Thursday, March 15

Buttery Whole-Wheat Biscuits. To blow your mind.

I made biscuits last weekend.


Then, I ate them all.


The end.


My poor husband, who has been my taste-tester for many whole wheat biscuit recipes gone awry, was oh-so-thankful to taste biscuits that in no way tasted like a hockey puck.  Trust me, I've made plenty of those.


But not these biscuits, oh no.  They were divine.  


Yes, even though they were soaked (to break down the phytates and aid in digestion).


And yes, even though they were made with whole wheat (cause that's how we roll, baby!).


All of the goodness of a flaky, buttery biscuit and none of the guilt.


Okay, by the twelfth biscuit, there may or may not have been a little bit of guilt on my part.  But that's besides the point.  


There is one trick to these biscuits - whole wheat pastry flour.  If you're like us and grind your own flour, you need to purchase soft white wheat berries (NOT to be confused with hard white wheat berries).  The soft white wheat berries produce a flour that is much lighter than hard wheat.  If you manage to use the right flour, I think you'll find great success in this recipe.


Seriously, my biscuit recipe search is over.  It's just me and these biscuits.  Together forever.


You'll never got back to prepackaged biscuits.  I promise. 


Whole Wheat Buttery Biscuits
You will need:
 - 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or freshly ground soft white wheat berries
 - 6 tablespoons high-quality butter (or coconut oil...but I like them with butter)
 - 3/4 cup milk (or water), or slightly more as needed to wet the dough
 - 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar




Step One:  Put the flour in a bowl.  Then, cut the butter in like you're making a pie crust, until the butter is broken up into pea sized bits.  




Add the milk and apple cider vinegar.  If the dough isn't quite wet enough to incorporate all the dry flour, add a bit more milk until all the flour is wet.  Mix until just combined.


Step Two:  Soak overnight or up to 24 hours.


Step Three:  After the soaking period, add in:
 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 - 1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
 - 3/4 teaspoon sea salt




Step Four:  Using your hands, fold the dough in half 10-15 times, squishing it down slightly each time, or until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in.  




Step Five:  On a floured surface (I use arrowroot powder for this to avoid adding unsoaked flour back in), roll the dough out into a long rectangle 1/2"-3/4" thick (depending on how thick you'd like your biscuits).  At the point, you can either use a biscuit cutter to make circle biscuits, or you can do the lazy-man biscuit cutting like I did.




If we were having company over, I'd probably go to the trouble of using a biscuit cutter...but for the purposes of this post, let it be known I totally made lazy-man biscuits.


Step Six:  It's possible to freeze the biscuits at this point to reheat later.  Next time I make these (like, now!), I will probably double or triple the batch so I can freeze a few bags for busy mornings.  If you're ready to eat the biscuits now, bake them in a preheated 450 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden.




I swear, these biscuits are going to blow your mind.


Smear on some grass-fed, high-vitamin butter and homemade strawberry jam.  Friend, you're in for a treat.




Stuart was very pleased that at long last, we finally had a "healthy" biscuit to use for biscuits and gravy.  We've avoided making it for so long, oh-so-desperate to find a whole-food biscuit recipe that didn't taste like cardboard.


Super light.  Super fluffy.  Super delicious.


Make them.


Eat them.


Enjoy.


8 comments:

  1. Ooh! These look yummy! Might have to give these a try. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am SOOO lookig forward to trying these! We have your soaked bread recipes soaking as I type. It has become our "regular" bread in this season! However, for lunch today...I wanted bread some quick bread and I made my favorite ww garlic cheese biscuits. AS I sat there eating (one too many), I thought of you and thought...can I soak these???? Then today -walla - you have a soaked biscuit recipe post!!! Are you reading my mind?? ;-) I like you in my head...you are saving me so much leg work!!! :-) Anyway...I will try yours (because everything I have tried of yours has been fabulous...amd I do like fabulous!!), then (when I get the chance) I think I will see if I can marry the two biscuits together! Shall I let you know how it goes? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. when you soak your grains do you refrigerate it? I want to start soaking some of my grains but don't know about leaving a milk and butter mix at room temp for 24 hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These look so good! Firstly (is that a word?), I wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your posts. Secondly, I was visiting my in-laws this weekend, and they started telling me about some of the health problems they've been having; one of which is difficulty digesting bread products. We made your soaked whole wheat pizza for dinner on the spot, and they seem like they might be converts :).

      Finally, I've been wondering for awhile... what is the deal with aluminum-free baking powder. I know that you can buy single acting powder without the aluminum, but are there health reasons for doing so? Just wondering....

      Delete
    2. I have soaked plenty of flours at room temperature for 24 hours with butter and milk and have never had any problems with it. I would recommend using raw milk, as when it 'sours' it doesn't become rancid, it turns into cheese! I've always used raw milk with no problem.

      Delete
  4. Can you sift regular whole wheat flour instead of using pastry flour? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, I don't know about using ALL whole-wheat (it may just make them denser than normal) but last time I made them with half hard white wheat (regular flour) and half soft white wheat (pastry flour)and they turned out just fine. Good luck!

      Delete

I love comments. And you. But not spam.