Make Your Own Biscotti with a Dehydrator

Make your own biscotti from stale quickbreads! Learn to give your quick bread and dessert loaves a second life and make your own biscotti with a dehydrator or oven!

We all know that when making quickbreads, making two loaves is always better than one. But you can’t always eat it before it goes bad.

Instead of sticking your quick bread in the freezer, think about creating a delicious treat by making this easy DIY ‘Biscotti’ that can elevate your afternoon snack or quick treat before bed!

I’m using a commercially purchased pound cake, (less than $2 as a Kroger clearance find) but you can use ANY quick bread or dessert loaf.

You can use any quick breads that you make at home. However, because of the amount of fats (oils and eggs) that are in most quick breads, this is not going to be suitable for long-term storage.

Besides…they won’t last that long anyway 🙂

Equipment

• Dehydrator (I happen to use the Cosori dehydrator)
• Knife – I love my Misen knife, but any knife will do
• Storage jar – assuming you don’t eat it all up beforehand.
• Quick bread of your choice

Related — Tips for Buying Your First Dehydrator

How to Make Your Own Biscotti with a Dehydrator

Step 1. Preheat dehydrator to 135°F

Step 2. Slice into 1″ segments

Slice quick bread into 1″ thick slices, and then into 1″ sections.

Step 3: Place on dehydrator trays.

I use this one from Excalibur, but any dehydrator will work!

Step 4: Dry at 135°/57°C

Dry for 4-8 hours or until crisp.

*Note, any temperature will do as this is not preserving, but simply drying out bread.

Oven Directions:

1. Place sliced bread pieces onto cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet
2. Dry in a 350F or less oven until bread snaps when cool – usually about 15 to 20 minutes

Types of Quick Breads to Use

• Zucchini bread
• Pound cake
• Banana Bread
• Muffins
• Cake donuts
• Cake

Watch me make Banana Bread Biscotti

How to Store Dehydrated Biscotti

Allow dehydrated biscotti to come to room temperature, and then store in an airtight container appropriate to the volume of food that you have. This means, don’t store a few in a large container.

Your biscotti should last 1-2 weeks, but you can put it back on your trays if you find it losing its crunch.

These will be fairly susceptible to ambient moisture, so you can keep a moisture absorber/desiccant pack in the container, or just eat them all really fast!

Quick bread recipes to try

• Banana Bread
• Gingerbread Quick Bread – from Amanda’s 12 Days of Dehydrating project– awesome stuff!
• Pumpkin Bread
• Rhubarb Bread
• Zucchini Bread
• Irish Soda Bread – think little tiny pieces of toast 🙂

DIY Biscotti FAQ’s

I know few of you will ever actually have leftover anything as far as quickbreads go, but hold back a few pieces next time and make your own biscotti with it as a treat!