Tortas de aceite - olive oil tortas

A couple of years ago Clare and I were having lunch at La Tasca during a trip to Exeter and spotted something interesting on the menu: the torta de aceite, a sweet olive oil biscuit. It was delicious, and I decided to make my own. The Andalusian government publishes the official specification, and Miriam at The Winter Guest has a detailed translation.

My recipe and method are adapted from Miriam's, scaled by a factor of five thirteenths so that it uses a teaspoon of yeast, and adjusted slightly for rounder numbers:

250	g	bread flour
1	tsp	dried yeast
¼	tsp	salt
100	g	olive oil
100	g	water
10	g	golden syrup
¾	tsp	caster sugar (for sprinkling)

In a bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the olive oil, water, and golden syrup, and stir until the mixture starts to come together. Tip out onto a surface and knead until well combined. Return to the bowl and leave to rise for a couple of hours until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Divide the dough into six pieces; each piece will make a ball about five centimetres in diameter. Roll each piece out on a surface to a thickness of about two to three millimetres, or about fifteen to twenty centimetres diameter. (There's no need to flour the surface, as the dough is very oily.) Sprinkle about an eighth of a teaspoon of sugar onto each torta, and bake for half an hour.