March's Goal - Biscuit Making

* This post is part of our March Top 5.  See the rest of the best here.*

Well it was a good thing I didn't leave this month's goal to the last minute.  I chose biscuits for my goal for March.  Going in, I thought maybe biscuit making is too easy of a goal.  Most people whip these things out with no problem.  Until this month, I had not attempted them.  I always bought can biscuits.  I attempted them 6 times prior to this week.  None of them worked out for me.  Some of them tasted great but were flat - FLAT! So it came down to Monday and Tuesday of this week.  I had to get them right.  I feared that it wouldn't happen.

A while back I downloaded an app for my iPad to easily store and access my recipes.  It came with some recipes.  A biscuit recipe was one of them.  After trying all the other recipes, I decided to try this one.  It was a bit different because it was more like my croissant and bear claw recipe. I knew I could do this, but would it rise?  I nearly jumped up and down in the kitchen when I saw they rose.

Some things I did different this time: I bought a biscuit cutter, I weighed the ingredients rather than using measuring cups, I folded the dough (I will explain this later), I chilled the dough, and I baked them on a stone. My mom says a biscuit cutter has nothing to do with the success of them rising. But I wanted to do everything I knew to help me get them to rise.  I chose to bake them on a stone because the previous biscuits seemed to get done on the bottom before the top was brown.  I knew the stone would help them cook evenly.

I used this recipe:
9 oz flour (about 2 cups)
3 oz butter, chilled (about 6 Tbsp)
6 oz milk or buttermilk (about 3/4 cup)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp baking powder

Cut the butter into about 1/2" cubes and place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Add the cubed butter, stir to coat with flour, then cut butter in using a pastry blender or two knives.  Blend until butter is pea sized.  Add milk, mix until combined.  Don't overwork the dough.  Turn out onto the counter.  Roll out into a rectangle about a half inch thick. Wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator for about an hour.

On a floured surface, roll dough until it is about tripled in size, fold the dough in thirds length wise.  Roll dough again to triple it's size and fold again in thirds.  Roll dough to 1/2" thick.  Cut the biscuits.  I cut them with a round biscuit cutter, but you can also cut them into squares.  You use more of the dough if you cut them into squares.  I got 6 biscuits.

I also baked some of the pieces that were left over.  Bake at 400º for 20 to 25 minutes.

Because of the folding, the biscuits will be very flaky.  And soooo yummy.  The Hardworking Husband ate almost all of them.  You can also add herbs, cheese, or jalapenos during the folding stage.  I may try that next time.

Want to check out my other goals for the year? You can find them all on this post.

For a

Printable Version

Recipe adapted from SaltandFat.com

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