A water biscuit is a thin, crisp, unsweetened cracker made from just flour and water, with a little fat and salt — the plainest of biscuits. Its neutrality is its purpose: served with cheese, it carries the cheese without competing, letting the flavour of a good cheddar or Stilton speak. The dough is rolled thin, docked to stop blistering, and baked hard and pale. Water biscuits keep well and stack neatly, which suits cheese boards and hampers. They are the traditional partner for strong cheeses precisely because richer, flavoured crackers would clash. Simple as they are, a well-made water biscuit — crisp, even, faintly wheaty — is a small pleasure in its own right.