Baking Powder Biscuits

These are great with or without jam baked in the middles. If you omit the jam prior to baking, it can always be added after. These also make good foundations for an egg, bacon and cheese sammie. A pastry blender is your best friend for biscuit making. If you don’t have one in your baking quiver yet, check out the post called, “The Home Biscuit Builder’s Starter Kit”.

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into their tablespoon wedges (if veganizing these, I recommend Myoko’s or Trader Joe’s Vegan Buttery Spread)

2/3-3/4 cup milk (buttermilk, whole, oat or oat with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar- this makes a good vegan buttermilk substitute)

Optional: jam

Optional optional: cinnamon sugar

Set oven to 425 degrees.

Always mix by hand. In a bowl, add the dry ingredients and the butter rectangles on top. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until you have pea size flour covered butter gravel. Add the milk. Start with only 2/3 cup and see what this does. Gently mix with a wooden spoon. Do not overmix it or incorporate everything yet. If the mixture looks dry, add some more milk. If it seems like it will be easy to manage on a floured surface, it is probably the right amount of liquid to dry. Finish incorporating until almost mixed. Dump onto floured surface. Pat around on the floured surface to finish the mix and flatten by hand to 3/4”-1” thick slab.

Use a biscuit cutter to get your biscuits cut. With waste dough from initial cuts, just gently coax back together in rough slab form. Resist the urge to knead back together and smoosh back out into slab form. Repeat this up to one-two more times. After that, just form waste dough into hand shaped quasi biscuits. The more you work and re-work, the less flaky the biscuit.

If you are adding jam prior to baking you can use the back side of the jam scoop to form a little basin in each biscuit. If it is sticking, lightly flour the back. Add your optional jam and optional optional cinnamon sugar dusting now. Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly brown and a little taller than they were.

Eat them as they are, slice them open to add some eggs or jam or honey butter.