Crispy Digestive Biscuits
"These are one of the most popular biscuits sold commercially in Britain. They are very delicate and, therefore, extremely difficult to reproduce exactly but this recipe is fairly close. The ORIGINAL recipe is posted, verbatim, below. However, please note that I used Pillsbury plain whole wheat flour (which I sifted) and I used 4 ROUNDED, not level, tablespoons of wheat germ. These minor modifications were made as a result of the (always) invaluable advice and information I received from fellow chefs in a Recipezaar discussion forum. Biscuits will be 2 1/2 inch diameter x 1/8 inch thick."
photo by Food.com
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 9
- Yields:
-
36 biscuits
- Serves:
- 18
ingredients
- 11 ounces plain whole wheat flour
- 4 tablespoons wheat germ
- 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 4 1⁄2 ounces butter
- 5 tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
directions
- Combine the dry ingredients, and then cut in the butter so that the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Combine the water and vanilla and drizzle over the dry mixture.
- Blend until the dough can be packed together.
- Roll out on a floured surface or between two sheets of waxed paper until the dough is about 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick.
- Cut into circles or other shapes and bake on a greased baking sheet at 170°C/ 325°F/ Gas Mark 3 for 20 to 25 minutes; make sure the oven does not get too hot- they should not be too brown.
- Cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
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Reviews
-
Chef's Note: I strongly recommend rolling the dough between sheets of wax paper instead of on a floured surface, because it is a somewhat dry dough and adding even the smallest amount of flour by rolling the dough in it might result in a dough that is a little too dry and crumbly. -
Awesome, though it doesn't taste 'exactly' like the commercial stuff (McV, I know! :) I halved the recipe, and used level tablespoons of wheat germ (was that wise?!). The dough was a bit crumbly so I added an additional tablespoon of water to hold it together. I printed out this recipe without your review, Miller, so I did roll it out on a lightly floured surface, but in batches, because it was easier to work with. This made 23 biscuits, which I baked for 20 minutes. Thanks for this one... it's time consuming, but worth the effort! -
Whenever I work with cookie doughs such as this one, I roll the dough in plastic wrap into a log shape and refrigerate for a couple of hours. This allows the gluten to relax in the flour, firms up the dough, and you can then slice into thin cookies. If the dough is not firm enough to slice, then freeze it for a short time. If this recipe is not to your tastes, may I suggest recipe #455682 for Digestive Biscuits? I have not tried that one yet, but the reviews from ex-pats were good. -
I happen to have some Harrod's digestive biscuits and these are not the same. They also were tough and tasteless. The recipe required more water to even get to gather up into a ball to roll. Something is very wrong with this recipe. -
These taste good with jam, but they do not resemble in any way any of the digestives we ever ate in England. We followed the recipe and preparation suggestions -- though we could not roll the dough out between sheets of waxed paper as the dough was too wet and it simply adhered to the paper. What did we do wrong? The aroma that filled the kitchen whilst they were baking as wonderful, but none of it remained in the taste of the biscuit! Any suggestions? What might we have done wrong? --Richard Greene
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Millereg
Christmas Island
Gavin "Miller" Duncan passed away November 12, 2004 in Laurel, MD from complications of a "broken" heart. The outpouring of support from the Recipezaar community while his health was declining was a huge comfort to him and even "perked him up" a bit in his final month. Miller was a huge asset to Recipezaar, not only due to his incredible collection of recipes, but his participation in the forums. Miller was known for his wonderful low-sodium recipes, his warmth, and last, but not least, his wicked, dry sense of humor.
Liza at Recipezaar
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No, the picture to the left is not me. It is, in fact, a picture of famous TV Chef Jamie Oliver (a/k/a Thpit Boy)’s grandfather, the late Sir Topaz McWhacker. Note the strong family resemblance, most noticeable in the nose, eyebrows, and general lack of cleanliness Legend has it that Topaz taught Thpit everything that he knows about whacking and about only washing and combing his hair twice a year.
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Instead of the trivia that many Recipezaar members have displayed on their “About Me” pages, I thought it might be a tad more helpful if I were to provide some beneficial information that you can put to good practical use either in your own kitchen or when you are watching the antics of some celebrated TV chefs. So, for your enlightenment.....
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Chairman Kaga:
When he says “Ion Shff”, he really means “Iron Chef” or, perhaps, “I need a Kleenex”
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Chef Paula Deen:
When she says “awl”, she really means “oil”.
When she says “y’all”, she really means “everyone except m’all”.
When she says “bring the water to a bawl”, I have no clue what she means - I thought you could only make a baby “bawl”.
And, boys and girls, you can easily Deenize the sentences that you use in your very own kitchen, such as “All y’all can bawl your corn in olive awl or wrap it in aluminum fawl”.
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Emeril Lagasse:
When he says “confectionery sugar’, he really means “confectioners’ sugar”.
When he says “pappa-reeka”, he really means “paprika”.
When he says “inside of”, he really means “in”.
When he says “a little”, he really means “a lot”. Have you ever tried to count the number of times he says “a little” during any given show? Don’t – it will drive you nuts.
When he says “cardamin”, he really means “cardamom”.
When he says “my water don’t come seasoned”, what he really means is “I need a new joke writer”.
When he says “that www dot food thing”, he really means “I flunked Computerese 101”.
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Iron Chef Morimoto:
When he says “Foo Netwu”, he really means “Food Network”.
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Dessert Dude Jacques Torres:
When he says “I going”, he really means “I am going”. (The verb “to be” has apparently been deleted from the French language.)
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Spit Boy Jamie Oliver:
When he says “whack it in the oven”, he really means “I am into hot, kinky stuff”.
When he says “Bob’s yer uncle”, what he really means is “you’d better ask your aunt how well she REALLY knew that mailman named Robert”.
When he says “rocket”, he really means “an older weapon being used in Iraq”.
When he says “Fewd Netwuk”, he really means “Food Network”.
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Numerous chefs:
When they say “codfish” and “tunafish”, what they really mean is “cod” and “tuna”, respectively. Please note that they use these terms so that you don’t go out and buy “codanimal” or “tunavegetable” by mistake. Having said that, I have no clue as to why they don’t refer to “troutfish”, “salmonfish”, “red snapperfish”, etc., etc.
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Giggly-Wiggly Rachael Ray:
When she says “EVOO”, she really means “don’t use BOCO (boring old corn oil)”.
When she says “a little lettuce action going on”, she really means “with only 8 minutes left in the game, cabbages are still in the lead, but lettuces are making a strong comeback”.
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Two Fat Ladies:
When they say “I gwing”, they really mean “I am going” or “Sorry, but we have been watching too many episodes of Jacques Torres’ show”.
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Please note that the above is not all-inclusive. If there are other celebrity chef words or phrases that have you stumped, please post an "ISO" message in the discussion forums and I will find the translation for you.
