian dolce.
Ingredients
Makes 15