The Lagaccio Biscuits are cookies originating from the Genoese neighborhood called Lagaccio. They are part of the dry pastries and are consumed during breakfast, dipped in coffee with milk. While having breakfast, I was dipping and observing the news on the Lagaccio Biscuits bag from Preti and read: if you want the recipe write to …! The recipe you are about to read is the original Lagaccio Biscuits recipe, the only thing I didn’t follow was the amount of fresh yeast, which I halved, and the rising hours, which I increased. I must say that their biscuits are made with sourdough, but knowing that not everyone can have it, they prefer to give the original recipe but with fresh yeast. It’s important to choose flour with a W index of 250/270.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 1 Day
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 60 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Liguria
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 3/4 cups Flour (W 250/270)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 1/3 cup Butter (Softened)
- 0.88 oz Fresh yeast
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds (Finely chopped)
- 1 cup Water (Warm)
- 1 pinch Salt
Tools
- Kitchen scale
- Stand mixer
- Bowl
- Baking tray
Steps
Pour about 150 g of flour into a bowl. Crumble the yeast into the center and dissolve it with a bit of warm water. Knead by adding more warm water (about 100 ml or 1/3 cup) until a rather soft dough is obtained. Form a ball and let it rise in a warm place, covered with cling film, until it doubles in size. I let it rise for 5 hours. Then pour 3 1/2 cups of flour on the work surface or in the stand mixer, mix the salt well with the flour, add the softened butter, sugar, and the leavened dough ball. Knead the dough energetically, which should be slightly softer than bread dough (as different flours absorb more or less liquid, you’ll need to appropriately measure the water; I added 2/3 cup).
Work long with the hook. Form a ball again with the dough and let it rise in a warm place for 5 hours. When it has doubled, knock it down with your hands to deflate it, work it a little, and divide it into 3 parts, each of which you will form into a loaf. Place the loaves on a buttered tray or parchment paper and let them rise again, making sure the outside does not dry out. Go to the bottom of the recipe to read the advice on how much to let them rise.
Preheat the oven to 355°F and when it is very hot, bake the loaves for about 30 minutes. When they are cooked, remove them from the oven and let them rest on a rack until the next day. At this point, you can slice them, inclined, to a thickness of 1/2 inch.
Place them on the rack of a fan oven (356-392°F) to toast for 5 minutes per side, being careful not to burn them. I opened the door every 2 minutes to let the moisture out. Remove them from the oven, let them cool completely, and store them in a metal tin or airtight container.
Notes
Having redone the recipe several times, to improve the crispness, I extended the rising times until the last one, where I left the tray with the loaves covered with film in the fridge overnight. The next morning I took them out of the fridge and after 2 hours I baked them
