An undisputable fact of life is that when you make something yourself you know what goes into it and you have control over content, cost. Every one of you is capable of making something new and sustainable. We have talked about pizza but every mother with kids to feed must know that snacks are important for growing youngsters. Experimenting is something you should start now and play around with for the rest of your lives. Never let a failure pull you down; if it turns out wrong make notes, maybe discuss it with a friend, Google to find answers.
Just take the standard biscuit - sugary, little or no fibre, high in refined carbohydrate and mostly wheat and thus the problems of gluten and starch, usually baked to a brown colour, and full of fat that has been exposed to high heat - all bad!
You have an idea what you want - something you can hold in your hand and bite into with a cup of tea.
Well you have to start off with some flour and think gluten free so rice, tapioca or buckwheat etc.
Because we are omitting gluten use a teaspoon of psyllium or an egg to bind the mix.
Think fibre so grind up some linseed or sunflower kernels.
Think of texture so find some rolled oats or jumbo oats ( or ground nuts such as almond if your in the money ) .
Think of something to mix it with - water, milk, or sultana water as discussed in a line or two below.
Remember a biscuit should be hard enough to snap so go easy on how much moisture you put in.
Don't think about sugar - soak some sultanas overnight - firstly just rinse a handful, barely cover with water and leave over night - the soaking water will provide all the sweetness you need for your mix and the sultanas will be soft and juicy in the biscuit itself.
A little butter might be nice so melt some and add to the mix bit by bit
Mix it together so its a soft and mobile paste spattered with the sultanas. The wetter the mix the longer and or the greater the heat that will be needed to drive the water off. We don't want a biscuit that is browned by heat because that infers the presence of acrylamides which are toxic.
A teaspoon of bicarbonate and the smallest pinch of salt would be optional.
Dollop spoonfuls onto a greased oven plate and bake for say half an hour in a moderately hot oven.
These are biscuits - nothing is going to go wrong - We don't want to brown them - just cook the flour
mix.
Let them cool and taste.
If there too soft - let them rest - if still soft pop them back in the oven for a little longer.
All done and cool, now pop them in an airtight tin and use as necessary.
Be an experimental cook - DON'T BE A SLAVE TO RECIPES - make a few notes in an exercise book as you go along. Always use small amounts till you get the feel of things. You will develop an independence of cook books and the slavery of being obedient to their writers - you will have flops but they will be edible flops and they will teach you lots. Keep your eyes and ears open for tips about the fundamentals of food preparation. A tip or basic idea will be with you forever and may be applicable to a thousand different. ( for instance instead of using the sultanas to make a slightly sweet biscuit use some grated cheese and some finely chopped olives to make them savoury!)
REMEMBER- IF IT DOESN'T TASTE LIKE THE BOUGHT THING YOU MAY HAVE INVENTED THE NEXT TASTE THING.
Good cooking.
John.
