Both sides of my family tree have deep Southern roots. I grew up not on southern cuisine, but on fairly upscale, sophisticated meals prepared in the tradition of Julia Child's American French cooking (my mother's culinary skills were impressive back in the day). But I'm pretty convinced that food preferences may well be genetic because as an adult, I discovered corn bread, grits and biscuits and felt like I'd found heaven.
I've been looking for a perfect biscuit recipe and I've finally come up with one that works really well for me. I hope it will work equally well for you - it's pretty easy to make, it's a great baking activity to involve your kids in, and it makes a delicious addition to breakfast or to soups for lunch or dinner.
Best Biscuits Ever
Preheat over to 425 degrees while you set up your ingredients
2 cups organic all purpose flour (I'm partial to Giusto's, but any high quality organic all purpose flour will work)
1 TBS aluminum-free baking powder (I use Rumford or Hain Featherweight)
1 tsp sea salt
2 TBS organic cane sugar
1/3 cup organic vegetable shortening (Spectrum's is non-hydrogenated, no trans fats)
1 cup organic milk (works great with fat free milk)
1. Preheat over to 425 degrees.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl.
3. Add shortening and cut in (I mix by hand by just rubbing the flour and shortening together). The result should be the texture of coarse meal.
4. Gradually stir in the milk (use a utensil, it's too goopy to do by hand).
5. Knead by hand about 10 times on a floured board then roll out to 1" thick.
6. Using biscuit (cookie) cutter, cut out and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Take the dough scraps, gather into ball, re-roll until dough is used up and all biscuits are on the cookie sheet(s).
8. Bake 13-15 minutes until golden brown.
These are best served hot out of the oven, but you can store them for a day in a paper bag to preserve crisp outer crust or in a sealed container. They'll get a bit softer when they're sealed but they're still delicious.
Tips:
-Start your oven pre-heating after you've set up your ingredients. Making the biscuits takes about as long as a 425 preheat.
-Use buttermilk for more depth of flavor.
-If you don't have buttermilk on hand, try adding 1 TBS of lemon juice to your milk before adding to your flour mix. The biscuits will not rise quite as high but they will have a bit more flavor and they'll be just as fluffy.
-To measure the shortening, get a 1 cup (or larger) measuring cup, add 2/3 cup of cold water then measure your shortening into the cup so the water line goes up to 1 cup. It's easier to get your shortening out of cold water than out of a standard measuring cup.
-Serve with these choices:
Soften butter and whip together with honey or maple syrup to taste.
Soften butter, add honey and a pinch of cayenne to add some zip.
Apple butter or other fruit conserve.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Getting A RiZE Our Your Breads
If you're like me, you don't want to experiment with a bread when you've got an important 'deliverable' - you've promised to bring a bread to some sort of gathering and you don't really have time to bake it and discover you've got a brick on your hands.
I recently got a sample of Rapunzel's RiZE organic active dry yeast and decided to try it when I was just cooking for myself and a few close friends. We were cooking up some wonderful Indian food and decided that naan was a requirement. If you're not familiar with naan, it's a traditional flatbread and it's a wonderful side dish.
When I opened the packet, the smell of yeast was powerful. I was concerned that the naan, which is a simple yeast bread, would taste of yeast. Still, I mixed it in the mixer with it of sugar and salt as well as water, olive oil, yogurt, whole wheat flour and bread flour. I let the mixer do the hard work for about 8 minutes. As I was cleaning up a bit, I noticed the packet "use by" date was a couple of months earlier (I'd gotten the sample from a friend months ago and hadn't tried it). Naturally, I thought I was going to end up with really flat bread.
Still, I popped it in a proofing bowl and left it for an hour. I peeked at it at the 30 minute mark and it was rising nicely. After about an hour, it had doubled in size as was expected. I popped it out onto a floured board and kneaded it a bit. It had a great bounce, like you'd expect from a would-be great bread.
After rolling out the rounds and letting them rest, I popped then on a hot cast iron skillet and cooked them up. We served them almost immediately with our spicy chicken tikka masala and they were an instant hit. They were crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on this inside. Delicious slightly nutty flavor and just the perfect companion to our meal.
Frankly, I was surprised that I noticed such a big difference in yeasts. I've used a lot of different yeasts and never found one that performed so well and so consistently. Want to give it a try? I'm not sure where else you might find it, but you can find it at shopOrganic (along with some of my other favorite baking ingredients - but more on that another time).
Rapunzel's RiZE organic active dry yeast from shopOrganic
I recently got a sample of Rapunzel's RiZE organic active dry yeast and decided to try it when I was just cooking for myself and a few close friends. We were cooking up some wonderful Indian food and decided that naan was a requirement. If you're not familiar with naan, it's a traditional flatbread and it's a wonderful side dish.
When I opened the packet, the smell of yeast was powerful. I was concerned that the naan, which is a simple yeast bread, would taste of yeast. Still, I mixed it in the mixer with it of sugar and salt as well as water, olive oil, yogurt, whole wheat flour and bread flour. I let the mixer do the hard work for about 8 minutes. As I was cleaning up a bit, I noticed the packet "use by" date was a couple of months earlier (I'd gotten the sample from a friend months ago and hadn't tried it). Naturally, I thought I was going to end up with really flat bread.
Still, I popped it in a proofing bowl and left it for an hour. I peeked at it at the 30 minute mark and it was rising nicely. After about an hour, it had doubled in size as was expected. I popped it out onto a floured board and kneaded it a bit. It had a great bounce, like you'd expect from a would-be great bread.
After rolling out the rounds and letting them rest, I popped then on a hot cast iron skillet and cooked them up. We served them almost immediately with our spicy chicken tikka masala and they were an instant hit. They were crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on this inside. Delicious slightly nutty flavor and just the perfect companion to our meal.
Frankly, I was surprised that I noticed such a big difference in yeasts. I've used a lot of different yeasts and never found one that performed so well and so consistently. Want to give it a try? I'm not sure where else you might find it, but you can find it at shopOrganic (along with some of my other favorite baking ingredients - but more on that another time).
Rapunzel's RiZE organic active dry yeast from shopOrganic
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Organic Naan (Indian Flatbread)
I made a great organic chicken tikka masala the other night using a spice packet from Arora Creations at shopOrganic.com. (You can read more about that here). But a great Indian meal isn't complete in my book without naan. Naan is a traditional flatbread usually cooked in a tandor oven, not something most home bakers have. So, I whipped out my cast iron skillet, heated it up and made authentic enough naan to meet the approval of several hard core Indian food fans I invited over for the feast. OK, enough of the introduction, here's the recipe. From start to finish, all about 1.75 hours, 1 hour for letting to dough rise. This receipt makes about 8 large pieces of bread, but you can reduce by 1/2 or double easily. If you have a griddle or a larger surface, it will make the grilling of each individual bread a bit faster.
Setup
2 1/2 cups bread flour (my favorite is Giusto's Organic Unbleached Bakers Choice Flour)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 package organic baking yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup water, room temperature
1/3 nonfat organic yogurt
1 tablespoon organic olive oil
Step 1
In a standing mixer, using the dough hook, mix the yeast, sugar, salt, whole wheat flour and regular flour briefly until blended. Set to low speed, add the water, yogurt and olive oil and mix for about 30 seconds. Mix on medium speed for about 6-8 minutes until the dough is shiny and well formed. You many need to add a bit of flour - look for the dough to clear the sides of the mixing bowl (but not the bottom, it won't form a ball). Scrape down the sides, as needed.
Step 2
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with tightly and let rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Step 3
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a knife to cut the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each on the board to create a round ball. Roll into a 4 inch round and let rest 10 minutes. Roll each again into a 6 inch round.
Step 4
About 10 minutes before you're ready to start cooking the flatbread, start heating your skillet or griddle. It should be large and heavy, a cast iron skillet works well. Set heat to medium high heat.
Step 5
Take each round, one by one, hold and gently allow it to stretch out as you lay it in the hot pan. This will make the shape a bit irregular but will allow you to stretch out borders that may be thicker than the center. Allow the dough to heat for about 30 seconds or until you begin to see bubbling coming from underneath. Take a tong or spatula and flip over. Allow the dough to cook about 2 minutes (you can check to make sure it doesn't burn) then flip back over and finish the first side.
Step 6
Remove from griddle and allow to cool on a wire rack. If desired, you can rub with butter or ghee and season with sea salt or garlic, as desired.
Step 7
Wrap bread in a clean towel and serve with your favorite Indian dish. If you want, you can store in the fridge for a few days, re-heat in a 300 oven for about 10 minutes.
If you want to make in advance, you can make the dough and refrigerate for up to two days. Prepare dough through Step 2 then wrap tightly and store.
Naan is a delicious alternative to other kinds of breads and if you're enjoying Indian food at home, this is a great authentic addition to your meal.
Setup
2 1/2 cups bread flour (my favorite is Giusto's Organic Unbleached Bakers Choice Flour)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 package organic baking yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup water, room temperature
1/3 nonfat organic yogurt
1 tablespoon organic olive oil
Step 1
In a standing mixer, using the dough hook, mix the yeast, sugar, salt, whole wheat flour and regular flour briefly until blended. Set to low speed, add the water, yogurt and olive oil and mix for about 30 seconds. Mix on medium speed for about 6-8 minutes until the dough is shiny and well formed. You many need to add a bit of flour - look for the dough to clear the sides of the mixing bowl (but not the bottom, it won't form a ball). Scrape down the sides, as needed.
Step 2
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with tightly and let rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Step 3
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a knife to cut the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each on the board to create a round ball. Roll into a 4 inch round and let rest 10 minutes. Roll each again into a 6 inch round.
Step 4
About 10 minutes before you're ready to start cooking the flatbread, start heating your skillet or griddle. It should be large and heavy, a cast iron skillet works well. Set heat to medium high heat.
Step 5
Take each round, one by one, hold and gently allow it to stretch out as you lay it in the hot pan. This will make the shape a bit irregular but will allow you to stretch out borders that may be thicker than the center. Allow the dough to heat for about 30 seconds or until you begin to see bubbling coming from underneath. Take a tong or spatula and flip over. Allow the dough to cook about 2 minutes (you can check to make sure it doesn't burn) then flip back over and finish the first side.
Step 6
Remove from griddle and allow to cool on a wire rack. If desired, you can rub with butter or ghee and season with sea salt or garlic, as desired.
Step 7
Wrap bread in a clean towel and serve with your favorite Indian dish. If you want, you can store in the fridge for a few days, re-heat in a 300 oven for about 10 minutes.
If you want to make in advance, you can make the dough and refrigerate for up to two days. Prepare dough through Step 2 then wrap tightly and store.
Naan is a delicious alternative to other kinds of breads and if you're enjoying Indian food at home, this is a great authentic addition to your meal.
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