How Biscotti are made in Tuscany

Biscotti di Prato, or cantuccini as the Italians call them, are an Italian pastry classic, originating from the region of Tuscany. They can be recognized by their long shape and their hard, crispy texture. No wonder Italians love to eat them by dipping them in dessert wine or coffee. Biscotti di Prato are usually made with almonds, but there are other variations made from chocolate, orange peel, or other nuts. Antonio Mattei is a company from Prato that has been making cantuccini since 1858.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Introduction
0:29 Antonio Mattei, Prato
0:59 The ingredients
1:19 How to make the dough
2:18 How to bake them
2:40 The story behind their fame
3:09 The origins of biscotti
3:59 How to eat them

CREDITS:
Report: Sarah Hucal
Camera: Neven Hillebrands
Edit: Neven Hillebrands
Supervising Editors: Ruben Kalus

#biscotti #cantuccini #food

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Delicious biscotti di Prato! One of Italy’s famous cookies. Made of very few ingredients and typically loaded with almonds. …but very hard. I’m in Italy, Tuscany to be precise— to find out about biscotti history, how it’s made, and most importantly how to eat it while avoiding a visit to the dentist. The success story of biscotti or cantuccini, how most Italians refer to it, started in Prato. In this charming Tuscan town northwest of Florence, a baker called Antonio Mattei created his biscotti di Prato. Here on via Ricasoli, Mattei opend his bakery and shop in 1858. And today they still use the original recipe and run the shop in the same location. I know there are different kinds of Biscotti recipes, but I want to find out what the original Antonio Mattei recipe is. So Carlotta is going to show us. Yes of course, let’s go! Andiama! The recipe is quite simple.The ingredients are only eggs, flour, sugar, almonds and some pine nuts. First of all we get the flour and put a certain amount on the table. Then we have the egg. Now we can add sugar… And then we proceed to mix it up together. Now the dough is very soft and nice to work with. So we add the nuts. We prefer to put the whole almonds and pine nuts. Carlotta shows me the final dough. We make the loafs by hand, one by one. Wow that’s really cool that everything is just hand made and hand formed like that. Yes it is, still now. And now for the rest of the process: The cookies are baked in a long oven, cut, sorted and bagged. Still warm! And the only time it’s not totally crunchy, right? Yes. In 1904 the Pandolfini family bought the business and has been running it for 4 generations — Francesco Pandolfini tells me about the cookie’s significance to Italians. It wasn’t so popular in Italy. It was a very regional product. But in the last 20 or 30 years — I think — it became a biscuit that is appreciated all over Italy and also abroad. It’s an Italian biscuit now, you know. It’s not only a biscuit from Prato. I head to Florence with Carlotta to the company’s shop – it even has a museum dedicated to the company’s history. A cookie museum? They are definitely serious! Biscotti had been around for millenia. The word biscotto is derived from the Latin ‘bis’ for ‘twice’ and ‘coctum’ for ‘baked’. This "twice baked" technique allowed biscotti to have a very long shelf life. Supposedly, Roman author Pliny the elder, born AD 23, boasted it would last for centuries! These days, modern baking techniques mean they don’t always need to be baked twice. Cantuccini come in many different flavors — with chocolate, pistachios and hazelnuts inside, for example. So please tell us how we should eat it. Yes of course. So we get a little bit of the Vin Santo, a sweet dessert wine and we put it in a glass – first for you. And then we get a biscuit. Okay. Okay, and then you put it in — you just dip it a little bit and then you eat it. And this way it is softer and it would be very grateful to… Oh perfect. Eat it! It’s so much easier to eat! But if you don’t like alcohol we are used to dipping it in coffees or teas or whatever you like. Perfect for any occasion. Yes, any occasion. Thank you so much! You’re welcome. You’re welcome. Thanks for joining me on this biscotti journey through Tuscany – until next time!