Ann's January Bread - Biscuits

Eeeeee Year of Bread is back! Since last we spoke, there have been many changes in my life, not the least of which is that I've moved to South Carolina. The South! It's a place I never imagined I'd live, but it's been an insanely interesting experience. And what's more interesting than regional cuisine? My food education here has been awesome. Shrimp burgers, pimento cheese, country ham...so many delicious things I'd never heard of two years ago. So it seemed appropriate to start this year with some good Southern biscuits.

Since I find it impossible to choose one recipe, I found three in Natalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart's Southern Biscuits that I wanted to try. Well, I want to try everything in the book, but I can show some level of restraint, if not much. So let's start with the classic: Basic Southern Biscuits.

I've read in a few sources that one of the keys to good biscuits is using a biscuit cutter. My childhood habit of using a glass to form the biscuits (despite having a perfectly good biscuit cutter at home) actually seals the edges of the biscuit and prevents it from rising as well as it should. So you'd think that living in the South, everyone would know this and it would be easy to find a biscuit cutter, right? There should be aisles of them in the store, right? I live in a small town, and I couldn't find a biscuit cutter to save my life. Where are all the good Southern cooks here getting their biscuit cutters?? They've probably inherited them from their grandmothers or something, but I still don't have one.

So....I made some mistakes on these biscuits. I made sure to snap the butter into the flour so the flour was coated with the fat, and I used special Southern flour, which is made from soft wheat and contains less protein and results in flaky, tender biscuits. The texture and flavor of the biscuits was great, but I patted the dough out too thin, and since they were also sealed at the edges by being cut with a drinking glass, they turned out pretty sad. I made a few with my South Carolina cookie cutter to see if it made a difference, and while they were still pretty sad, they were better than the ones I made with the glass. (It's kind of hard to tell in the pictures, but they did get a better rise. The really big biscuits were made with the dough scraps and were PERFECT). I'd like to make this again once I find a biscuit cutter and do them justice.

Next up: Gullah Biscuits!

I live and work in the heart of one of the Gullah community of South Carolina, so I felt like these had to be added to my biscuit party. This recipe swaps out vegetable oil for the butter or lard (possibly because butter would be too soft in the summer heat here). It also includes an egg, so the biscuits had a denser, kind of richer flavor.

Finally, what self respecting Southerner doesn't love pimento cheese? Let's make Pimento Cheese Biscuits! If you don't know, pimento cheese is a spread made with mayonnaise, grated cheddar, and diced jarred pimento. You eat it on crackers or as a dip with vegetables. At first, it really freaked me out, but then I had it grilled in a sandwich and that was it for me. Now I love it in all its forms, including in biscuits!

It was super fun watching the dough go from white flour to saffron-colored after the addition of the pimento. Here's my friend M. adding them - such a little jar makes such a difference!

The dough was really wet and pretty hard to work with, but with a well floured board I was able to get it together into biscuits. These were SO SO SO good. The cheese melted and they were a little spicy, and M. had the good idea of adding some chopped green onion to the dough instead of diced onion, so they just looked cheerful. Add some thin slices of ultra salty country ham, and I was in heaven.

Basic Southern Biscuits
adapted from Southern Biscuits by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart

2 1/4 cups self-rising flour, divided (Southern soft wheat flour is best - I used White Lily)
1/4 cups chilled butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces AND 1/4 cups butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cuos buttermilk, divided
Butter, melted, for finishing

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Whisk 2 cups of flour in a large bowl, and set aside the remaining 1/4 cup. Scatter the 1/4-inch-size pieces of chilled butter over the flour and work in by rubbing fingers with the fat and flour as if snapping thumb and fingers together, until the mixture looks like well-crumbled feta cheese. Scatter the 1/2-inch-size pieces of chilled fat over the flour mixture and continue snapping thumb and fingers together until no pieces remain larger than a pea. Shake the bowl occasionally to allow the larger pieces of fat to bounce to the top of the flour, revealing the largest lumps that still need rubbing. If this method took longer than 5 minutes, place the bowl in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to rechill the fat.

Make a deep hollow in the center of the flour with the back of your hand. Pour 3/4 cup of the buttermilk into the hollow, reserving 1/4 cup buttermilk, and stir with a rubber spatula, using broad circular strokes to quickly pull the flour into the buttermilk. Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the sticky dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If there is some flour remaining on the bottom and sides of the bowl, stir in 1 to 4 tablespoons of reserved buttermilk, just enough to incorporate the remaining flour into the shaggy wettish dough. If the dough is too wet, use more flour when shaping.

Lightly sprinkle a board using some of the reserved flour. Turn the dough out onto the board and sprinkle the top lightly with flour. With floured hands, fold the dough in half, and pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round, using a little additional flour only if needed. Flour again if necessary, and fold the dough in half a second time. If the dough is still clumpy, pat and fold a third time. Pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round (make thicker for a taller biscuits). Brush off any visible flour from the top. For each biscuit, dip a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter into the reserved flour and cut out the biscuits, starting at the outside edge and cutting very close together, being careful not to twist the cutter. The scraps may be combined to make additional biscuits, although these scraps make tougher biscuits.

Using a metal spatula if necessary, move the biscuits to a baking sheet. Bake the biscuits on the top rack of the oven for 10 to 14 minutes until light golden brown. When the biscuits are done, remove from the oven and lightly brush the tops with butter. Serve hot.

Gullah Biscuits
adapted from Southern Biscuits by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, divided
Butter, melted, for finishing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, preferably wider than it is deep, and set aside the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Fold in the cooking oil.

Make a deep hollow in the center of the flour with the back of your hand. Lightly beat the eggs with 1 cup of the buttermilk, reserving the remaining 1/4 cup, and pour into the hollow. Stir with a rubber spatula, using broad circular strokes to quickly pull the flour into the liquid. Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the sticky dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If there is some flour remaining on the bottom and sides of the bowl, stir in 1 to 4 tablespoons of reserved buttermilk, just enough to incorporate the remaining flour into the shaggy wettish dough. If the dough is too wet, use more flour when shaping.

Lightly sprinkle a board with some of the reserved flour. Turn the dough out onto the board and sprinkle the top lightly with flour. With floured hands, fold the dough in half, and pat dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round, using a little additional flour only if needed. Flour again if necessary, and fold dough in half a second time. If the dough is still clumpy, pat and fold a third time. Pat dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round for a normal biscuit (make thicker for taller biscuits). Brush off any visible flour from the top. For each biscuit, dip a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter into the reserved flour and cut out the biscuits, starting at the outside edge and cutting very close together., being careful not to twist the cutter. The scraps may be combined to make additional biscuits, although these scraps make tougher biscuits.

Using a metal spatula if necessary, move the biscuits to a baking sheet (or a 9-inch cake pan, for biscuits with a softer exterior). Bake the biscuits on the top rack of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the thickness, until light golden brown. When the biscuits are done, remove from the oven and lightly brush the tops with butter. Serve hot.

Pimento Cheese Biscuits
adapted from Southern Biscuits by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart

2 1/4 cups self-rising flour (Southern soft wheat flour is best - I used White Lily)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces AND 1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 4-oz jar pimentos, chopped

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 cup buttermilk, divided

2 tablespoons melted butter

Butter, melted, for finishing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Pulse 2 cups of flour with the cheese two or three times in a food processor fitted with the knife or dough blade. Set aside 1/4 cup of flour. Scatter the 1/4-inch butter pieces over the flour mixture and pulse 2 or 3 times. Scatter the 1/2-inch butter pieces over the flour mixture and pulse 2 or 3 times until the mixture resembles well-crumpled feta cheese, with no piece larger than a pea. Add the pimentos, green onion, and 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Set aside the 1/4 cup buttermilk. Pulse mixture briefly to incorporate into shaggy wettish dough. When the blade stops, remove the lid and feel the dough. Add reserved buttermilk or flour as needed to make a slightly wettish dough. Pulse once or twice more until the dough looks shaggy but holds together. 

Lightly sprinkle a board with some of the reserved flour. Turn the dough out onto the board and sprinkle the top lightly with flour. With floured hands, fold the dough in half, and pat dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round, using a little additional flour only if needed. Flour again if necessary, and fold the dough in half a second time. If the dough is still clumpy, pat and fold a third time. Pat dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round (make thicker for taller biscuits). Brush off any visible flour from the top. For each biscuits, dip a 2-inch biscuit cutter into the reserved flour and cut out the biscuits, starting at the outside edge and cutting very close together, being careful not to twist the cutter. The scraps may be combined to make additional biscuits, although these scraps make tougher biscuits.

Using a metal spatula if necessary, move the biscuits to a lightly greased baking sheet or a 9-inch cake pan so they are touching each other. Bake the biscuits on the top rack of the oven for 13 to 15 minutes until golden brown. When the biscuits are done, remove from the oven and lightly brush the tops with butter. Serve hot. 

Bread Is the New Black

Dear Reader,

We know. It's been a long time since our baking antics have been recorded. We're sorry for that. Our lives have finally calmed down to a point where we are both willing AND able to work on this blog again, and we're excited! Let's return back to the criteria we wrote in 2010....

To start, Listle and I have found it almost impossible to define "bread". There are a lot of things we want to make that could be called bread, but don't have leavening, so we can't use that as a rule. We can't say anything that's a staple is bread, because there's a lot of superfluous bread products. We can't say that anything that can be made into a sandwich counts as bread (although cinnamon rolls sandwiching some nutella and banana could be quite tasters...). We'll probably discuss and refine our definition a lot throughout the year. So let us say that, like pornography, we can't tell you what bread is, but we know it when we see it.

Here are some rules:
1.) Six of our twelve breads must have yeast (it's no good to do quick breads all year - and yeast seems to be what scares people, meaning us).
2.) We can't make the same bread in the same month.
3.) We want to explore as many breads as possible, so no repeats per individual. You can, however, make the same bread as someone else later in the year.
4.) The breads must be shared with one other person -with witnesses, who may or may not also get bread.
5.) We will incorporate reviews of good breads that we didn't make that we eat throughout the year.
6.) We will include book reviews related to bread.
7.) Finally, keeping up on posting on the blog is obviously a bit of a challenge for us :). So we must post our breads within two weeks of baking them. (We found that we were forgetting details of our cakes last year because we waited too long to post. No good!)

Thank you for reading again! We're happy to be back!