What Your Dough Kneads

• Cream your butter and sugar to a light and fluffy consistency to start your biscotti with just the right foundation. Mix your dry ingredients beforehand and then add them to the dough. Likewise, add the eggs one at a time. Dry dough is key to authentic biscotti. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour; if it gets crumbly, add another egg. Work the dough just enough, maintaining a dry, slightly rough texture rather than getting into smooth, soft territory -- overworked dough leads to tough cookies.

Better Baking

• Traditionally, biscotti is baked once in loaves, then cut into slices and baked again. When slicing the once-baked loaves, use a serrated knife to capture that authentic biscotti texture, make precise cuts and encourage perfect porousness. Make diagonal cuts and focus on creating uniformly sized slices to ensure even baking. For the same reason, always cook biscotti slices with their cut sides facing up.

Italian-Style Ingredients

• Biscotti, an ultimately simple cookie, gives you lots of leeway when it comes to ingredients. For an authentic Italian-style edge, add a little anise liqueur or brandy to your biscotti mix. A dash of these intensely flavored ingredients gives the treat a rich undertone -- a little orange zest does the trick too, especially for fruit biscotti. For consistency's sake, let all of your biscotti ingredients reach room temperature before getting down to business.

More Biscotti Tricks

• To lend your hands a helping hand, wet them lightly or massage them with a drop of vegetable oil before forming your dough into loaves. This prevents the dough from sticking to your hands, letting you focus on shaping. Before baking the biscotti loaves, brush on an egg wash to give your cookies a nicely browned finish. After baking your biscotti twice, allow it to cool completely before storage. Prep your biscotti about 2 days ahead of time and store it at room temperature in an airtight container; you'll find that letting the biscotti rest for a day or two gives it a stronger crunch and more complex flavor.