Saturday, May 29, 2010

ANGEL BISCUITS ----- Using Oil . . . not shortening

If you have never tried these, you must!  They are great little dinner rolls or wonderful biscuits for breakfast.  They will also keep for up two weeks in your fridge.     I always at least double the recipe  . . . that's the only way I ever have any dough for later. Give them  try!     Picture is biscuits made with left-over dough.

Angel Biscuits  


INGREDIENTS  --- Wet Stuff 
  • 2 T. yeast, dissolved in 1/2 c. warm water with a sprinkle of sugar.  (set aside until ready to add)
  • 1/ 2 c. oil
  • 2  c. Buttermilk  (you can use milk soured with vinegar or lemon juice, it just won't have quite the same flavor . . . you know what purist I am about buttermilk!  If you do use this method, give it a few minutes to curdle)
INGREDIENTS  --- Dry Stuff
  • 5 c. flour
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 4 t. baking powder
  • 1 1/4 t. salt
  • 1/4 c. sugar
Mix all of these dry ingredients in a medium bowl and make a well in the middle of it for the liquids.

MAKING THE DOUGH  ----  Good Stuff

Add all the wet ingredients into the well of the dry stuff at one time.  Mix until you have a nice blob of dough.  I have a hand mixer with pretty good power and so I use that.  When it is mixed pretty well, I flour my hands and start kneading the dough.  I often have to knead for a while until I work a little more flour into the ball so that it's no longer sticky.  Keep it soft.

Roll it out on a floured surface to about 3/4 " to 1 " thickness.  Cut with a round cutter.  I usually use a large canning jar ring.  Arrange on a greased or oiled cookie sheet with at least an inch between if you want them to be more like traditional biscuits.  If you want them to be more like traditional dinner rolls, have them almost touching.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Starting checking them at 12 minutes for the brownness that you want.  

To store the leftover dough, place in a container with a tight lid or a sturdy Ziplock bag that has been sprayed with pan spray.  Make sure there is growing room!  It will rise! 

LEFT-OVER DOUGH 

Take the dough out of the fridge.  Knead it down, roll it out and cut as before.  If you want them to be as fluffy as the first batch, you may want to let them sit on the baking sheet for up to ten minutes before baking.  I usually don't have time and they haven't disappointed me yet!