Shortbread Investigation

So a colleague mentioned that her daughter had made millionaire's shortbread over the weekend, and that reminded me of this thing I've been wondering about (not consciously, but you know) for a while now. How to make the best shortbread? I have 3 cook/baking books all proclaiming that their method is best, and those are only the 3 I'm aware of, so I probably have more.

Shortbread recipe galore!

But to keep things a bit in control I decided to go for these three trusted bakers: Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, and Lorraine (Baking made Easy). Checking them more closely, it turned out that Paul's recipe and Lorraine's recipe were actually identical in ingredient ratio and mode of preparation, only different in amounts (Paul uses 225 g flour where Lorraine uses 130: I don't know who was there first, but I'm anticipating a fierce shortbread copyright battle in the months to come!). So I could cross one of those off the list, and decided just to make 'The very best shortbread' by Mary Berry and 'Dreamlike shortbread' by Lorraine.

A prickly duel.

Mary's recipe:

225 g flour
100 g semolina
225 g butter
100 g caster sugar
sugar for dusting

 This one is of the 'rub the ingredients together with your fingers' variety, which I really really don't like, but had to try here anyway. You put all the ingredients in a bowl, rub them between your fingers until they become sticky, knead it into a ball and put in the prepared tin (30x23 cm, according to Mary). Prick all over with a fork, then put in the fridge to chill. Preheat your oven to 160, and bake for 35-40 minutes until pale golden brown. Sprinkle the sugar over the top, leave to cool in the tin, then take out and cool further before cutting into fingers.

Mary Berry's shortbread.

Lorraine's recipe:

130 g butter
60 g caster sugar
130 g plain flour
60 g rice flour
pinch of salt

Now I didn't have any rice flour, and to keep things even I used the semolina in Lorraine's recipe as well.
Here, you first mix together the butter and sugar until they are 'pale and fluffy'. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients and mix with your fingers until it becomes a dough. Put into the tin (20x20 cm), prick all over with a fork, chill in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, bake for 30-35 minutes, sprinkle some sugar on top, leave to cool, take out and cut into pieces.

Lorraine's shortbread.

So they are both pretty similar, apart from the first bit: do you 'rub together' or do you use the mixer? Also: can you taste the difference?

Strangely enough, you can. Even though the ingredients are similar, and in similar amounts, they do taste different. Lorraine's version is a bit more condensed, less flaky. But it is a bit more caramely, a bit more sticky sweet. Mary Berry's version is lighter, which is strange because it is almost twice as high, and took far longer to bake properly.
Opinions differed as to which tasted the best: personally I liked Lorraine's version, but some co-workers (I took these to work with me, naturally, you don't want to have 300 g of butter biscuits sitting around the house) preferred Mary Berry's, and one colleague disliked them both immensely.

So which one would I recommend? Mary's version gives you far less dishes and hassle, and gives a lighter texture, so I would probably use that one if you're going to do something else with the shortbread, such as pour chocolate on top, or make millionaire's shortbread. But if it's just shortbread you're after, I'd stick with Lorraine, because it's easier to make and to me, tasted just a little bit better.