Flutterby™! : What Ya Do again 2004-07-21 22:59:19.193211+00

What Ya Do again

2004-07-21 22:59:19.193211+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

So what ya do is ya take:

a cup and a half of flour. Allegedly a low-protein flour such as a self-rising flour (with appropriate adjustments to the baking soda) works best, but I've just been using a half-and-half mix of whole wheat and all-purpose unbleached white.
a teaspoon and a half of baking soda (half-a-t if you're using self-rising, prorate accordingly).
a half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of salt
one or two tablespoons of sugar (honey would probably rock!)

Sift into a bowl. Mix thoroughly in:

a tablespoon of vegetable oil
a tablespoon of butter

The original (cited below) used vegetable shortening, I've tried all butter 'cause I'm trying to keep the hydrogenated fats non-existent, but I'm trying to keep the saturated fats low. Then add:

A cup and a quarter of cultured buttermilk.

Mix gently, then spoon a tablespoon or two into another bowl of flour, lift the mass in your hands, form gently into a ball, and place in an oiled pan (I use a 9" pie pan, which is a little small, a 9" square would probably be perfect). Continue 'til you're out of batter, then brush the tops with more vegetable oil.

Bake at 475F for 15 minutes. 15 minutes is approximately what it takes me to take a shower, get dressed, and get a start on the dishes.

Poof. Hot tasty biscuits for breakfast. Way yummy with a little jelly, or just butter. That's what ya do.

Pragmatically adapted to what I have in my fridge and cupboard from Shirley Corriher's "Touch of Grace" biscuits, published in CookWise, and on the web in a Good Eats Fan Page on Shirley Corriher.

#Comment Re: made: 2004-07-22 05:55:29.434865+00 by: mvandewettering

The recipe sounds yummy. The chemistry of good biscuits is actually rather interesting. I'm surprised this recipe uses just soda and not baking powder. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with soda and/or baking powder and produces CO2 gas which makes the dough light. You have to be careful not to overstir the dough once the wet ingredients are introduced. Stirring builds additional gluten, which stiffens and makes for larger bubbles in the dough during cooking. This makes for tougher, more mealy biscuits.

Nothing quite so tasty as good buttermilk biscuits, eggs and sausage and a glass of orange juice. Of course now that I am on Weight Watchers, my breakfasts are more like non-fat yogurt and a banana, or a bowl of Raisin Bran w/ nonfat milk.

Ah, something with which I have several years' experience! The thing about WeightWatchers, see, is that, unlike other eating plans (some of which are far too bizarre or dangerous to even start to take seriously), there aren't any prohibited foods. It's all about learning to make those good choices. So yeah, while most of your breakfasts may be as noted, there's no reason you couldn't save up your points and plan your week to include a splurge on some good buttermilk biscuits one morning -- and if you can stand eggwhites (or better yet, EggBeaters, which ain't half bad) and Morningstar Farms veggie sausage, go whole hog and have the whole spread. Take a good brisk hike and get in some APs later, or even blow all your FlexPoints on that one breakfast, but don't deprive yourself of an occasional treat like this!

Besides, these sound way yummy. (Whoa. I just wrote "way yummy" thinking I was making it up, and looky thar! Dan typed "way yummy" not a dozen lines above this one. Spooky, huh. [More likely subliminal memory, I'd guess.])

Hmmm... I'll have to calc approximate "POINTS^tm" for this. Biscuits aren't Charlene's thing, but she's doing Weight Watchers so I'm starting to become aware of how different ingredients and quantities map to "POINTS^tm", and I think I'm about to make very good friends with the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, both for the caloric and fat issues and because Charlene mapped out a standard day's food on a spreadsheet and got some really interesting answers about where she was and wasn't covered nutritionally relative to the old "USRDA" and the newer DRI.

And one of the wonderful things about this recipe is that it wants very little stirring. I've been tempted to overstir muffin batter, but this one is just two or three times around the bowl and the batter is there.

My unemployment and the resulting opportunities for exercise are also telling me that, yeah, go out and sweat for an hour and indulge.