Biscuits / biscotti: quick history and curiosity

In the past there were two main edible products based on the flour: the bread and the biscuits, also known as biscotti. Both were definitely widespread between the population.

In the ancient Rome the biscuit was called bis coctus, which litterally means twice-cooked. That's true, because biscuits were originally cooked in two separated steps: first baked, and then dried out in a oven.

Today we call it cookie, and seems that the name comes exactly from the Latin bis coctus.

There is a small difference between the U.S. cookie and the English one. The former is a sort of small and soft bread, somewhat similar to a little cake or a scone; the latter is a sweet baked product, crunchy and dry.

Here in Italy when we talk about cookies (called biscotti, from bis coctus... our language comes from Latin, you know :) ) we refer to the second one.

Why the double cooking for the biscuits?

The double cooking produces a complete dehydration of the dough. That's why biscuits are crunchy. This extreme brittleness gave life to another funny expression you surely know: crackers (in italian galletta). The crackers constituted a very important food, especially for those who traveled by sea. In fact, the crackers was light, easily transportable, had a great calorie in small portions and was particularly of long duration.

Crackers are a life saver as well (or, to be more exact, my personal reputation saver): when I don't have time to buy some fresh bread I propose some garnished crackers and the appetizer is guaranteed.

Biscuits: ultra-fast cooking tips

I don't want to bore you with in-depth tutorials on how cooking biscuits. Just remember these small tips for when you want to experiment with the bakery:

• In order to obtain an uniform baking of cookie, use a shallow roasting pan with the flat edges;
• the pan where you bake the cookies should be lightly greased and floured, or paper-covered with baking sheet;
• try to place the biscuits in the intermediate zone of the oven;
• if you want to prepare the chocolate chip cookies, you should put cocoa in the pan, instead of the flour.