By popular demand, here is the first in a series of my most useful recipes.
Biscuits: These are great-useful, easy, versatile. My mother's (thanks, Mom) recipe, and since leaving home I have probably made them on hundreds of occasions. They almost never let me down. While the dough makes very good biscuits, it's also good for crust or cobbler topping or dumplings.
2C Flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
1/4C butter, soft. That's half a stick, if you're wondering.
Combine the dry ingredients and the butter until you have a sort of coarse meal-it should be lumpy, but not overly so. I discourage melting the butter-it does blend more easily, but the end result is inferior. Should you find yourself w/ cold butter to work with, consider grating it like cheese into the dry ingredients.
Once you have your meal, add a combination of liquids that add up to 1C. Traditionally this is
1/4C milk
3/4C yogurt
and this works very well. Don't be afraid to adjust the proportions or try something different-broth works well, as do sour cream or even wine, under the right circumstances. Consider what you're making (savory or sweet, breakfast or brunch or dinner) and choose your wet ingredients accordingly. The yogurt serves as an acid to activate the soda, so bear in mind your wet ingredients' ph balance. This recipe is also good for using up old milk-a little sour doesn't matter if you're going to bake with it, so I'll often make biscuits in response to finding a carton of milk gone too long.
Roll out the dough and knead a little-not much, you're not looking to make gluten. Then press or roll it flat, 'bout 1/4-1/2 an inch, and cut with a cookie cutter or similar device. My morlock, the former pastry chef, told me it's important to cut biscuits sharp, so they pop up when they rise. I believe her. Cook them for 10-15 minutes, however long it takes to get them GBD. Good w/ jam or butter or gravy (another topic, best discussed later. My future self doesn't want me to roux-in the surprise)
So that's the basics-there are any number of adjustments and variations. A little whole wheat flour, for example, is great. Once you get the technique for biscuits, you can add in other things without changing how the dough behaves, or changing it to your preference. Some of my favorites include...
Bacon Cheese Biscuits: cook some chopped bacon and add it and grated cheese to the dry ingredients. I'll often cook the bacon in a skillet and deglaze the pan w/ the milk that gets added to the biscuits. It lends even more bacon flavor. These make great traveling food-I'll probably make a batch for the flight to Houston.
Scones: adding a little sugar-a tablespoon or two-sweetens the dough a little and adding an egg to the wet ingredients makes it more batter-like and acts as an emulsifier. I'll add orange or lemon zest, maybe currants or chocolate chips (on special occaisions, of course) and then just drop them onto a cookie sheet instead of rolling them out. Cook a little lower, maybe 400 or 375.
Hamburger Pie: Oh I love hamburger pie. Easy, filling, kinda fancy looking. Great as leftovers.
So you make a biscuit dough recipe, all orthodox and everything. Then roll it out thin, thinner than normal. Once you have the dough all out, put about 1/2 of it into a greased pie pan and cook it in a cooler oven, again about 375. Let it brown just a little, just enough to get a good crust but not fully done. Meanwhile, saute some hamburger and onions and salt and pepper and mushrooms and peppers (whatever you like, really. That's what I like) in a pan. Not too much-this is going in the pie pan in a moment, right? Once they're both done, put them together-hamburger mixture in the pie-pan-biscuit-crust, and top with...cottage cheese and egg, mixed together. Sprinkle on some paprika for color, and throw it back in the oven for a few minutes, 'till the egg/cottage mixture's browned a little and firmed up.
Christ, this has made me hungry. I'd better make some breakfast.
