Friday, April 24, 2020

Sourdough and Buttermilk biscuits.

We have a lot of sourdough starter here at the birdhouse. So we have to find ways to use the "discard" that which is poured off the starter before a feeding. If we didn't pour it off, the starter would grow uncontrollably.
Looking at the discard, it is about the texture of buttermilk. And it has some tanginess to it too. So, why not try a little substitution. We did, and it got the "we can serve this to people: accolade from Madame, so I knew we were onto something here.


Ingredients

2 Cups All Purpose Four, sifted (I sift all flour out of habit)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, straight from the fridge, cut into 12 or so small pieces. (if salted, reduce the salt in the recipe a little)
3/4 cup "discard"
1/4 cup buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 400F. I am using a fan assist in mine. You *may* need to adjust the temperature up a little if you do not have a fan in yours. Place the rack in the upper middle.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture. It doesn't have to be like fine breadcrumbs, it is OK to have some bigger pieces of butter. It's like making flaky pastry.
Add the buttermilk and discard, and mix by hand to make a stiff dough.. Don't rinse the measurement container - you will use the remains to brush on the biscuits before cooking.
Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Especially if it is warm (like it is here in Texas today).
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Using some kind of cutter (a cup, a circular cutter, etc.) cut out the rounds. Don't twist the cutter as that pinches the edges and prevents that nice craggy rise. Since there will be some left over, you can recombine it (and if you feel the butter is beginning to melt, refrigerate again). These will hold their shape less well, but will still be delicious.
Brush the tops of the biscuits with some of the liquid scraped out of the measurement cup you used earlier.
Bake on a parchment covered sheet pan for 9 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, rotate and bake for a further 6 minutes (even if using a fan) - until they are golden brown. 

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