My favorite teacher--biscuit baker supreme

Hands down, my favorite teacher was my Paternal Grandma. I have never had a better biscuit, than those that came from her hands. Her biscuits were magical. As a young girl, I was only interested in the transfer of the warm biscuit from her loving hands into my eager ones. As a young woman, I paid more attention and tried to duplicate her techniques. She did not measure everything precisely and she did not flour the counter and roll the dough and cut it. She did it all by feel. I was awed by how the dry ingredients were dumped into a mixing bowl and the wet ingredients were added after she made a dry well in the center. She would shape the dough into biscuits with her hands. She did this every morning and in no time at all, hot biscuits were on the table, with golden, beautiful crusts and no big mess to clean up either. I am sad to say I was not a very good student in biscuit making. I know that you can ruin the finished product if you handle the dough too much. I miss my Grandma and her biscuits. Who is your favorite teacher in the kitchen? I would love to know, along with what you learned.
As for biscuits today, I have a second favorite teacher and that is the crew over at America's Test Kitchen. They have perfected Drop Biscuits and I saw a demo yesterday, that made me sit up and take notes, and even happier this morning, when I duplicated it and served the light soft pillows with a golden brown exterior. Still not my Grandma's biscuit, but a very good, easy one to make and no messy kitchen.

Best Drop Biscuits
from the Episode: Holiday Ham and Biscuits America's Test Kitchen

If buttermilk isn't available, powdered buttermilk added according to package instructions or clabbered milk can be used instead. To make clabbered milk, mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let stand 10 minutes. A 1/4-cup (#16) portion scoop can be used to portion the batter. To refresh day-old biscuits, heat them in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes.

Makes 12 Biscuits
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk (cold)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits


1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.

2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Note:
When you stir slightly cooled melted butter into cold buttermilk, the butter will clump. Although this might look like a mistake, it's one of the secrets to this recipe. The clumps of butter are similar to the small bits of cold butter in biscuits prepared according to the traditional method and help guarantee a light and fluffy interior.

A greased 1/4-cup measure is a great tool for scooping dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

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Staff of Life

Bread has fed the masses for longer than any of us can conceive of. I don't know about you, but I love those Artisan loaves that cost an arm and leg in the bakeries and grocery stores these days. Making bread at home couldn't be easier. It does take a little bit of your time, but you will have a little extra cash to spend on something else. The real bonus is the taste, the smell, the sense of accomplishment.



Gruyère-Stuffed Crusty Loaves
From King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Starter
1 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 cup cool water
Dough
all of the starter
1 cup + 2 tablespoons to 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water*
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor (optional)
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
*Use the greater amount of water in winter, when conditions are dry;
and the lesser amount in summer, when the weather is humid.
Filling
2 1/2 cups grated Gruyère cheese, or the grated/shredded cheese of
your choice (a mixture of provolone and mozzarella is tasty)
1 tablespoon garlic oil (optional)
1 tablespoon pizza seasoning (optional)

1) To make the starter: Mix the 1 1/4 cups flour,
salt, yeast, and 1/2 cup water in a medium-sized
bowl. Mix till well combined; the starter will be very
dry. Cover and let rest overnight at room
temperature; it'll become bubbly.
2) To make the dough: Combine the risen starter
with the water, salt, flour, and yeast. Knead—by
hand, mixer, or bread machine set on the dough cycle
—to make a smooth dough.
3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 1 1/2 to
2 hours, till it's nearly doubled in bulk.
4) Gently deflate the dough, and pat and stretch it
into a 3/4"-thick rectangle, about 9" x 12". Spritz with
water, and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
5) Starting with a long side, roll it into a log, pinching
the seam to seal. Place the log, seam-side down, on a
lightly floured or lightly oiled surface.
6) Cover it and let it rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, till it's puffy though not
doubled in bulk. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.
7) Gently cut the log into four crosswise slices, for
mini-breads; or simply cut the dough in half, for two
normal-sized loaves. Place them on one (for two
loaves) or two (for four mini-loaves) lightly greased or
parchment-lined baking sheets, cut side up. Spread
them open a bit, if necessary, to more fully expose
the cheese. Spritz with warm water, and immediately place them in the
preheated oven.
8) Bake for 20 minutes (for the mini-loaves), or 35 minutes (for the full-
sized loaves), or until the cheese is melted and the loaves are a very deep
golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.


*Note: cooked, diced bacon, diced Pepperoni, or other thinly sliced cooked meat would be a good addition. I did not have Gruyere on hand, so I subbed freshly grated Parm and Manchego. **The below recipe summary does not include the rise time for the bread dough.


**Recipe summary
Hands-on time:
25 mins.
Baking time:
20 mins.
Total time:
45 mins.
Yield:
4 mini-loaves or 2 standard-size
loaves.


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A new year and a new beginning

From the sidelines, I have marveled at the creative successes of my favorite food bloggers for about two years.  They have lured and enticed me to try different recipes, rush out to the grocery stores, retail stores and book stores for all of the necessary items.  They have had a very powerful hold on me.  Never mind the fact of having a very small kitchen located in a barn, I now have more equipment, books, and paraphernalia than any one person should have.  My lists of recipes abound.  Too bad I have a daytime job, or is it too good?  I can't decide if it is a good or bad thing, since most of the time there are only two of us to eat all of this food!  Gene (husband) and I enjoy an assortment of foods from other regions and countries.  We transport ourselves happily and frequently to these places through their cuisines.  My son-in-law David even built an adobe oven under the shade of an ancient live oak, where we experimented with baking rustic loaves of bread and pizza.  Sadly, the oven has collapsed and needs David's help to restore and improve it.  My new year begins with this blog and an attempt to write about the things and foods that roll through my small barn kitchen.  Life is good.   Read more!