Buttermilk Biscuits

Everybody's mama has a recipe for biscuits.  Here's mine.  Like I said on Tuesday, this one adds a bit of light whole wheat flour without making them taste at all good for you, plus there's much less fat than a lot of recipes out there.  So, this is now a semi-weekly treat rather than a semi-yearly one.  There is no better vehicle for good jam than a soft biscuit fresh from the oven.

 

Here's what you do:

1. 
   Start by making your vegan buttermilk.  Put a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in the bottom of a glass measuring cup.  Top it off with soy milk to make 1 cup.  Let it sit to curdle and thicken while you go heat the oven to 450 and get out a 9-inch round baking pan or cast-iron skillet. 
2. 
   Dump your 2 cups of self-rising flour into a large mixing bowl.  Slice 1/4 cup of butter and/or shortening into small pieces and nestle them into the flour. 
3. 
   Using just your finger tips, snap the flour into the fat.  This should only take a minute.  Stop when you have corn flake size pieces. 
4. 
   Whisk together your now thick buttermilk and pour it over the flour.  With a rubber spatula, smash the flour into the milk and mix until you have a wet dough. 
5. 
   Turn it out onto a floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough as well, and pat it out to about 1/2 inch thick.  Use a bench scraper or spatula to fold the dough in half.  Pat it out again to about 1/2 inch thick.  Fold again.  Pat it out.  Fold again.  And gently pat to about 1 inch thick. 
6. 
   Flour a 2-inch biscuit cutter and push it straight down into the dough to shape biscuits.  When you've cut all you can from the dough, you can gently push the scraps together and get a few more out of the dough, but they won't rise as high as the first set.  
7. 
   If you have any scraps left after your second go, they will keep two small children occupied for ages.  
   

In short:

Biscuits 
Using a mixture of fats will get you the flakiest biscuits.  If you have it, use 2 tablespoons vegan butter and 2 tablespoons shortening.  If not, use one or the other.  Add a pinch of salt when you use shortening. 
makes: about a dozen
takes: 25 - 30 minutes (10 active)

• 2 cups semi-whole wheat self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup cold vegan butter and/or shortening
• 1 cup cold vegan buttermilk 

Quickly rub fat into flour with your fingertips.  Make a well in the center.  Pour in buttermilk.  Smash the flour into the milk with a rubber spatula.  Turn your wet, shaggy dough out onto a floured board or counter.  Pat to 1/2 inch thick.  Fold and pat out again.  Repeat.  Pat to 1 inch thick.  Cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter.  Nestle the biscuits into a 9-inch round cake pan and bake at 450 for 15 - 20 minutes until just beginning to brown.  

Serve warm with jam or gravy or a few slices of smoky tempeh or..or...?  What's on your biscuit?