Showing posts with label whole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whole. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Bake: Herbed Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

One of my favorite food bloggers is Rachel Cooks. If you've never seen any of her recipes, you need to check her out now! You can find the original recipe HERE. She posted this recipe recently and her biscuits looked so good I knew I had to try it! I used whole wheat flour in my recipe to make it a little healthier. They're so yummy! Fortunately I had the willpower to put them into the freezer before my husband and I ate them all fresh from the oven!



Ingredients:
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3-5 Tablespoons dried parsley and chives, whatever combo you want
  • 12 Tablespoons softened butter
  • 1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk
  • 2 Tablespoons of melted butter (for brushing biscuits with)

Directions: 

Preheat your oven to 450� F. 


Add all of the dry ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl. 


Mix them up.


Add in the wet ingredients. 


Mix well.


Roll it out onto a lightly floured surface. It should be about 1/2"-3/4" thick.


Use your cookie cutter...or in my case, jar lid, and cut out biscuits.


Form extras into dough and roll out again, messing with it as little as possible so you don't warm it up. 


Depending on how thick you make the dough, you can get anywhere from 10-24 biscuits. The original recipe got 8-9 3" biscuits but I made mine thinner and got 24.


Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown around the tops and edges. If you have two sheets worth, be sure to rotate them halfway through so they both bake evenly. (Sorry for the blurry photos.)


Take them out of the oven and brush butter on the tops of each biscuit. As you can see, they all have character! 


And somehow I managed to get a few monster biscuits in there!


Drool.


These biscuits go well with everything! You could make them into breakfast biscuits, use Italian seasoning for a pasta dinner, add cheddar cheese....oh yum. I think I'll be adding the cheese next time! These biscuits are guaranteed to please either way!

What do you make with buttermilk? Do you have a family recipe passed down for the best biscuits or rolls?

Till next time,
Catherine

Monday, April 22, 2013

Adding Ground Flax to Bulk Your Bread!

About 6 months ago I attempted making healthy whole wheat bread by hand. My first try didn't go so well but after that I must have gotten the hang of it because ever since I feel like each new loaf is an improvement on the last! You can find my original recipe and bread endeavors HERE.  

One of the things that I find essential is adding honey. It gives the bread a little sweetness that goes perfectly with a sandwich or toast or anything! Lately I've also been adding a bunch of ground flax seeds.


The dough is brown because I always use whole wheat flour. If you look close you can see some of the ground flax. 


Here's a better view. I didn't add all that much the first time because I was afraid it would be too noticeable but it's not at all! 


My first loaves with added ground flax were so perfect and delicious! 


Baked to perfection! Golden brown in all the right places! These loaves don't look all that big but I think the flax actually makes them larger too!

Now I dump a lot of flax into the dough. Probably 1/2 a cup? Not sure. I just pour. 

If you make your own bread, I would recommend adding ground flax because it's so healthy for you but your family probably won't even notice it's there! Flax seeds are rich in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids and they're low in carbs! You can't go wrong adding them! You can find ground flax just about anywhere these days. I actually got mine from Big Lots believe it or not! It was Bob's Red Mill ground flax and it was about half of what it normally costs. What a score! Plus it was a huge bag that is lasting me forever! 

I have whole flax seeds as well but I feel like ground flax is easier to add into foods without people being like, "Eww what's this???" I like to be sneaky when I add in healthy foods. Hehe. What they don't know, helps them! I think next time I'll use ground flax and then a small handful of whole flax seeds as well. Ooh maybe I'll buy some oats and make my own honey oat nut bread! Mmm!

How do you use flax seeds? Do you prefer whole or ground? Also, did you catch my two accidental rhymes? I should be a poet! Not. 

Till next time,
Catherine