Tortas de Aciete #1

We had these slightly sweet, anise-imbued crackers in Barcelona and really liked them. Even there they were expensive; here we saw Inés Rosales brand for $6 for a package of six 1-ounce crackers! Yes, they're still made by hand but at that price, we had to try making them.

The Inés Rosales crackers were said to be 24% Spanish Olive Oil, and many of the recipes we found had about that ratio of oil to dough. We found an excellent video on You Tube that showed the kind of texture we were looking for, but opted to start with a recipe from Fine Cooking. After making these a couple times, we've bumped up the anise, orange and oil, and changed the sugaring process a little.

Other recipes included sugar and anise liquor (e.g., Absinthe, Ouzo) in the dough, but this one used Orange Blossom Water which we happened to have. I'm converting some of the measurements to metric so I can more easily adjust and repeat next time.

75 g Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil (5 Tbs, 2.5 fl oz)
10 g Anise Seed (2 tsp)

280 g Cake Flour (2 Cup)
8 g Yeast (2 tsp)
3 Tbs Sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Zest from two Oranges, grated fine on a MicroPlane
7 Tbs Water
1 Tbs Orange Blossom Water

3 Tbs Sugar, powdered in spice grinder for topping

Heat the Anise Seed in the Olive Oil and brown a bit. Let cool.

Mix the Flour, Yeast, Salt, whole Sugar and Zest in a food processor.
Add the Water and Orange Blossom Water, whiz in processor.
Add the cooled (or just a bit warm) Oil and Anise Seed.
Process until well combined, it should start forming a crumbly dough.
Form into a ball, put in bowl, cover with cling film, and let rise until doubled -- about an hour.

Place non-stick sheets like Silpat or parchment on 3 half-sheet pans.
Preheat oven to 375F with convection, 400F without.
I put rubber O-Rings on my rolling pin so I could roll these evenly, and it worked perfectly, giving an even 1 mm thickness.
Don't flour your counter, the oil will keep them from sticking.

This dough weighed 17 ounces and I was shooting for the Rosales-sized crackers which are 1 ounce each. Divide the dough into 16 pieces, easiest is by cutting it in half repeatedly.

Roll each into a ball shape.
Roll them with a rolling pin, mine came out about 5-6 inches in diameter.
Transfer to a baking sheet with the nonstick sheet.
Dust with Sugar powder, I brushed it in with a pastry brush.
Bake at 400F convection until lightly browned. Mine needed 14 minutes.

Comparing the Inés Rosales with the ones that just came out of the oven, the Rosales are very delicate and fragile:

Rosales cookies are more flaky, but ours are "crispier" and have a pleasant crunch.