(no subject)

[ragdoll13]

Today I made the first good biscuits I've ever made. Up until now, my biscuits have been little overbaked, overhandled pucks of bread, soft in the middle, but hard as hell on the outside.

Through some research, I've determined that this is due to several things:

1. overhandling the dough. I have always worked biscuit dough until smooth, like a bread. I now know that this is absolutely not needed, and in fact makes biscuit dough bake up tough.

2. not enough liquid. I have previously thought that biscuit dough should be dry and smooth, again, like bread dough. I now know that biscuit dough should be wet to the point of just being able to handle it. This provides more steam, which along with CO2 from leavening agents, provides loft and also keeps the biscuits moist.

3. overbaking the biscuit. I have always (following the recipe I was using) baked biscuits until browned on top. This is not the way to go, and overbaking is horrifyingly bad for biscuits. Biscuits, lacking in sugars and fats that produce browning reactions, do not brown up like some other baked goods do. For lovely golden-brown biscuits, I will never overbake, but will wash the biscuit with an eggwash or with milk.

Here's the (extremely basic) biscuit recipe I used today:

2c bread flour
2tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4tbl butter
1/2c (approx) buttermilk

I'd like to make a flaky biscuit, but folding the dough to gain a laminated structure will work the dough and toughen it, so while the gluten in bread flour is needed to solidify the laminated structure, next time I'll cut it with 1/2c to 1c of AP flour and add a tbl of sugar to help tenderize. To support flaky layers, I'll also up the fat content, but instead of more butter, I'll add 2 tbl of chilled shortening to further aid tenderization (butter contains milk solids and proteins that can further toughen biscuit dough).

I'll bake in a 400 degree oven this time, for fifteen minutes, rather than 375 for 20 mins, which is what I used this morning, and doesn't seem to have been quite hot enough to gain the loft I'm looking for.

Now, does anyone have a preferred cutting in method, what is it, and why do you like it? I rubbed the butter in with my fingers for this batch, but if anyone gets better results another way, please let me know.

Comments

[thesnark.livejournal.com]

because rubbing it in softens and warms the butter, because your fingers are 98.6 degrees, give or take.