Biscuits

Biscuits are kind of a big deal in my family. Second only to pie. My grandma or my mom making biscuits for breakfast has always been a very exciting occasion. And sometimes an adventure when fighting over the last one with 5 younger siblings.

The legacy started with my Great-Grandma Sorenson who lived on a farm in a tiny little community in central Utah with her husband and two daughters. She would make lunch for Great-Grandpa and the other farmers who were working on their farm that day. She quickly became famous for her biscuits (and her pie...but that's another post) and the farmers would always look forward to working on the Sorenson farm so that they could eat her cooking.

A few months ago I decided that I too needed to acquire this biscuit making skill and tried out a couple of recipes. They were all failures. Or, maybe not failures, but they definitely did not compare to the legendary biscuits I had been raised on. So then I did what I should have done in the first place and consulted with my mom. All it took was one Skype video call, while both making biscuits at the same time, to learn the family secrets to incredibly high, flaky, fluffy biscuits. Which I will now unveil to you lucky readers. :)


Sorenson Girl Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter*
1 1/2** cups milk*** -- I usually use the buttermilk leftover from making butter

Heat oven to 450.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
Cut very cold butter (I usually use frozen) into 1/4" cubes and then,using a pastry blender, cut into flour until the mixture resembles fine crumbs (don't overwork -- you'll end up with flat biscuits).

On a sheet of wax paper (approximately 15" long) add a thick layer of flour (about 1/2 cup). Then, pour the milk into the bowl and mix until just barely moistened (it will be quite liquid-y). Pour batter out onto floured wax paper.

Add a sprinkling of flour on top of batter and pat out into a rectangle about 1/2" thick (your hands will get very messy). Then, using a side of the wax paper, flip the rectangle over onto itself and pat back out to 1/2" thickness. Repeat this process once more.

Then, using a biscuit cutter (or a small juice glass), cut out round pieces of dough and place so they are touching on a baking stone. You will cut out two circles for each biscuit and stack them.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with butter, honey, or jam. Or make a sausage biscuit with sausage and cheddar cheese.



Then, prepare for your mind to be blown. These things are -- not even exaggerating -- like crack to me. I can't stop. So, I always halve this recipe when making just for our family which yields about 5 biscuits. This way, I can only have two (when really, I want all 5). Growing up, my mom would double this recipe in order for everyone to get one with just a few leftover to fight over.

*Great-Grandma used straight cream skimmed from the top of their fresh milk. No wonder they were so good!

**This is the secret -- the liquid is double what is called for in other recipes. Also, the folding over. Some recipes call for kneading the dough which is just nuts because that makes a tough, not-flaky biscuit. Tough and non-flaky are not words that should ever be used in the same sentence as biscuit.

***If you want to use cultured buttermilk, decrease baking powder to 2 teaspoons and add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Cultured buttermilk is also a bit thicker than regular milk so add an extra tablespoon.

Egg Bagels

My husband and my son are both bagel fans. Egg bagels, in particular. After years of buying Sara Lee Egg bagels I discovered, to my horror, that not only do they contain high fructose corn syrup but also Yellow #5. WHAT!? The HFCS is bad enough, but not a huge surprise. But food coloring in bread? Why? So that they look different than the plain bagels? Needless to say, I was disgusted.

Thus began my quest for a better bagel. The recipe I tried is from a blog called Brown Eyed Baker which I had not previously heard of but now enjoy quite a lot.

The bagels seemed a bit intimidating. Reading over the recipe, it seemed like there were a lot of steps and lots of things I'd never done before. Like, boiling dough. However, by just following directions (surprise!) I was able to produce some pretty tasty bagels, I must say! The only thing I will change next time I make these is boiling the dough longer. I did them for only 1 minute per side as the recipe advises, but they were not chewy enough for us. The 1 minute per side produced a bagel that was just barely different than a roll. So, 2 minutes or 2.5 per side is what we'll do next time.

Bagel making is quite magical actually. There's a step where you test the dough to find out if it's ready to be retarded (I guess to stop the rising?). You do this by dropping a raw bagel into a bowl of room temperature water to see if it floats. If it does, you put the bagels in the fridge overnight. If it does not float, you let them sit for a few more minutes and try again. I had try twice before it floated on the third try. Magic!

Also, I froze half the batch for a couple of weeks and they thawed perfectly. We eat don't eat food very quickly around here so I'm always stoked when I can freeze something successfully. Let me know if you try these out!

Pizza

Homemade pizza is probably our favorite food to make and eat. This is how we do it:

The Crust

We used to always use Trader Joe's pre-made pizza crust. It is tasty, contains very few ingredients and always turns out perfectly. Then, during my all-from-scratch-challenge in April, we tried out the Pioneer Woman's pizza crust recipe. It is so fast and easy and also has only 4 ingredients (not counting water). It has become my new standby.

The Sauce

Likewise, we also used to use the Trader Joe's pizza sauce. However, now I make up a batch of Jamie Oliver's tomato sauce which is the perfect amount for two pizzas PLUS pasta later in the week. The only changes I make from Jamie's recipe are not straining it (I like it more rustic and chunky) and I add a couple teaspoons of balsamic vinegar while it's simmering away. Amazing!

The Toppings

Some of our favorite combinations are:

Margarita - fresh mozzarella, basil, tomato (thinly sliced), garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil
Greek - mozzarella, feta, red onion, basil, kalamata olives (halved), oregano
Veggie - mushrooms, bell peppers, red onion, spinach
Pepperoni - Gourmet pepperoni from TJ, red pepper flakes, oregano
Sausage - spicy Italian sausage (removed from casing and cooked), green bell pepper, fresh tomato

The Technique

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees, with pizza stone (a MUST) on very bottom shelf setting. Sprinkle flat cookie sheet or pizza peel with corn meal. Shape dough on lightly floured surface then transfer to cookie sheet. Throw the toppings on.

When oven has come to temperature, gently slide assembled pizza from sheet onto hot pizza stone (I leave the stone in the oven and just pull the shelf out). Bake for 8-11 minutes, until crust is golden and all cheese is melted.

Slide pizza from pan to cutting board and let cool for 5-10 minutes (this will help keep your toppings on the pizza when you cut).


Homemade pizza is SO much better than take-out. There is really no comparison. It's cheaper, fresher, better for you, tastier and fun to make! I would rather do the work to make it myself than buy it out any day. I think I'll make it tonight. :)

The Slow Cook

A new favorite blog -- The Slow Cook. This blog is written by Ed Bruske, a former reporter for the Washington Post who is now a personal chef, lecturer, and teacher. He and his family have turned their front yard into an urban vegetable garden and he records their gardening adventures along with some investigative journalism articles on school food and food industry issues. He also has lots of links to other good resources and videos.

I'm in the midst of reading "Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen" which are articles he wrote after spending a week in the kitchen of his daughter's elementary school.

You must go check out this blog -- so much great information! It's going to take some time to get through it all.

The Omnivore's Dilemna

Of all the food industry related books I've read over the past few months, I think this may be my favorite -- The Omnivore's Dilemma. It may have somewhat to do with my crush on Michael Pollan, but it really is an awesome book.

Pollan follows 4 different kinds of meals from the earth to the table -- industrial, big business organic, local organic and finally foraged. It is truly fascinating to see where our food is coming from and what impacts what food we eat has on the environment and our communities.

My favorite part of the book was when Pollan visits Joel Salatin's farm--Polyface Farms-- for a week. Salatin is one of the farmers that makes an appearance in the documentary Food, Inc, which is where I first heard of him. He is so passionate and quirky and just cracks me up. I mean, take a look at him. The perfect farmer!



If you only read one book on the topic, please read this one. My second favorite would be Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck (my review HERE).

Summer Loving

Did you forget about me? Here I am! The month of May just whipped past and left me spinning in its wake. I'll try to better about posting from now on.

Summer seems to finally be here and as much as I complain about the hot weather, I am LOVING all of the new fruits and veggies that are showing up at the farmers market and in our CSA box. The sugar snap peas were here and gone in a flash but I enjoyed every second, as with the asparagus. My favorites in the last couple weeks have been beets, cherries, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, tomatoes and we even just got our first taste of blackberries thanks to some generous friends who have a grandma with a blackberry bush.

A local pick-your-own farm has blueberries ready for harvesting and we will be all over that sometime this week or weekend. I am so excited -- it's one of my favorite times of the year, not to mention a certain 2.5 year old boy who is obsessed with blueberries!

I must go take the granola out of the oven but I'll be back soon with all kind of new goodies. In the meantime, eat good food!