Ingredients
- 170 grams (6 ounces) quality hard cheese, finely grated (I used 24-months-old comté cheese, but you could use extra-sharp cheddar, as in the original recipe, or pecorino)
- - 55 grams (4 tablespoons) butter (I use semi-salted), diced and softened
- - 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces, about 3/4 cup) flour
- - 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- - 1/4 teaspoon ground smoked paprika, preferably the spicy kind, plus more for sprinkling (substitute ground chili pepper)
- - a dash milk or cream, as needed (see below)
Directions
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In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt, and smoked paprika. Using a dough blender or bench/bowl scraper, mix these ingredients together until they form a dough. If the mixture seems too dry and crumbly to come together into a ball — this will depend on the cheese you used — add a dash of milk or cream until it does (I didn’t need to). The mixing can also be done in a blender, food processor or stand mixer.
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Shape the dough into a log or whatever sliceable shape strikes your fancy, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm enough to be easily sliced, about an hour, and up to a day. (You can speed things up by placing the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes instead.)
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Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
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Remove the dough from the fridge, slice it thinly — about 2 mm or 1/12 inch — and arrange the slices on the prepared sheet (they will expand a little, so give them just a bit of elbow room). You will need to work in batches; return the dough to the fridge between batches.
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Sprinkle lightly with salt and chili pepper and bake for 10 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven and the thickness of your slices, until golden. Let the cheese thins rest on the baking sheet for a minute before transferring them to a cooling rack. Taste when cool, and adjust the baking time accordingly for subsequent batches.