The June Biscuit of the Month is a bit of a departure from the biscuits of the month up to this point. I wanted to try out two new (to me) types of biscuit recipes: the 2-ingredient biscuit and gluten-free biscuits. I’ve done a little bit of experimenting and am pretty pleased with the results for both. Let’s get into it!
1. Inspiration Behind the Biscuits
- What sparked this month’s biscuit experiments?
- Full transparency: I had an idea for June’s biscuit but when I looked at the produce in season, that idea seemed like it would be better for July or August.
- For June and the celebration of Black liberation, I did not want to stress myself out thinking of a completely new biscuit creation in the 2 weeks I had left, so I decided to work on some variations of a basic buttermilk biscuit.
- People are always asking me for gluten-free versions of my baked goods, so that was a given.
- Also, I was curious about the least amount of ingredients I could use to get a really good biscuit, and the 2-ingredient biscuit was it.
- Connection to tradition or innovation?
- Quick story-time (and it’s more about my connection with biscuits in general than these 2 biscuits specifically): My dad’s parents owned and worked on a tobacco farm here in North Carolina. They had day laborers who my grandmother (who I’m named after) made breakfast for each morning along with breakfast for her own family. I’ve heard from at least 10 people about how she made the best biscuits, and made them every single morning.
- She passed before I was born, but once I learned about this bit of family history, my obsession with biscuits made so much more sense.
- Actually, both of my grandmothers are known to keep them biscuits on deck. My mom’s mom keeps some frozen for me to take back to Charlotte every once in a while.
2. Recipe Development Process for the June Biscuits of the Month
- Challenges faced during development
- The first challenge was trying to decide on which types of experiments I wanted to conduct.
- Beyond that, the texture of gluten-free baked goods has always been far from ideal in my opinion so that was a challenge I hoped to face head-on with this month’s GF biscuit
- There were no challenges for the 2-ingredient biscuit. I did have to make my own self-rising flour (combining all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt), but you can skip that step by getting a bag of self-rising flour from the store.
- Ingredients you experimented with
- Gluten-free flour always leaves a gnarly, crumbly texture to the baked goods I’ve used it to make. It’s an ongoing process, but I’m looking for ways to make the biscuits soft and fluffy instead of crumbly and reminiscent of crackers.
- Heavy cream – you can use heavy cream to make butter so it makes perfect sense that cold heavy cream can be used to replace both the butter and buttermilk in a more traditional biscuit recipe.
3. Biscuit Construction
- Assembly of the biscuit
- This month’s biscuits aren’t really full sandwiches or dishes, but rather the bases are the complete experiment this go ’round.
- I did make a peach butter/spread to go with them since the peaches at the farmers market were smelling so good.
- Textural details
- 2-ingredient biscuit: this biscuit had a delightfully (and surprisingly) fluffy texture. I don’t know why, despite all the important ingredients being there, I thought this biscuit would be just “meh”. It was NOT that. They are soft and buttery-tasting without the actual butter being present.
- Gluten-free biscuit: No comment……. and I guess they really weren’t the worst. The texture was like a tough biscuit, which isn’t ideal at all but the TASTE was the issue for these, not so much the texture.
4. The Flavor Profile
- Flavor balance
- 2-ingredient biscuit: These are SO good. They really taste like a traditional biscuit with butter and buttermilk. To be honest, they might even be a little tastier because of the lack of effort it takes to throw just two ingredients together.
- Gluten-free biscuit: they taste…. half-baked. I’m not sure what it takes to mask the gluten-free flour flavor within actual flavors. This brand is made from rice flour and other ingredients, so I’m guessing that a different type of gluten-free flour could yield a more fully-baked taste and texture.
5. Cooking Tips & Techniques
- Biscuit-making tips
- Use cold ingredients and utensils, if possible – cold butter makes for fluffy biscuits
- Avoid over-mixing and over-working the dough before forming biscuits. It’s okay if the dough isn’t uniform
- Brush with butter or buttermilk before baking for more browning
- More Biscuit Tips
- Additional tips for these specific biscuits
- 2-ingedient biscuit: the only tip I can give for these is to keep the heavy cream cold and brush the finished biscuits with salted butter. Otherwise, these are pretty hard to mess up.
- Gluten-free biscuits: …I am still working on making these an acceptable biscuit and finding tips for gluten-free baked goods in general. Please respect my privacy at this time. lol
6. Visual Appeal
- Presentation
- These biscuits were pretty plain compared to the first 5 biscuits of the month. Although the peach butter is a rustic addition to the biscuits, the straightforward presentation lets you know up front that the flavors you expect in a good biscuit are going to shine through.
- Any garnish or final touches?
- A brush of melted, salted butter is all these biscuits need.
7. Tasting Experience
- The first bite
- 2-ingredient biscuit: Biscuit perfection. The top and bottom were crisp and buttery while the inside remained soft and fluffy. When I say, these might be my new favorite biscuits to make when I need something quick and on a whim? I mean that.
- Gluten-free biscuit: A crumbly mess lol
- How do the flavors evolve as you eat it?
- 2-ingredient biscuit: The only thing that kept occurring to me as I ate this biscuit is how much the butter flavor still comes through.
- Gluten-free biscuit: It surprisingly gets better as it goes along, but I’m pretty sure
- Feedback from others
- 2-ingredient biscuit: “Are you sure there’s no butter in these?!”
- Gluten-free biscuit: Friends said it wasn’t as bad as I’m making it seem, but also agree that they taste a bit raw somehow.
8. Serving Suggestions
- How would you serve it?
- I’d serve the 2-ingredient biscuits with just about anything – as a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, on the side of a plate of salisbury steak, rice and greens, plain with sliced strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. There are endless uses for a good biscuit.
- The gluten-free biscuit would probably be best under a sausage gravy or with some other sauce that would (1) complement the texture and (2) mask the gluten-free taste.
- What would you name it?
- 2-ingredient biscuit: “Etta” – these biscuits are like every older Black woman I’ve ever known named Etta – straight to the point.
- Gluten-free biscuit: This one needs to be named “TBD” because it is a work in progress.
9. The Verdict: Would You Make the June Biscuit of the Month Again?
- Would you tweak anything for next time?
- 2-ingredient biscuit: I would like to try to make these into a drop biscuit recipe and/or add some garlic and herbs or cheese to see how delicious these biscuits can get.
- Gluten-free biscuit: I am looking forward to trying out gluten-free biscuits using different types of flour – I have a bag of almond flour that I use for desserts mostly, but I am interested in what sort of biscuit flavor profile and texture that would give. Stay tuned!
- Overall thoughts
- Pretty much any biscuit is a good biscuit to me so expanding my biscuit knowledge and experimenting with the core group of ingredients needed to make biscuits was a lot of fun. Obviously, the 2-ingredient biscuit was closer to the perfection I expect in a biscuit BUT the gluten-free biscuit surprised me. I thought it was going to be a complete mess, but there were some pleasant surprises and enough success to want to keep tweaking that recipe.
10. Next Month’s Biscuit
- I moved June’s original biscuit idea to July since I figured the watermelons would be even more delicious next month.
- Biscuit will be a cornbread biscuit hybrid.
- Pulled smoked chicken topped with a watermelon-based barbecue sauce.
- Watermelon rind relish.
