Homemade Whole Wheat or Gluten-Free Biscuits Recipe (2024)
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Healthy Homemade Biscuits
Tonight's dinner experiment:
Final verdict: Both biscuits are good, and better than, say, Grands. But the unsoaked ones aredelicious!
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Forget biscuits in a can loaded with trans fats. These homemade biscuits are easy to make and can even be made gluten free! They pair beautifully with homemade soups and stews like this cream of potato soup.
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1/4c. butter or coconut oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) or lard
3/4–1c. milk or buttermilk or yogurt
Instructions
Mix dry ingredients. Cut fat into mixture using a pastry blender or 2 knives. Fork in the milk. Only stir enough to get the dough uniform! Roll out and cut with a glass dipped in flour (or you can make rounds by hand), approximately 1 inch thick.
Bake at 425 degrees on ungreased baking sheet or stone for 13-15 minutes (parchment paper works great).
Notes
Gluten-free: Use the same directions and proportions but with a gluten-free flour blend. It works! The only one I’ve tested is my homemade blend, found here.
Soaked: Cut fat into flour and mix with cultured buttermilk or yogurt. Leave on counter overnight, then sprinkle the baking powder and salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase) over the top and fold in as thoroughly as possible yet with as few strokes as possible. The key to flaky biscuits is less handling.
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Tonight’s dinner experiment:
I fiddled with this recipe for quite a while, trying to find out what fats would work (that aren’t shortening) and if I can soak biscuits. I soaked them first just by making the dough with yogurt and leaving it overnight, but then I read that salt inhibits the breakdown of phytic acid. Since I didn’t want to inhibit the inhibitors being broken down…right…I had to try mixing the baking powder and salt after the soak. Tonight was the first try.
I made one batch of biscuits with yogurt, soaked overnight. The second batch used buttermilk (leftover from making butter, not cultured buttermilk), even though I should have just used yogurt again for a “real” test. Nonetheless, the soaked biscuits only turned out okay. They are much denser and smoother on top, less flaky and biscuit-y. Both batches were made with half whole wheat pastry flour and half white flour (I was almost out of pastry flour!) and lard.
Soaked on the left, standard recipe on the right:
It’s hard to see here, but the soaked dough is much more smooth and elastic, the standard dough more…for lack of a better word, puffy.
Here’s how they came out. The soaked biscuits (left) actually needed a few extra minutes to bake because they were so dense, but this was after just 12 minutes. The soaked biscuits didn’t get any darker after the extra minutes. (I don’t make very nice circles, do I?)
Now I need to make in-a-day biscuits with yogurt to effect a valid test. I’ve used yogurt before, though, with good results, just not with whole wheat pastry flour.
Final verdict: Both biscuits are good, and better than, say, Grands. But the unsoaked ones aredelicious!
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Start by replacing 25 percent of white or whole-wheat flour with a gluten-free flour and see how it goes. Here are a few favorite varieties to consider adding to your repertoire: Nut flours, such as almond, coconut, and hazelnut. Grain flours, such as buckwheat, oat, millet, teff, brown rice, quinoa, and amaranth.
White wheat in general is around 9-12% protein, while the hard reds are 11-15%. As far as brands of flour, White Lily “all-purpose” flour has been my go-to for biscuit making. It's a soft red winter wheat, and the low protein and low gluten content keep biscuits from becoming too dense.
These are a much healthier version than the store-bought biscuits, by far! And as long as you stick to the recipe and use whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, these are definitely good for you.
2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.
White Lily brand flour, especially the self-rising flour, is the gold standard among Southern cooks who make biscuits on a regular basis. White lily, self rising. I use it for everything except those thing I make using either cake flour or yeast. If I'm using yeast I use King Arthur flours.
The solution: Use half cake flour and half all-purpose flour. This combination will give you a biscuit with light and airy interior with a pleasant, satisfying bite on the outside. Also, sifting the flour and other dry ingredients will give you a smoother, airier dough.
The butter version rises the highest — look at those flaky layers! The shortening biscuit is slightly shorter and a bit drier, too. Butter contains a bit of water, which helps create steam and gives baked goods a boost.
One brand that may be a better option is "McVitie's Digestive Biscuits." These biscuits are made with whole wheat flour, which is higher in fiber and more nutritious than refined flour. They also contain less sugar and fat than some other biscuit brands.
Wheat flour contains several essential nutrients, including B vitamins, iron, and zinc.These nutrients can help support overall health and well-being. Wheat cookies can provide a quick source of energy, making them a good snack option for those who need a quick pick-me-up during the day.
Because yeast has to work harder to make whole wheat flour rise, we'll use slightly more yeast in this dough compared to my regular pizza dough recipe. You need 1 Tablespoon (8.5g).
Whole-wheat flour makes your baked goods denser and a lot heavier than those made with just all-purpose flour. You can start by substituting some whole-wheat flour for all-purpose flour, but no more than 25 percent of the total amount unless you're willing to really sacrifice the texture of your baked goods.
Whole-wheat flour has the highest protein content on our list. For that reason, when substituting it for all-purpose, use 50 percent whole-wheat, and 50 percent of another flour, preferably all-purpose, pastry flour or spelt, to avoid a dense result. If you want to use only whole wheat, you'll need to add more water.
The simple answer to this question is yes BUT don't expect the same results! Gluten free flours often contain lots of water grabbing gums and starches so we have to ensure that there is enough water present to fully hydrate the gums and gelatinize the starches.
Whole-wheat flour has the highest protein content on our list. For that reason, when substituting it for all-purpose, use 50 percent whole-wheat, and 50 percent of another flour, preferably all-purpose, pastry flour or spelt, to avoid a dense result. If you want to use only whole wheat, you'll need to add more water.
Use flour made from rice, potato starch, soy, tapioca, or corn instead. If you can't tolerate gluten, look for gluten-free baking powder. When you're baking, remember that wheat-free and gluten-free flour may be drier, may not rise as much, and may have a crumbly texture.
Almond flour has a nutty flavor and is easy to use. In most recipes, you can simply substitute almond flour for wheat flour at an equal ratio. It works well in baked goods like pancakes, cookies, scones, and biscuits, plus certain savory foods like homemade pasta and meatballs.
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