Here's what happened. I decided to go back and watch some old seasons of Good Eats. In season 1, Alton Brown does an episode on biscuits and even brings his grandma on the show! So awesome. Alton and Ma Mae taught me a thing or two about biscuits that day. Here is what I learned that made a HUGE difference in my biscuit making.
1. Use your fingers when you're adding the fats to the flour. Just make sure your hands are clean, right? It's not that messy, either, really.
2. Your dough should be pretty wet, actually.
3. Make sure your biscuits are touching when you put them on the baking sheet. I had always heard to give them room and space them evenly. I don't know where I picked that up, but it's wrong! Make like one of the middle biscuits is Justin Bieber and the rest are tween girls.
Oh, look, I just found this episode on YouTube. Go watch it and get some learnin.
The Dough Also Rises Part One
The Dough Also Rises Part Two
Now you have lots of new-found knowledge to make the fluffiest, most awesome biscuits in the history of ever. Now here's Alton Brown's recipe that I veganized that you can also use:
The Best Biscuits in the World
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Earth Balance
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening
1 cup non-dairy milk, chilled (I used almond milk)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (even plain white vinegar is fine, though)
Preheat oven to 450 F.
Combine the non-dairy milk and the vinegar and set aside for 10-15 minutes. It's probably good to just put the mixture in the fridge to keep it cold while you do other stuff.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub Earth Balance and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled non-dairy milk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting.
Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes. After you take the biscuits out of the oven, you can brush them with some melted Earth Balance if you want them to give them a bit of extra buttery flavor.
Combine the non-dairy milk and the vinegar and set aside for 10-15 minutes. It's probably good to just put the mixture in the fridge to keep it cold while you do other stuff.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub Earth Balance and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled non-dairy milk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting.
Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes. After you take the biscuits out of the oven, you can brush them with some melted Earth Balance if you want them to give them a bit of extra buttery flavor.
Those look a-friggin'-mazing! Sign me up :)
ReplyDeleteDrooling!! these look fantastic! I like your tip about putting the almond milk/vinegar mixture BACK in the fridge while you mix the other stuff! Gonna try that next time ^_^
ReplyDeleteThey look like scones, not biscuits.
ReplyDelete