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You need two 12x15 inch cookie sheets.
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Butter and flour ONE of the cookie sheets.
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The oven should be at 350 to roast the almonds, and 300 to bake the biscotti.
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Total baking time for the biscotti is about 2 hours.
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You also need to have handy and ready a surface for kneading the biscotti dough and a surface for cutting the baked biscotti.
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Roast the almonds in a 350F (180C) often until lightly browned (10-15 minutes).
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Cool nuts completely.
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Lower the oven temperature to 300.
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In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt) just to mix.
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Separate out about 1/2 cup of this mixture, and spread SOME of the reserved 1/2 cup onto your kneading surface.
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In a small bowl or measuring cup, lightly beat together the eggs and vanilla.
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Make a well in the flour mixture in the medium bowl and pour in the egg/vanilla mixture.
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Stir the flour into the egg mixture from the outside of the well.
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Continue combining until the mixture is too stiff to stir.
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Turn the mixture out onto your kneading surface, which should already be floured with some of the reserved dry ingredients.
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With floured hands (use some of the reserved dry ingredients for this if you want), fold the dough over itself until it coheres.
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Use the rest of the reserved dry ingredients for your hands and the work surface, if necessary.
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Press the nuts into the dough and keep folding the dough over itself until the nuts are evenly distributed.
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Let the dough sit a few minutes so the flour absorbs the liquid completely, making the dough less sticky.
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Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces.
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Roll each piece with your hands so that the pieces are elongated into strips about 1 inch wide and 12 to 14 inches long.
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*** Place the strips on the buttered/floured baking sheet, leaving about 4 inch between each strip.
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If you want somewhat wider strips, flatten the strips with your hands to a width of 2 inches.
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Bake for about 50 minutes at 300.
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Let the strips cool for 5 minutes, and them remove them with a spatula to a cutting surface.
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Using a sharp knife and making downward strokes, cut the strips into diagonal bars about 1/2 inch wide.
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Lay the cut biscotti on their sides on the two baking sheets.
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Toast 35 to 50 minutes, depending on how dark (and crunchy?)
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you want them.
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*** To make much wider strips, divide the dough into two strips, same length (12 - 14 inches).
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Each cookie will be about 6 inches long.
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This should make about 2 dozen cookies.
