Sourdough Bisquits

[Daniel]

I saw this recipe in an issue of epoch times newpaper. Yes I still get
paper deliveries. I haven't tried the recipe yet since I don't have the
starter yet. Went to the site and here is the entire article plus link.

There was also an article in 2020 that actually went through the entire
process of creating your own starter and it was literally a meditation
for me, reading it. If you are interested in that article too, I'll post
it in a new thread.

Enjoy.

The Family Table: 30 Years of Sourdough Biscuits, Made With Love
Source URL: https://tinyurl.com/mexu8sa6

Submitted by Jared K. Vawter, Bakersfield, California_

Sourdough is not an ingredient; it is a relationship. If you care for
and nurture your sourdough, it will return to you all the love and
devotion a one-celled organism can give.

Thirty years ago, I bought a jar of sourdough starter at St. Andrew’s
Abbey fall festival in Valyermo, California. When I got home, I read the
instructions for the care and feeding of sourdough that came with the
jar. It said it was best to use the starter once a week, but if it
couldn’t be used, to feed it with whole milk and flour. It seemed I had
taken on a large responsibility.

After several weeks baking loaves of bread, I expanded my ambitions
and began to scour cookbooks for sourdough recipes. That is what we did
before the internet. In an old Whitten family cookbook, from my wife’s
paternal grandparents, I found a recipe for sourdough biscuits that
looked fairly easy to make. The recipe had instructions like “Bake in a
hot oven until done,” so some experimentation was required.

On almost every Saturday morning for 30 years, my family has eaten
either sourdough biscuits made from that same starter, or sourdough
pancakes when we needed a change. Over the years, I tweaked and tried
this and that with the recipe until I came up with a biscuit that had a
slight crunch of the crust and insides as moist and tender as a
newborn’s tears. And I would like to invite you into my kitchen and show
you how to bake some of the best biscuits you ever had.

I hope this recipe will add enjoyment to your family times around the
table, where families are made. And please don’t forget to give lots of
love to your sourdough.

Sourdough Biscuits

Makes 8 to 10 biscuits

2 cups flour
4 tablespoons cold butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sourdough starter
1/3 cup milk (do not use non-fat) plus 1 tablespoon vinegar, or 1/3 cup
buttermilk

Measure the flour into a large bowl. Cut in the butter. I use a pastry
cutter, but you can use a fork, spoon, knife, or your fingers to
incorporate the butter into the flour, building the layers of fat and
flour that will create the biscuity texture. Cut in the butter until the
pieces are the size of very small gravel. I squeeze the larger pieces
together with my fingers.

Sprinkle in the sugar and salt. When you put in the baking powder and
soda, sift them through a sieve to remove the lumps. Nobody wants to
bite into a lump of baking soda. With a large spoon, mix the dry
ingredients together well.

Now add the 1 cup starter. At this point, I mix the milk and vinegar
together and let it sit while I feed the rest of the starter with milk
and flour and put it back into the refrigerator. This should give the
milk and vinegar enough time to curdle into buttermilk. I like the tang
of the vinegar and the increased leavening when mixed with the soda, but
regular buttermilk is good also; it gives the biscuits a mellower
flavor.

Pour the milk mixture or buttermilk into the flour mixture and stir
together wet and dry until a crumbly ball forms. Knead the dough in the
bowl, working the flour into the dough ball until it is all
incorporated. Do not add any more flour unless it is needed to make the
dough less sticky. The less flour you use, the better, as it takes away
from the flavor of the sourdough. As the gluten forms from the kneading,
the dough becomes less sticky. The dough ball should be firm and smooth.

Lightly oil a baking sheet. Use vegetable oil and not cooking spray. The
oil cooks a crispy biscuit bottom.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is 1/2- to
3/4-inch high; the taller, the better. Cut out biscuits with a cutter or
water glass, giving it a slight twist. Place the biscuits on the oiled
baking sheet, keeping them separated. Roll up what’s left of the dough
and cut out more biscuits until all the dough is used. Brush the tops
with butter.

You can set the biscuits in a warm place to rise until you are ready to
bake them (they get a little fluffier), or you can put them straight
into a pre-heated 425-degree-oven for 14 minutes.

___________________________

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