How to make crunchy biscuits: recipe and mistakes to avoid

Making crunchy biscuits at home is very simple, but there are some important rules to follow, starting with the ingredients. Reduce the doses of foods that retain a lot of moisture, such as eggs, butter, milk or brown sugar. For example, pour seed oil if the dough is very dry and some potato starch if it is too wet. So now let's see how to make crunchy biscuits at home, with tips to follow and mistakes to avoid.

Making crunchy biscuits at home is very simple, but there are some important rules to follow, starting with the ingredients. Reduce the doses of foods that retain a lot of moisture, such as eggs, butter, milk or brown sugar. For example, pour seed oil if the dough is very dry and some potato starch if it is too wet.

Making crunchy biscuits at home is a great idea to enjoy a genuine breakfast. Whether they are simple, whole, enriched with chocolate chips or almonds, the important thing is that our biscuits are crunchy and crumbly. Very often, however, small mistakes during the preparation of the shortcrust pastry make the biscuits come out of the oven too soft or too frothy. So let's see how to make crunchy biscuits at home, with tips to follow and mistakes to avoid.

The recipe for making crunchy biscuits

In a bowl pour 300grams (about 3 cups) of type 0 flour, 1 sachet of vanilla yeast powder and 70grams (about ⅓ of a cup) of sugar and mix. Pour 10ml of milk at room temperature, 70ml of seed oil and knead well until a soft dough is obtained.

Roll out the dough on a clean work surface with the help of a rolling pin. Make a thin sheet about 4mm and cut the biscuits of the shape you prefer.

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, well spaced from each other, and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes.

Tips

To prepare crunchy biscuits, reduce the amount of ingredients that tend to retain moisture, such as 00 type flour, eggs or brown sugar. Prefer white granulated sugar or corn syrup instead, for drier biscuits.

Prefer type 0 flour, which has a protein content higher than the others on the market, which in cooking makes a more crunchy compactness and a golden appearance.

Prefer butter instead of margarine or lard, because it has a rather low melting temperature, which allows the biscuits to flatten in the oven. In addition, the protein content promotes toasting. Remember to add it to the dough at room temperature and not to work it too much with your hands to prevent it from getting too hot.

If you can, avoid the eggs for the dough. They have a very high moisture rate which tends to make the biscuits "spongy" despite baking. As an alternative to eggs, you can add apple juice to the dough, or preferably a drizzle of seed oil.

Make flattened shortcrust pastry disks, helping you to press them lightly with a rolling pin. In the oven they will swell and the risk is that they lose their fragrance. Bake at a lower temperature but for a longer time, to allow time for the shortcrust pastry to flatten before compacting. In this way, the biscuits will also be drier.

Before baking the biscuits, try to lightly moisten the baking paper with which you have covered the pan. This will prevent the bottom of the biscuits from burning.

Mistakes to avoid

Try not to make the shortcrust pastry too moist while you prepare it. If you find you have a very wet dough, add 0 type flour, or preferably corn starch, potato starch or rice flour, which act as thickeners.

If, on the other hand, the mixture is too dry, therefore it feels dry to the touch and tends to crumble, adjust its consistency by adding some seed oil. Avoid adding butter, which could make the dough sticky.

Avoid using the mixer to knead the shortcrust pastry, because it is suitable for creamy preparations, but not for the dough for dry and crunchy biscuits. For consistent doughs such as in this case, the best thing is to work the ingredients by hand and only at the end, after mixing them, to compact everything.

If the recipe requires a rising time, respect it and let the biscuits dough rest in a warm and dry place, covered with a tea towel. If the biscuits do not sufficiently rise, you may get the opposite effect, and the biscuits will be too dry and thin.

To avoid drying out the biscuits too much, the oven temperature should not rise above 180° degrees C, for about 10-12 minutes, in order not to risk having dry or even burnt biscuits. Just prefer a longer cooking, but at lower emperature.

How to preserve biscuits but still keeping them crunchy

Preserve your dry biscuits for about a week, closed in a tin box lined with parchment paper, or a container with an airtight seal, so that they retain fragrance and crunchiness.