The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, Mom!
Biscuits are one of those foods that can be either heavenly
or deadly. There is nothing more
delicious than a buttery and flaky biscuit. But they can also be heavy, dry and pasty. Years ago, I got a recipe that originally
came from Regina’s at the Regis in San Francisco (chef Regina Charboneau) and made it down to one of my favorite haunts, San Juan Capistrano’s RamosHouse Cafe via
chef John Q. Humphries. These biscuits are by far the best I have ever
had. The secret is using half butter and
half margarine and although I know that margarine is a no-no because of its
hydrogenated fats, before we were gluten-free, I made these biscuits once in
awhile as a treat. And a treat they
are. What I love about the recipe is
that you freeze the biscuits before baking so you can make a bunch up and bake
as needed, for an easy last minute dessert or side bread. (John serves them at Ramos house with a warm
berry and banana compote—see below—that is scrumptious.) Biscuits are always
best fresh out of the oven, so just bake up as many as you need just before
serving.
Regina Chaboneau’s
Buttermilk Biscuits
(By way of Ramos House Café)
20 oz flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup baking powder
1 scant tsp salt
¾ cup butter, cold
1 ¼ margarine cold
1 ½ cups buttermilk
Cut cold butter and margarine into ½ inch squares and set
aside. Sift flour, baking powder, salt
and sugar in a mixing bowl. By hand or
with a pastry cutter, work butter into the flour mixture until the butter
pieces are the size of large peas.
Repeat procedure with margarine.
Add the buttermilk and mix until the dough is just combined, being
careful not to over mix. Turn the dough
out on a floured cutting board and roll out to 3 inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits
and place onto a cookie sheet.
Cover in
plastic wrap and place in freezer for at least 2 hours. Bake biscuits from frozen on upper shelf of
preheated 375° oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Makes about 20 biscuits. You can keep them frozen in an airtight
container until you need them.
***
Now that we are gluten-free, I have missed these melt in
your mouth biscuits. This week I made
the Light and Fluffy biscuits from The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook byAmerica’s Test Kitchen and they are delicious…not exactly the same as the buttermilk biscuits from
Ramos House, but fresh out of the oven, they are light and fluffy as their name
suggests. I am very impressed with
America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. They scientifically studied all of the gluten
free flour blends, rated them in recipes, and then came up with their own
blend. They also figured out how to solve problems brought on by using gluten
free flours by adding more protein via psyllium husk powder or varying the fat
content. As a scientist, I appreciate
the very careful and systematic methods they used to come up with their
recipes. I made these biscuits two ways—once with their own blend and then
again with their favorite commercial flour blend (King Arthurs Gluten Free
Flour). I love how they discuss each
recipe, explaining why they work, and what is different about making them with
their blend and King Arthur’s (or Bob’s Red Mill). For instance, the book says
that biscuits made with King Arthur flour will be slightly sandy and bit
starchy. I found this to be true. They were very good, but the ones made with
the ATK blend were definitely better tasting and had a softer texture.
This is the first time I have made a flour blend. It really wasn’t a hassle at all, and since
all of the baked goods in ATK cookbook use the same blend, you can make a bunch
up and keep it on hand for your baking needs. It is important to get a good
kitchen scale and weigh the flours to get an accurate mix since all of the
different flours have a different density and grain size so just measuring by
volume isn’t accurate.
The recipe makes
quite a bit of flour blend and you can keep it in the refrigerator for several
months.
***
American Test Kitchen
Gluten Free Light and Fluffy Biscuits
(makes 6)
9 oz (2 cups) ATL gluten-Free Flour Blend* (see below) or 9
oz King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Four (1 ½ cups)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons powdered psyllium husk
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into ¼ inch
pieces
3/5 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (not Greek)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1.
Whisk dry ingredients together until
combined. Add butter to flour blend and
using a pastry cutter or your finger tips, break chunks until only small,
pea-size pieces remain. In separate bowl,
whisk together wet ingredients until combined.
Using rubber spatula, stir yogurt mixture into flour mixture until
thoroughly combined and no flour pockets remain, about 1 minute. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let batter
rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat
oven to 450°. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and place inside of
a second baking sheet. Using greased 1/3
cup dry measure, scoop heaping amount of batter and drop onto prepared
sheet. (Biscuit should measure about 2 ½
inches in diameter and 1 ½ inches high.)
Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about ½ inch apart in
center of prepared sheet.
3.
Bake until golden and crisp, about 15 minutes,
rotating sheet halfway through baking.
Transfer sheet to wire rack and let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before
serving.
Serve warm.
Serve warm.
Biscuits are best eaten the day they are baked, but they can
be frozen. For sweet biscuits for
shortcakes, increase sugar in dough to 2 tablespoons.
You can buy psyllium husk powder at any health-food store
(make sure you get the powder and not the whole psyllium husk).
*America’s Test
Kitchen Gluten-Free Flour Blend
24 ounces (4 ½ cups plus 1/3 cup) Bob’s Red Mill white rice
flour (Must be this brand)
7 ½ ounces (1 2/3 cups) Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour
(Must be this brand)
7 ounces (1 1/3 cups) potato starch (not potato flour)
3 ounces (3/4 cup) tapioca starch
¾ ounce (3 tablespoons) nonfat milk powder
Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until well
combined. Transfer to airtight container
and refrigerate for up to 3 months. Weighing the flours will give you the most
accurate results.
***
Biscuits are also called “shortcake” (a short dough is
crumbly and mealy). Although crumbly “shortcake” biscuits have been around
since at least the 1500’s, they weren’t paired with strawberries until probably
the 1800s and quickly became an American tradition.
Traditional strawberry shortcake pairs a buttery, flaky biscuit
with sweet and juicy strawberries, topped with whipped cream. I am often
perplexed when I see those sponge cakes next to the strawberries in the grocery
store with signs for making strawberry shortcake. The sponge cakes serve as an easy way to make
a strawberry dessert, but they are far cry from shortcake. It’s worth it (and really very easy) to make
your own biscuits and serve with either fresh strawberries or a fruit compote,
topped with whipped cream. What a wonderful dessert to serve as a celebration
for the beginning of summer!
Strawberry Shortcake
Quarter strawberries and sprinkle with sugar.
Let stand in refrigerator for at least an
hour, until the juice starts to come out of the strawberries. Cut biscuit in half and spoon strawberries on
bottom half. Top with whipped cream, top
half of the biscuit, and more whipped cream and strawberries.
You can also serve open faced.
Ramos House Warm
Banana and Berry Shortcake
(makes 6-8)
4 bananas, sliced
3 cups mixed blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries
2 Tbsp butter
¾ cup white sugar
6-8 cooked biscuits
2 cups sweetened whipped cream.
Saute bananas with butter in a pan until golden brown.
Add the sugar and cook until the sugar
dissolves and begins to caramelize. Add
berries and saute for an extra 30 seconds and then set aside.
Cut biscuit in half and pour fruit over
the bottom half of the biscuit. Top with
fresh whipped cream and the top half of the biscuit. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
Love,
WWW
0 comments:
Post a Comment