Biscuit recipe for fresh ground wheat.

[terri9630]

My usual recipe doesn't work well with freshly ground wheat. They stay flat, no rise at all. Anyone have a good biscuit recipe?

 

[baymule]

 

[moolie]

I only bake biscuits as topping for chicken pot pie or similar, but I have tried using a fine mesh strainer to sift my flour from time to time to make more "white" flour to lighten cake recipes (I use the leftover bran in muffins and waffles)--maybe that would help?

 

[ORChick]

My usual recipe doesn't work well with freshly ground wheat. They stay flat, no rise at all. Anyone have a good biscuit recipe?

Are you using hard wheat or soft?

I don't make biscuits very often, and only a couple of times so far with whole wheat, but they turned out pretty well with freshly ground soft white wheat. Even DH liked them, and he has a double bias in that he doesn't particularly like either whole wheat or biscuits (I usually just call them scones, and then it goes over better I swear, he's sometimes like a little kid - just change the name, and miraculously the food is good --- I do understand, sort of; biscuits aren't German, so not part of his food memory. And he has had some pretty bad biscuits [not mine] since moving to the US. But likes scones, probably because he likes England. As I said -- like a little kid, with a little kid's thought progression )

Oh, another question: How are your biscuits using white flour? Biscuits (or scones) need a light touch, and I think that is doubly important using a *heavier* flour.

 

[terri9630]

I used soft white wheat and this recipe works great with store bought white flour. My cookies, well the raw dough not so much cooked, feel a bit gritty too.

I understand perfectly about husbands. Mine won't eat veggies if he can see them. He will pick them out but doesn't mind if I puree them first. He's actually worse than the kids.

 

[ORChick]

Oh yes, you did ask for a recipe, didn't you?

This is from a little book I have called "From Celtic Hearths" by Deborah Krasner. It is a recipe for *Sweet Milk Scones*, but these are essentially just what Americans call Baking Powder Biscuits. Scones in this country, and in my experience, tend to be overly sweet. These are not.

Ms Krasner also points out that many such recipes use too much baking powder, which leaves a baking powder flavor in the biscuit/scone. So she uses a *single-acting* baking powder, using a mixture of baking soda and cream of tartar. this requires a certain amount of speed in execution, to get the biscuits into the oven while the reaction is still going on.

As she points out the amount of flour is flexible - the end product should be wet and soft, but not so much that it sticks, yet firm enough to cut into shape. Whole wheat absorbs liquid at a different rate to white flour, so that must be considered as well. I start with the given amount, and add more milk, or more flour as seems appropriate.

2 1/2 cups of AP flour (I use freshly ground soft white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt (or to taste)
4 Tbls room temp. butter
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 450*F

Sift together the dry ingredients. Using preferred method (pastry cutter, two knives, hands, food processor) cut in the butter until the mixture looks grainy, like coarse crumbs.

Pour the milk into a well in the center, and mix until a soft dough is formed. (Be particularly careful not to overmix if using a food processor, as this produces a tough scone)

Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface until smooth, and press out into a pad about 3/4" thick.

Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter, or a glass. Or divide the dough in two, press each into a 3/4" thick circle, and cut each into quarters.

Place onto greased or parchment lined baking sheet, and bake in pre-heated oven for approx 10 minutes, until risen and browned.

If I'm making these for afternoon tea I usually add 1/4 cup soaked currants. No sugar, either in the dough or on top; served with butter and jam. Without butter and jam they are perfectly fine alongside a bowl of soup.

Makes about 8 biscuits/scones.

 

[ORChick]

I used soft white wheat and this recipe works great with store bought white flour. My cookies, well the raw dough not so much cooked, feel a bit gritty too.

I understand perfectly about husbands. Mine won't eat veggies if he can see them. He will pick them out but doesn't mind if I puree them first. He's actually worse than the kids.

You might try using part AP flour, and part Wh. Wh. in different proportions till it works. Maybe half and half, then 1/4-3/4, etc. Part of it may also just be expectation. Whole wheat, no matter how finely ground, will never taste or feel just like white. Working into it gradually may help. Personally, I have never dared try pie pastry with whole wheat. the whole idea scares me I make a really good pie pastry, and don't want to risk damaging my reputation

When I was a teenager, and newly thinking about *healthful* cooking and eating, I made a batch of carob brownies (it was the 1960's, and carob was the new *thing*). They were ghastly, and I had made the mistake of serving them to my parents and some of their friends. It was years before any of them let me forget it. That memory has colored all my thinking about substituting different ingredients. Oddly enough, I am usually a very adventurous cook, but I don't like messing with a proven formula :/

 

[terri9630]

I used soft white wheat and this recipe works great with store bought white flour. My cookies, well the raw dough not so much cooked, feel a bit gritty too.

I understand perfectly about husbands. Mine won't eat veggies if he can see them. He will pick them out but doesn't mind if I puree them first. He's actually worse than the kids.

You might try using part AP flour, and part Wh. Wh. in different proportions till it works. Maybe half and half, then 1/4-3/4, etc. Part of it may also just be expectation. Whole wheat, no matter how finely ground, will never taste or feel just like white. Working into it gradually may help. Personally, I have never dared try pie pastry with whole wheat. the whole idea scares me I make a really good pie pastry, and don't want to risk damaging my reputation

When I was a teenager, and newly thinking about *healthful* cooking and eating, I made a batch of carob brownies (it was the 1960's, and carob was the new *thing*). They were ghastly, and I had made the mistake of serving them to my parents and some of their friends. It was years before any of them let me forget it. That memory has colored all my thinking about substituting different ingredients. Oddly enough, I am usually a very adventurous cook, but I don't like messing with a proven formula :/

I can't stand carob. My ex step mother used to buy that stuff. I can't use store bought flour. My daughters system doesn't tolerate the additives. She has a sensitivity to chemicals/preservatives. Everything she eats is home made with 90% home grown.

 

[terri9630]

Oh yes, you did ask for a recipe, didn't you?

This is from a little book I have called "From Celtic Hearths" by Deborah Krasner. It is a recipe for *Sweet Milk Scones*, but these are essentially just what Americans call Baking Powder Biscuits. Scones in this country, and in my experience, tend to be overly sweet. These are not.

Ms Krasner also points out that many such recipes use too much baking powder, which leaves a baking powder flavor in the biscuit/scone. So she uses a *single-acting* baking powder, using a mixture of baking soda and cream of tartar. this requires a certain amount of speed in execution, to get the biscuits into the oven while the reaction is still going on.

As she points out the amount of flour is flexible - the end product should be wet and soft, but not so much that it sticks, yet firm enough to cut into shape. Whole wheat absorbs liquid at a different rate to white flour, so that must be considered as well. I start with the given amount, and add more milk, or more flour as seems appropriate.

2 1/2 cups of AP flour (I use freshly ground soft white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt (or to taste)
4 Tbls room temp. butter
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 450*F

Sift together the dry ingredients. Using preferred method (pastry cutter, two knives, hands, food processor) cut in the butter until the mixture looks grainy, like coarse crumbs.

Pour the milk into a well in the center, and mix until a soft dough is formed. (Be particularly careful not to overmix if using a food processor, as this produces a tough scone)

Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface until smooth, and press out into a pad about 3/4" thick.

Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter, or a glass. Or divide the dough in two, press each into a 3/4" thick circle, and cut each into quarters.

Place onto greased or parchment lined baking sheet, and bake in pre-heated oven for approx 10 minutes, until risen and browned.

If I'm making these for afternoon tea I usually add 1/4 cup soaked currants. No sugar, either in the dough or on top; served with butter and jam. Without butter and jam they are perfectly fine alongside a bowl of soup.

Makes about 8 biscuits/scones.

Thank you. I'll have to give that a try.