Biscuits (soaked and yummy!)

This very morning I finished making biscuits. It is from one of my favorite blogs: The Nourishing Gourmet. She bases most of her recipes on the food philosophies of Sally Fallon, the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, and the Weston A. Price foundation. I am not a big fan of the book itself (poorly edited, but informative; get it from the library), but I do frequent this blog for recipe ideas. (I will soon try making her sourdough recipe, once my starter arrives in the mail!)

The recipe below is written with the specific ingredients I used. I made two batches at the same time, one with butter and milk, and one with coconut oil and coconut tonic. I had to do both because my DH does not like coconut, but I am currently experimenting with (virgin organic) coconut oil due to all of it's health benefits. If you want pictures and more information on the biscuits, click here for the original recipe. Here is my version, which is barely different.

Fluffy, Whole Wheat Biscuits
Makes 20 small biscuits

COCONUT VERSION:
Coconut oil melts at a low temperature, so keep this dough “soaking” under 76 degrees so the oil will stay solid.

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
6 tablespoons coconut oil
3/4 cup of coconut milk tonic*
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt


(*one can coconut milk, 17 oz. coconut water (or plain water, I used coconut water from a coconut we had drained earlier that day), and 1 tsp. vanilla, whisked together)

BUTTER/MILK VERSION:

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
6 tablespoons organic, pastured butter
3/4 cup of raw milk
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1-The night before, measure the flour into a medium size bowl. Using a pastry cutter, or a fork and knife with a cutting motion, cut in the coconut oil/butter into the flour. When the oil/butter is the size of peas or smaller, you are done. Add the coconut milk tonic/water/milk and vinegar, and mix in until just combined. Leave overnight at room temperature, well covered. You can cover it with a towel and then put a plate on top to hold it down. This mixture will be wetter then your average biscuit recipe. This is so we can more easily mix in the salt and rising agents the next day.

2-The next morning, place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 450. Press down the dough a bit right in the bowl. Sprinkle the baking soda, baking power and salt on top of the dough, then fold it in half, top to bottom and press down firmly. Fold in half again from the side, and press down firmly again. Starting at the top, repeat this process until you have folded the dough about 10-15 times (do so until you feel assured that the rising agents and salt have been well mixed in).

3-Now it’s ready to roll it out! Because the folding process develops the gluten a bit, you may not need any flour. But if you do, feel free to use some more whole wheat pastry flour or arrowroot flour when you roll this out. Place on a clean surface, and roll out into a rectangle. It should be about 1/2 an inch thick.

4-You can use biscuit cutters to get nice round biscuits, but I like to simply cut it into squares as there is no waste this way.

5-Place on a parchment-lined jellyroll pan and pop it in your preheated oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the top and bottom is lightly browned and the middle is cooked all the way through. Remove to cooling racks when done. Biscuits are best warm, we enjoyed ours with a little butter and local raw honey on top.