Torcetti is a classic Italian biscuit, so they're the perfect partner for an espresso or cappuccino! With their crisp, twisted dough studded with sugar, you won't be able to wait until your coffee break to make this Torcetti Biscuits Recipe!
Place the flour, caster sugar, yeast and salt in a bowl. Mix together.
Add the water and melted butter. Stir to a raggedy dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a clean, lightly oiled bowl.
Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove for 1 hour until doubled in size.
Shape and bake the cookies
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F (180C/350F fan). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface, knead briefly to knock out any large air bubbles, then divide into four pieces. Work one piece at a time, covering the other pieces with a tea towel or cling film (saran wrap) so that they don't dry out.
Roll the dough out a little more to give a long thin rope of dough about 30cm (12 inches) long. The dough will be elastic because of the developed gluten, so you may have to cover, rest and then continue rolling if you find it is retracting.
Cut the rope of dough into 6. Roll them again so that they're each about 7.5cm (3 inches) long.
Put the demerara sugar on a plate and place the lengths of dough on the plate, one after the other, gently rolling to lightly coat in sugar. The dough should be naturally tacky enough to pick up the sugar, but if think the lengths have dried out, you can brush them very sparingly with water before rolling in the sugar.
Loop each length of dough to give a teardrop shape with a little cross-over at the point. Place each cookie on a baking sheet lined with baking paper as you work.
Repeat with the next piece of dough and so on until you have 24 cookies in all.
Place both trays in the oven and bake for 15 minutes until golden and crisp.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and then serve and enjoy.
Transfer any leftover torcetti to a container promptly so that they don't go stale.