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Scotch Shortbread
2 pounds of flour, 1 pound of butter, 1/4 pound of sugar. Work the butter to a cream, add the sugar and stir in the flour, work them well together. Cut and roll out about an inch thick, nick round the edges, and prick with a fork. Bake in a moderate oven on paper for half an hour.
A plain Scottish shortbread in the old proportions: eight parts flour, four butter, one sugar, and nothing else. It works, but the dough behaves quite differently from a modern high-sugar shortbread.
- The hinge: do not add liquidThere is no egg, milk or water here, and none should be added. The dough will look like coarse crumbs until you compress it with the heel of your hand; keep working it dry until it coheres, and it will bake short and sandy rather than tough.
- Oven temperatureA moderate oven is usually rendered as about 350F. For rounds a full inch thick, 325F is the better reading of the instruction, since the centre needs time to set.
- TimingHalf an hour suits pieces rolled thinner. An inch-thick round wants 45 to 55 minutes at 325F, until pale straw-coloured and dry to a tap. Shortbread firms as it cools; it will seem soft coming out.
- "On paper"Baking paper or parchment on a heavy sheet. The paper insulates the base slightly, which is the point -- shortbread scorches easily on bare metal.
- SugarA quarter pound to two pounds of flour is much less sweet than modern shortbread. Use caster or superfine sugar so it creams into the butter without grit; granulated will leave a sandy texture.
- SaltPeriod butter was usually salted. With unsalted butter, add about a teaspoon of fine salt to the flour or the shortbread will taste flat.
- Nicking and prickingNicking the edges means crimping them with finger and thumb or notching them with a knife. The fork holes stop the thick dough from doming as steam escapes.
- YieldTwo pounds of flour is a large batch -- roughly two 8-inch rounds at the inch thickness given, or about 40 fingers. Halve or quarter it freely; the ratio holds. Cut into portions while still warm, then cool on the tray.