It's a Recession!: Easy Homemade Biscuits

You'll never buy a can of Pillsbury biscuits again.

When I was a kid, Sundays were reserved for church and biscuits. As soon as we'd get home after services, my mom and Dad would head to the kitchen to make brunch. My dad would cook the meat -- bacon, sausage, occassionally ham. My mom would cook the eggs. And I would make biscuits. This involved pulling a can of Pillsbury out of the fridge, cringing as it made the popping noise and placing them on a cookie sheet to bake for 10-12 minutes.

If I had known then how easy it was to make your own biscuits, though, I might have done that. Especially since it's so easy to customize with buttermilk, cheese or cinnamon and raisins.

Adapted from

Eat Rating: Awesome. You really won't need to buy canned biscuits ever again.
Difficulty: Easy. It's better if you have a pastry blender and a cookie cutter to cut the biscuits. But in a pinch, I've used two knives and the mouth of a glass and it works out fine.

2 cups flour (LN: You can use all-purpose or whole wheat. If you use whole wheat, you may need to increase the milk slightly)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter (5 1/2 tbsp)
2/3 to 3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Take your butter and cut it in half lengthwise with a knife. Then cut into chunks. You want the pieces to be small, less than 1/2 inch at most. Once your butter is all cut up, add it to the flour then use your pastry blender or knives to cut it in. The butter will eventually become a mass of tiny particles mixed in with the flour. At this point, gradually add the milk a little at a time until the dough begins to cling together. You want it to be a dough that hold together but not too sticky. If you add too much milk, add a little more flour.

Knead on a floured surface about 15 times. With a rolling pin (or your hands in a pinch), roll out until the dough is about 1/2 inch thick. Use the cookie cutter (or the edge of a glass) to cut into rounds. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Variations:
Buttermilk biscuits: Reduce baking powder to 2 tsp and add 1/2 tsp soda to the dry ingredients. Replace milk with 2 cups of buttermilk. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Cheesy biscuits: Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to the flour mixture in the first step. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Cinnamon raisin biscuits: Add 1-2 tsp cinnamon to the flour in the first step. Cut in the butter, then add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of raisins. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Rosemary Bread

I'm not ready to talk about it yet.

But no matter what else happens in life, I know that when I get home at the end of the day if I mix egg yolks with chocolate and sugar and a little butter, it will thicken.



The pictures are from a class I took on bread baking.

Eat Rating: Awesome
Difficulty: Medium

Adapted from Bread Baking Success class, September 2009

5 1/2 - 6 cups of flour (all-purpose preferred)
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 packets active dry yeast (that's 4 1/2 tsp if you're using the jar)
2 cups milk
1/4 cup olive oil or butter
2 tsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped

In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine milk and oil or butter. Heat until warm, bubbling around the edges but not boiling.

Add the milk to the flour and mix until combined. You should have a thick liquid. Add the rosemary and stir again.

Measure out the remaining flour in a separate bowl. Gradually add the flour to the liquid, stirring in between each addition. The liquid will begin to thicken, then become doughy. You want to continue adding flour until the dough won't take in any more. If should be doughy, but not sticky.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured cutting board or counter. Knead for several minutes until the dough is consistent throughout. (Don't worry about overkneading. It's not really possible to overknead. I find it very relaxing to knead dough. I think I could do it for hours)

Lightly butter or oil the sides of a clean bowl. Place the dough in the oiled bowl and cover with a cloth. Allow to rise for 1 hour.

After one hour, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from bowl and re-knead. Using a knife, cut the dough into two equal size pieces.

Grease two loaf pans, preferably metal ones. Shape the dough into loaves and place in the pans. Place on top of the warmed oven and cover with a cloth. Allow to rise for another hour.

After the second hour of rising, bake the bread for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, and brush the sides with oil or butter. Allow the bread to cool completely on a wire rack, laying on its side.

Peach and Tomato Bread Salad

Peaches and tomatoes: a perfect summer combination.

My co-worker Kathy suggested this recipe -- a salad of fresh peaches and tomato. At first I found this idea weird. But after I thought about it, I decided to give it a try. I modelled it after the Cherry Bread Salad. So if you particularly like a certain ingredient you can add more or omit if you don't like it.

We skinned both the tomato and the peach. To do that, bring a small pot of water to boil. Once it's boiling, drop the peach or tomato in the hot water for about 30 seconds, then place in a bowl of cold water. The skin should slide right off.

Inspired by Kathy W.

Eat Rating: Delicious. Make sure the peach is very ripe for best results.
Difficulty: Easy.

1 peach, skinned and cut into slices
1 yellow tomato, skinned, seeded and cut into slices
1/2 loaf of day-old crusty French bread, cut into cubes
1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Mozzarella cheese, if desired


Place the tomato and peach slices in a large bowl and squeeze lemon over, tossing until coated.

Heat a skillet on the stove, then doss in the cubes of bread, coating lightly with olive oil. Continue cooking on the stovetop until bread has begun to brown. Once browned, remove croutons from pan, cook slightly and then add to the tomato and peach slices.

(If using cheese, add it now)

Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the croutons and fruit, tossing until well-coated. Serve immediately.

Tomato Bread Soup

Crunchy and soft, all in one.

I have been sick with a cold for several days now, drinking pitcher upon pitcher of water and pots of tea. A couple days ago I picked up a few heirloom tomatoes at the farmer's market, intending to make caprese salad this weekend. Instead, I opted for Tomato Basil soup. But since I can never do anything without a little bit of flair, I opted for this tomato bread soup I had seen on Mark Bitman's blog awhile back. It's similar to French onion soup, with chunks of bread incorporated into the soup to give it some bulk. I did make one change: I held back a couple chunks of the bread and used them to top the soup like croutons, so there were several textures from the sogginess of the bread that sits for 10 minutes plus some crunch from the crouton tops.

To peel the tomatoes easily, heat a pot of water to boiling, then drop each tomato in the water for about 10 seconds. The skins should easily peel off.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I'm sensing a new staple.
Difficulty: Very easy. One pot even.

Adapted from Tomato Soup With Bread (Pappa al Pomodoro), Bitten Blog, NYT

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups of tomato, peeled, cored, seeded and chopped (LN: This was about 3 large-ish heirlooms)
2 cups of broth, water or tomato juice
1/2 loaf of crusty bread, preferably day-old, cut or torn into bite-size chunks (LN: I used a baguette bought that morning, cubes toasted in the oven for a few minutes)
1/2 cup basil leaves torn into bits
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the oil then add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally, until the onions have softened. Add the tomatoes, then cook for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down. Add the broth/water/juice, return to boil. Add the hunks of bread, reserving a handful, and the basil leaves. Stir to combine, then remove from heat. Let the soup sit for 10 minutes to let it soak into the bread chunks.

Serve immediately, topped with some parmesan cheese and the reserved croutons.

Honest ABE

Liz, this one's for you.

I've recently started reading the Atlantic's food blog. There are a lot of articles about how food is produced, the ethics of food, food trends, etc. But occasionally they also throw in a recipe. When I saw this post on an Asparagus Bacon and Egg Sandwich, I knew we had to make it, mostly because it reminded me of my friend, Liz.

Liz is one of my best friends. However, she hates to cook. She eats more salads than anyone I know. I'm half convinced this is because they require minimal assembly. Despite her hatred of cooking, she makes a mean fried egg sandwich. So Liz, this one's for you.

In keeping with my minimal reprinting of other blogger's recipes and to celebrate the return of the camera, I thought I would illustrate this recipe's preparation with photos.

A thought on preparation: I followed his recipe exactly. However, the cooking everything in bacon grease, I felt, overwhelms the other flavors. You can't really taste the asparagus, just the bacon grease. So, if I had to make it again, I think I'd just steam the asparagus, rather than cooking with the bacon.

Eat Rating: Good. Definitely for the bacon lover, though.
Difficulty: Easy to medium.

2 thickly cut slices of bread
Mayo
Bacon
Asparagus
1-2 eggs
Pepper, to taste

Slice your bread.

Cook your bacon.

Cook the asparagus in the leftover bacon grease.

Fry an egg (or two) in the grease.

Slather mayo on the bread.

Assemble.

Orangette's Cherry Bread Salad with Goat Cheese

All covered with (goat) cheese...

I promise that one day soon I will get over my obsession with Orangette's new cookbook. But not yet.

I love cherries. A lot. I actually get really excited when I go to the store during cherry season. I have a somewhat gross story that illustrates the extent of my cherry love. Since this is a food blog, I will refrain from telling it, but it did involve me losing a toenail.

When I saw this recipe in Orangette's book, I knew I had to make it as soon as cherries came into season. I went to the store this weekend, and they had gotten their first shipment. I controlled myself and only bought one bag. You could tell they were early season cherries, possibly even from a greenhouse, a little sour, not like the sweet summer ones I love. But they did work their magic. I ate half the bag as soon as I got home.

The other half, I saved for this salad. It was worth the sacrifice.

Orangette recommends adding several handfuls of arugula to the salad. I sort of hate arugula (sorry, Barack Obama), so I left it out. The salad is perfectly fine without it, but if you don't dislike arugula, you might considering adding some in.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I think I would eat this every day if CCO wouldn't boycott.
Difficulty: Easy. This would be substantially easier to make if you own a cherry pitter. (Sadly all my friends just mocked me when I asked for one for my birthday.) But you can just as easily pit cherries with a knife.

From "A Homemade Life" by Molly Wizenberg

1/2 lb cherries, pitted
6 oz white bread, preferably day old (LN: We used half of a baguette I bought that day and it worked fine)
Olive oil
1/4 tsp crushed garlic
2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar
3-4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Arugula (if that's your thing)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Tear the bread into bite-sized hunks, lay out on a cookie sheet and lightly sprinkle with olive oil. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes until you have lightly toasted crouton-type things.

Put about 1/3 of your pitted cherries in a bowl and crush them with the back of a spoon/fork to release the juices.

When the bread is finished, let cool for a minute, then place in a large bowl with the garlic and toss to coat. Let cool a minute. Add the cherries -- crushed and whole -- and toss again. Sprinkle with 2-3 tsp of balsamic vinegar. (I went with 3, she recommends 2) Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the goat cheese and toss again. If you're using arugula, add that in now and toss to mix. Serve immediately.

Cold Oven Popovers

Poppin up all over the place.

After all that intense eating on the weekend, we decided to go with salad for dinner Sunday. I wanted to make some bread to go with, but I couldn't find a good recipe. Instead, I decided on popovers. CCO suggested using the American Heart Association Cookbook recipe. It uses only egg whites, rather than the whole egg. This means the popovers aren't as full-bodied as ones you've eaten in the past. Still light and fluffy, but not as rich and buttery. Good for if you've eaten way to much in a weekend.

There are two important tricks for this recipe. First, don't preheat your oven. That may sound weird but the trick to popovers is that the pop is created by steam. It works better if the temperature increases gradually. So don't turn the oven on until after you put the tray into the oven.

Secondly, muffin tins don't work very well. You're supposed to use a popover pan. The cups are deeper than a muffin tin. If you don't have a popover pan (because who actually does), you can use custard cups, sprayed with olive oil. The recipe will make about 18 5-oz popovers. That's a lot, so unless you have a big family or company, I'd suggest halving the recipe. Nine is a much more doable number anyway.

Eat Rating: Ok. You can definitely tell they are the "heart healthy" recipe, though.

Difficulty: Easy. The hardest part is separating the eggs.

Adapted from the New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition

Whites of 6 eggs

2 cups skim milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp margarine or butter, melted

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1/4 tsp salt

Spray the popover pan or custard cups.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites lightly with a fork, then add milk, oil and melted butter. In a second, larger bowl, stir together flour and salt. Gradually add the milk/egg mix to the flour, mixing with an electric mixer until well blended. Then beat for 1 to 2 minutes.

Fill each cup half-full. Any more and it'll spill over onto the bottom of your oven. Set into the oven, then turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Popovers will be done when they have puffed up and baked to a light golden brown color.

Eating Down the Fridge Challenge: Day 6 (Friday)

Delicious french toast

After a few beers, I am highly suggestible. Friday was yet another work happy hour for a departing colleague. As it had been a dreary day and it was still my birthday week, I had several beers then happy strolled through Dupont to catch the bus home. While I was waiting for the bus, I cracked open Orangette's book -- A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg -- and read the chapter about her father's french toast. This immediately made me want french toast. Her dad's trick was to use cook the bread in oil rather than butter. CCO was skeptical of this idea (or perhaps skeptical of semi-sober Leah and hot oil?), but it turned out pretty well. The oil sears in the flavor and makes the toast crispier than butter. Super delicious. See her recipe for details, but a good mix is 1 egg for every 2 pieces of bread. So we used 2 eggs for our 4 pieces of toast.

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

I made this bread earlier in the week to accompany a soup (Mushroom Barley Stew, to be exact). Unfortunately there are no pictures, as my camera seems to have finally died. It's a dark bread, very dense, with just a hint of sweet. Very good for soaking up broth. If you're making it for a savory stew, omit raisins.

Difficulty: Easy-to-medium (involves kneading)
Eat Rating: Good. Not great. But decent enough. It was good with the stew and subsequent leftovers, but I probably wouldn't make it on its own.

From Cooking Light, October 2003
Yield: 2 smallish loaves

2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (LN: Due to a shortage of all-purpose, I used 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup whole wheat flour (LN: I used 2 cups whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup raisins
1 tbsp yellow cornmeal

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine buttermilk, oats, molasses and oil in a bowl and mix well. In a separate large bowl, combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk mixture and stir until moistened. Add in raisins. Let dough sit for 2 minutes.

Divide dough in half. On a floured surface, knead one half the dough with floured hands for about 1 minute. Shape into loaf. Repeat for second half of dough.

Dust a cookie sheet with corn meal. Place loaves on cookie sheet and make 3 diagonal cuts on the top of each loaf.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Without opening oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes, until a spoon tapped on the bottom of each loaf makes a hollow sound. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.