Care For a Bath, Biscuit?

Posted on by

Do you have Roku? We bought it primarily to watch the first few seasons of GBBO that aren’t available elsewhere. While the BBC was learning how to produce GBBO the early seasons provided local knowledge and history about the various baked items. This in-depth part of the show has since disappeared. The show that contained Bath Oliver Biscuits was one of those shows.

After making these biscuits once I learned they should be rolled out to NO MORE than 2mm (~ 1/8”) thick. It will take several rest stops to relax the dough enough to roll it that thin. Be patient, it will get there.

Originally developed as a digestive aid for patients (and others) suffering from maladies such as obesity and gout. Supposedly, his biscuits helped balance the “four humors” of the body.

Bath Oliver Biscuits

INGREDIENTS
• 30 ml (2 Tbl) warm water
• 3g (1 tsp) dried yeast
• 50 g butter
• 150 ml (5 oz) milk
• 5g (1 tsp) salt
• 340g AP flour

METHOD

  1. Combine the yeast and water and set aside to bloom.
  2. Gently heat the milk and butter together over a low heat, keep the temperature down, just warm enough to melt the butter.
  3. Combine the yeast and liquid in a bowl and add half the flour.
  4. Mix well, cover and let it rest for 15 minutes.
  5. Combine the rested batter with the remaining flour and salt to form a ball of dough. I had to wet my hands a couple of times to help the dough come together and form a ball.
  6. Knead the dough until smooth, allowing it to rest now and then.
  7. Place into a clean bowl and cover tightly, allow it to rest for about 30 minutes.
  8. Preheat the oven to convection 350ºF and set up a rack in the top third and another in the lower third.
  9. Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 2cm thick.
  10. Fold into thirds and roll back out, repeat this 8 times. You will need to rest the dough every 2–3 folds as it will be resistant to re-rolling.
  11. Roll the dough out to 2mm thick. You may need to let the dough rest (covered) several times to achieve this thinness.
  12. Dock the pastry all over, then using a cutter press out large circles.
  13. Arrange on lined trays, spray the rounds with a light misting of water and sprinkle over some flaky salt.
  14. Bake for 25 minutes, swap the trays over halfway through, until golden and crisp, this may take a little longer sometimes.
  15. When cooked move the biscuits to a cooling rack and then store in an airtight container

Leave a comment