To answer your questions, I don’t think omitting the seeds and tomatoes will make a difference in the baking of the biscotti, texture wise. It may lose a bit of its characteristic flavor. You may try putting a small bit of tomato paste to substitute for the sundried tomatoes (maybe a tablespoon?) and baking them for 3-5 minutes longer to accommodate the increased hydration of the dough. It does have a bit of a red wine flavor, just to warn you, if you’re sensitive to the red wine flavor. Olive oil isn’t essential, you can totally substitute vegetable oil, but again, it’s the olive oil’s fruity flavors that really highlight the red wine flavor. But who knows? Give it a try and maybe you’ll come up with a new delicious flavor of your own Experimentation is what’s so fun about cooking and baking.

I’m contemplating making this sometime soon… would omitting the caraway seeds and sun-dried tomatoes make a big difference? Is there a heavy red wine flavour?

…And is olive oil essential? Can I use plain vegetable oil?

Even if you don’t reply, I’ll go ahead with these changes… I’ll let you know how it goes!