May 14, 2010

Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipe



Here's the recipe I promised. It's a delicious biscuit recipe made with 100% whole wheat pastry flour and yogurt. The biscuits are light and have a great flavor.

Wish I could tell you how long this takes - but I'm probably not a good measure. I dragged my youngest off the desk three times before finally resorting to having her "help" me by playing with flour at the counter. By the way, little people LOVE to "help" by measuring the flour or cutting the biscuits!

As my fourth grade teacher always said, READ all the instructions before following! :)
The instructions are detailed and a picture tutorial follows. Excuse the pic quality. I'm using my cell phone!

Whole Wheat Yogurt Biscuits 
Makes 14 - 2 1/2" biscuits

Dry ingredients
2 3/4 c. Whole wheat pastry flour
2 t. salt (I use sea salt - fine is best)
1 T + 1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 t. sugar (optional - I use fine raw cane sugar)

Wet/fat ingredients
6-8 T. COLD butter (I do NOT use shortening...it's not food!)
1 1/2 c. yogurt

Tools needed
measuring spoons
measuring cups
glass measuring cup (for yogurt)
bowl
food processor (*optional but SO much faster)
Rubber or silicone spatula

*If you DON'T have a food processor, you can still make this recipe. You'll just measure your dry ingredients in a bowl and stir thoroughly. Then, cut butter in with a pastry cutter or two forks.

** An IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT FLOUR! - Don't ever "scoop" your flour into the measuring cup. The measurement won't be accurate because the flour will pack into the scoop. Result: heavy biscuits. Instead, spoon the flour into the measuring cup. You could probably sift the flour for fluffier results but I haven't done it. Don't care that much. :)

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Combine 2 1/2 c. flour and other dry ingredients in a food processor & pulse till thoroughly blended.
3. Cut butter into little cubes (see pic).
4. Add butter cubes to dry ingredients and pulse until butter is in pieces that resemble coarse cornmeal or small peas. Don't overmix!
5. Dump dry ingredients into a bowl.
6. Add yogurt and only stir till ingredients are combined. RESIST the urge to beat it. Dough should look fluffy
7. Flour counter with remaining 1/4 cup flour and plop dough on it. It will seem damp.
8. Flour your hands and knead the dough about 6 times.
*Haven't kneaded before? Just stick the heel of your hand into the middle of it and squish - then turn the dough, fold it over and do it again! Easy!*
9. Gently pat the dough till it's about 1/2 inch thick.
10. Cut into biscuit shapes, whatever you like - as long as they're all the same size. Otherwise they won't bake evenly. Also, cut them as close together as possible so you don't have to re-shape the dough for another round. The less you handle the dough, the better!
11. Place on cookie sheet - close together for fluffy biscuits and spread out for crispier ones.
12. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. (Mine took exactly 12 minutes but they might take more or less depending your elevation.


They taste awesome hot but they aren't bad cold or reheated either.

 Good - Quality - Ingredients
 



 Cube your COLD butter


Crumbly flour and butter mixture





Fluffy yogurt dough

Time to cut the biscuits!


3 comments:

  1. Okay, if this doesn't qualify you to be a domestic diva, then what the heck WOULD???
    I'm inspired!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm a newbie to using whole wheat flour . . . is there a difference between regular whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jama. According to SeriousEats.com, pastry flour is higher in starch and lower in gluten than regular whole wheat flour.
    So, it's a little lighter than whole wheat flour and the result is a more tender product. With whole wheat flour, these biscuits would still taste good, just a bit heavier. With pastry flour, you retain the depth of flavor you'd get with whole wheat dough but the biscuits will just melt in your mouth.

    ReplyDelete

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