Do you want to learn how to make light, fluffy, flaky, yummy buttermilk biscuits? Does this look like a little piece of paradise to you?
Well then, you have come to the right place. At long last, my biscuit tutorial is ready!
Biscuits are special to me because I grew up on ‘em. My mom has a Ph.D. in dough; every free morning she’d make a big pan of her famous “cat-head” biscuits. Don’t squeal! “Cat-head” refers to the size–they are humongous! Mine aren’t quite as big, but I think you’re going to like them all the same.
But what’s that? You’re nervous? You’ve heard… biscuit-making is hard?
I’m not going to tell you there’s not an art to it. I see it in my mom’s work. She can be half-awake, barely registering her first sips of Maxwell House, and still turn out an amazing pan. It’s in her blood. I have to be honest, years of watching her work made me doubt my ability. Nevertheless, I overcame my fear and you can too: this post will help you become a biscuit artist!
First! Ingredients:
It’s good to get into the practice of reading the entire recipe completely through before starting. Doing so means no surprises partway through. A+ for mise en place: measuring all the ingredients out beforehand.
Good Ol’ Vegan Biscuits: beginner’s delight*
2 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached, organic if possible)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons vegan shortening** (make sure it’s all vegetable, no lard! I like Spectrum organic.)
2 tablespoons vegan margarine (We love Earth Balance!)**
2/3 cup unsweetened soymilk
1 to 1.5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (experiment with more if you like a sour, buttermilky flavor)
Pre-heat the oven to 450. Grease a sheet pan with shortening.
- *A slightly more advanced biscuit recipe may be addressed in a future post. For now, this is perfect.
- **EIGHT tablespoons of fat, you gasp? Well do you want fluffy biscuits or not? If you’re that worried about it, don’t eat ten at a time.
Step one: sift all your dry ingredients (2 cups of flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt) into a big bowl:
Step two: Cut the cold Earth Balance into small pieces and put into the flour. Same goes for the shortening, though it’ll be too soft to cut. Just toss it in the bowl.
Step three: Work the Earth Balance and shortening between your fingers and palms til it looks about like this:
Step four: Make your “buttermilk!” If you’ve never made vegan buttermilk before, this is a great trick to have up your sleeve. Simply add a small amount of apple cider vinegar (in this case, at least a tablespoon) to unsweetened soymilk, stir gently with a fork, and let it sit for a minute. Voilà! Vegan buttermilk.
Step five: Make a little well in the flour and pour your wet into the dry.
Step six: MIX! Depending on the humidity, your dough may be a little on the wet or dry side. Either way, don’t freak out! If it’s a little wet, just make sure your hands are well-floured. If it’s a little dry, it’s probably fine. This is a picture of some rather wet biscuit dough:
Step seven: Cut your biscuits. Now, my mom is such a pro that she shapes them perfectly in her hands. I prefer to use a small glass to make cut-outs. Take a look at the picture below. Dust your (extremely clean) countertop with some flour. Gently knead the dough into a ball and then roll it out about a half an inch thick. You can use a rolling pin or, if you don’t have one or like me, can’t find it, just use the side of a smooth glass.
Unfortunately, I was once accused of serving (HORROR OF HORRORS) canned biscuits because mine were so perfectly shaped. Good thing I forgot who made this blasphemous accusation.
Step eight: Lay the biscuits on your greased pan. It is important that the biscuits touch one another! I can’t tell you why because I took my mom’s word on faith. You should take mine similarly. Do not space your biscuits. Do not be afraid of them crowding. Permit them to nuzzle:
Step nine: Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned:
Lovely. Biscuits are so versatile! You can munch them plain or with some kind of jam; put them on top of a vegan pot pie:
Or, as we’ve seen, use them to make a true breakfast treat with tempeh bacon:
See? Biscuit-making is easy.
Let’s contrast it with building a sukkah. The highlight of my day was meeting up with folks at Earlham’s Jewish Cultural Center to construct the symbolic wilderness shelter of Sukkot, a joyous holiday which starts tomorrow and goes through next Wednesday. Sukkot has been described as a happy harvest festival, a time of leaving the comforts of home to join others in eating, living, and praying in the sukkah.
My friend Aaron Miller puts it thusly: Sukkahs are temporary structures with three walls (one wall has to be open to receive guests) and a roof left uncovered enough to see the stars at night. Sukkot is a fascinating holiday, so let’s turn to Rabbi Michael Strassfeld to find out more:
“The vision of universal brotherhood (ahem–and sisterhood) is reflected in the sukkah, whose door and roof are open to all. The sukkah, in turn, evokes a vision of God’s sukkah as a house of prayer for all nations. In that future, God will spread a sukkat shalom – a shelter covering made of peace and harmony.
And yet the sukkah, while evoking the image of God sheltering us in the future, raises another, opposing image: The sukkah as a temporary structure, open to the winds of autumn, cannot help but remind us of the Jewish people’s experience of the last 2000 years of exile and wandering. Are we not the prototypical alien – the wandering Jew? Are not the forty years in the desert- the period Sukkot commemorates – the archetype of our 2000 years of wandering?
The sukkah, then, evokes opposing sets of images: rootless and home, wandering and return, exposure and shelter. From exile to eternity and back again – this, too, is contained in the four walls of the sukkah.”
Awesome, eh? And I was lucky enough to get to help build one!
Collecting branches back campus.
After sawing, drilling, and doing a bit of affixing, we set the frame upright.
Sizing it up.
Reinforcing the frame.
Gazing upon it a bit more.
Laying boards across the top to support the branches; securing them with twine.
Throwing branches over the top.
The view from below. Will definitely be able to see stars.
Sorting out the sheets.
All done! Good work, friends.
Now go make some biscuits.
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