Tortas de Aceite
Our local Hannafords has begun carrying Spanish tortas de aceite, flat olive oil cookie/crackers from Seville, but they’re pricey. My friend Arlene suggested I make them at home and post the recipe on The Complete Olive.
So here it is, Arlene! These can be either sweet to serve with dessert, or savory to serve with drinks. In Spain, that would probably be Sherry.
Makes 6-8 Tortas
• 1 Tbsp dry yeast
• 6 Tbsp virgin olive oil
• ½ c plus 2 tbsp warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• granulated sugar or salt for topping
• anise seeds or other topping
In a large mixing bowl, mix 6 Tbsp warm water, yeast, salt and olive oil until yeast is completely dissolved. Gradually add flour, mixing thoroughly. As dough mixture becomes too dry to continue to mix, sprinkle in a bit more water and mix.
Repeat until all water is gone and dough has a smooth consistency. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 450F
Grease 2 cookie sheets with oil. Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Pinch off a small amount of dough and roll into a ball about 1 ½ times the size of a golf ball, using your hands.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll the ball of dough out very thin: about an 8” circles. Carefully transfer each one from the cutting board to the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar and anise seeds or other topping — see below for suggestions. Repeat until all balls are rolled out.
Bake 10-12 minutes until edges begin to turn brown. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
Variations
Sweet Versions: Top with sprinkling of granulated sugar and anise seeds, or sugar and finely chopped almonds or hazelnuts or whole pine nuts pressed into the dough.
Savory Versions: Sprinkle with sea salt, olive oil and very finely chopped garlic OR olive oil and finely grated Manchego or Parmesan cheese.
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