If you know what Bath Oliver biscuits have looked like for the last fifty or so years, it isn’t like this. I followed the recipe from last week’s post and I got disks that were thicker, more coloured and without the snap I was expecting. Furthermore the pastry was very stiff and very hard to roll out to thickness.
Failure? I think I can mark this down as a First Attempt In Learning and I’ve got some ideas for another go. Firstly, not all of my choices were optimal. I ran out of time on day one, so I ended up putting the dough in the fridge overnight which may have inhibited the yeast (although it had at least the specified hour and still felt stiff before I did so). I also cooked the disks at the same time as baking some potatoes, which might have been a misguided bit of multi-tasking. Compared to the recipe I noted down, I combined all the dry ingredients with the butter so I didn’t give the yeast a head start with sugar in the milk… although the quick bake yeast I used shouldn’t need it.
For round two, I think I might reduce the volume of flour and possibly increase the the milk (or even try to get the yeast very active in an additional, slightly sugared water mix). I don’t want it as wet as a bread dough but I do want it easier to roll. If I’m still on the stiff side, I may also consider bringing the pasta machine into play. I don’t use it very much but it applies mechanical advantage to the process of creating an even sheet of pastry.
My rolling pin rings worked fairly well to get the dough to “pound coin” thickness but, since I got a degree of rise (yeast firing off under heat, giving some good internal striations) I probably need to get my rounds starting thinner. I reckon 1.5mm might be a reasonable target – if I print off some more guides, I can roll it with the pasta machine but use the rolling pin to check it has reached my intended thickness. I’ll also try reducing the cooking heat a bit further – I’m aiming more for drying out the biscuits (snap!) than giving them colour.
So changes to make and I don’t think I succeeded in making a good facsimile of Bath Olivers as commercially produced. On the other hand, I did get some delicious rounds that have a creamy taste, almost work as biscuits and probably would go very well with port and stilton. Let’s see if round two is Perhaps A Small Success.