Gluten Free Biscuits

I don’t think that any of my recipes have pleased John more than the series of gluten free biscuit recipes that I’ve developed over the years. I never would have imagined that gluten free biscuits could be so good, nor that there could be so much technique involved in cooking a little squat piece of bread.

LEARN:

It’s difficult to create a good gluten free bread recipe without understanding how the recipe works in it’s original wheat flour based form. So, let’s start with some background on biscuits.

According to Harold McGhee in “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen,” American styled biscuits are made from a moist dough of milk or buttermilk, flour, pieces of solid fat, and baking soda. There are traditionally two styles of biscuits – flaky and tender – which refer to the texture of the interior of the biscuits. Flaky biscuits have layers that you can peel apart (Pillsbury’s Flaky Layer biscuits are an extreme example), while tender biscuits have to be cut apart. In this class, We’ll be learning to make flaky biscuits and two different types of tender biscuits.

Now, let’s discuss some of the ingredients that we’ll be working with and potential substitutions for those of you who additional food restrictions.

Flour: In all three of the recipes, I use, a mixture of brown rice flour (Bob’s Red Mill), corn starch (Argo or Bob’s Red Mill), and soy flour (Arrowhead Mills). If you can not use corn starch, then substitute tapioca flour (Ener-G) or potato starch (Ener-G). If you cannot use soy flour or have trouble finding a gluten free brand, substitute sorghum flour (Bob’s Red Mill) or garfava flour. (The brands in parenthesis are the brands that I use, but they usually not the only gluten free brand)

Some of you may are probably wondering if you can use flours with a lower glycemic index. I know there is a lot of corn starch in this recipe, and that bothers me too. When I started making biscuits I used my all-purpose flour recipe which uses more whole grain flours, but the biscuits were not nearly as good. I’d rather have amazing biscuits every now and then, than have tough biscuits every day

Milk or Buttermilk: My family does not eat a lot of dairy, so I always use soy milk plus cider vinegar to create a non-dairy buttermilk. Of course, you can substitute the soy milk and cider vinegar with buttermilk, or use a milk alternative that fits with your dietary needs. Sometimes I replace half of the milk in the recipe with water to reduce the calories.

Solid Fat: The fat in biscuits is the component that makes them tender or flaky. Small pieces of fat that are covered with flour result in tender biscuits; large pieces of fat that are covered with flour and then rolled out into long thin pieces create the layers in flaky biscuits.

The fat in biscuits can be butter, a non-dairy butter alternative, or shortening. If you are using a butter alternative, which I do sometimes, be sure to use one that is hard at room temperature. If you are unable to use dairy and soy products, try a palm oil shortening or chilled coconut oil (be sure to check labels to ensure that is is gluten free!)

The process of incorporating the fat into the biscuit is called “cutting in”. There are a number of ways to do this. If you need small pieces of fat (like you do for tender biscuits) then you can grate frozen butter and mix it in with the flour.  Or you can use a pastry cutter, two knives, or you fingers to cut in the flour in a more traditional manner. Regardless of which method you use, the goal is to get solid chunks of fat covered with flour and distributed throughout the dough.  In the videos, I’ll demonstrate several of these methods.

Baking Powder and Baking Soda: Both of these ingredients are leavening agents and using both gives a lot of rise to the biscuits.  Since we are using baking soda, we have to have an acidic ingredient in the recipe to activate the baking soda. Buttermilk (or the cider vinegar if you are going the non-dairy route) fufills this role, so be sure not to leave it out.

Egg: If you are unable to use egg, I have substituted a flax egg (1 Tbsp. ground flax seed + 3 Tbsp. warm water) on occasions when I started making biscuits and then realized that I was out of eggs. The biscuits will have brown flecks in them, but the taste is not affected. Be sure to mix the ground flax seed and water together several minutes before they are needed in the recipe, so that the mixture has time to thicken.

What Makes the Biscuits Different?
As you’ll notice when you start baking the biscuits, the three recipes are very similar. The only differences are the amount of liquids, the type of fat, and the techniques used to cut in the fat and form the biscuit.

Drop biscuits are a kind of tender biscuits. To make these biscuits the fat is cut-in until is is the size of small peas. The liquid content is higher, forming a biscuit dough that would be to soft to roll out and handle by hand. The biscuits are dropped onto the cooking sheet using two spoons.

Tender biscuits can also be rolled out and cut into circle or square shapes. This method of forming the biscuit is preferable when you want to use the biscuit for a breakfast sandwich. Since the dough needs to be rolled out, the water is reduced to make a drier dough. The dough is still wet enough that you wouldn’t want to try to pick it up off of your rolling board once you’ve rolled it out (because it would fall apart!)

Flaky biscuits are made from a drier dough as well, but the fat is cut-in only until the pieces of fat are the size of pecan-halves. When the biscuit dough is rolled out the fat is also rolled out into long pieces. To get the layered effect, the rolled out dough is folded into thirds (like a business letter) several times. The folding process stacks the layers of fat on top of each other so that the dough is separated into layers when it cooks. In the video for flaky biscuits I do the tri-fold twice, for a total of 6 folds. However, for even flakier biscuits roll the dough out a little bit after the second tri-fold and then do a third tri-fold.

Since you have to handle the dough so much for flaky biscuits, I like to use shortening as my fat rather than butter. Shortening is much more stable at room temperature and it also gives a nice little crunch to the outside of the biscuit.

PLAN: Now that you’ve read this, watch the videos and read the recipes. Make sure that you have everything that you need to make your biscuits. This is the PLAN step that I talk about in the book.

ACT: After that, it’s time to ACT. Bake each of the three types of biscuits. Be sure to take notes while you bake, especially if you do any ingredient substitutions. This will give you a record of what you’ve done, so that you can make adjustments next time if you want.

TALK: Once you’ve done your baking, it’s time to analyze your efforts and get feedback in the TALK step. Get you family’s feedback on the biscuits. Is there anything that you would like to change about the recipe? Add these notes to your baking notes. If you have questions, post them in the forums. You can also join me for the follow-up online chat for this course on Thursday, January 6th from 8 – 10 PM. See the sidebar for details.