Experiment 03; 05.29.11 - Biscuits.

I swore I was done baking this weekend - really. I did.




Based on a few things
- I'm tired.
- I promised the Hubbasaur I'd not go out and buy more extravagant(lolo) materials to cook with.
- I'm tired. (Have I mentioned I'm 39 weeks pregnant? >< )

But.. Then I was trolling the internet for recipes (to keep in mind for future experiments of course.) and I found one for.. biscuits..!.
I've never made a biscuit - from scratch. The stuff in the little tubes you buy in the stores don't count in this case.

It called for a mere cup of buttermilk - which I just.. happened..   ahem. to have left over from baking soda bread this weekend.

How splendid.

I opted to try this recipe.

As any experiment can potentially go; I clearly screwed something up. When I envision a biscuit, I think of this thick beastly thing all flaky and nomlicious; slathered in butter and gravy (or honey). I did the mixing; there was no issue here. I was reminded of my mixing dough for soda bread. annoying; sticky. Typical.

This actually went fine! :D

it was here that I noticed I screwed up >.> Dont mind my hammer. I keep that out for fractious men in my kitchen :P

However; it was after I had rolled the dough out, and folded it as specified and cut the biscuits out (with a Bailey's glass >.>)  and then baked them I noted they weren't the beastly risen monsters I had always envisioned/encountered.

Rather, they were the right width, but their thickness was akin to a pancake.

I attribute this to a few things:
 - I am not a baker whom is used to a rolling pin. I perhaps got too over zealous and rolled everything too thin. Based on the visuals from the site; they use a thicker looking dough, whereas mine I rolled thin as hell.
That's cool - we all make mistakes.
 - in my trials and times in baking soda bread (in which you use baking soda and butter milk); you learn something very important and useful that I may have let slip today:
Typically, after making the dough; it is advised you allow the lactic acid present in the buttermilk react with the baking soda; this allowed the dough to rise a little. This helps your non yeastly breads to rise and not look like butt.

I totally didn't do that this time. Don't do what Ness did.


They still came out nicely I think - warm, with the layers the recipe claimed you'd get, little butter in side, so good. Hubbasaur enjoyed them at least; which was the goal. 'Make nom for man'.

They were still damn delicious. 

End thoughts:

This recipe; would I try it again? You're damn right I will. The biscuits were tasty; reminding me of a softer version of my soda bread (which is notoriously dense as breads go). I can see this being either its plain savory self, or being doctored to being a sugary treat for holiday dinners.

And of course, the thickness issue will have to be worked on.

Size counts. In cooking.  (one of the few times the term 'Size queen' can be used. Ha.)