Bread Sticks

 

 I've done it. I've tried a recipe with yeast. Bread Sticks to be exact. But the dough didn't rise.

I was watching the cooking channel, and I saw the way they activated the yeast. It was different from the way I did it, so I think I activated it wrong... thus the reason it didn't rise. This recipe was sort of a spur of the moment recipe, so the next time I try this recipe I will watch some videos on activating yeast, and bread stick dough.

Before the oven

They still turned out alright, but they were just a bit dense... Not fluffy.

After the oven

   
 But you know what, They still taste good... And that's what matters, right? 

Yes... I Did It!

I made the biscuits rise this time!

After watching videos, reading more blogs, and changing the amount of flour in this recipe to 2 ½ cups... It worked!

What I learned...
1) You cannot twist the biscuit cutter when you cut the biscuits, because this seals the edges so that it won't rise.
2) You cannot roll the dough... you have to fold the dough on itself like a envelope a couple of times, then flatten it gently with your hands. I found that folding it on itself will create layers... Which I think helps it rise.

3) You must use a lot of flour on the counter and on top of the dough, and sometimes you need to add more flour on top before you fold again.
4) As a part of my research before I do a recipe, I am going to watch videos on the recipe I choose to do as well.
5) I found that placing them on the cookie sheet close together helped them rise.

6)Practice is key!

Next time I will...
Swap the tbsp of honey for 2 tbsp of white sugar. Because these biscuits are good, in fact they are very good, but they aren't that sweet... not like the other biscuit recipe I did.

The recipe can be found in here.

Buttermilk Biscuits: The Sequel!

Well, I tried the recipe again. I got the same results... At least the recipe is consistent!

They look like cookies... Cookie Biscuits.

This week is quickly becoming "buttermilk biscuit week."  I'm not moving on to a different subject until I successfully make a batch of biscuits!

The two requirements I have for a 'successful' batch is that they have to rise and they have to taste good.

So, for the rest of the week I'm going to watch videos, because seeing is believing.

Buttermilk Biscuit Battle?

Before I start, I just want to say that it amazes me that something as sour as buttermilk can make something so tasty.

The flour and butter.

The reason this post is called Buttermilk Biscuit Battle is because last night I made buttermilk biscuits. I tried two different recipes: battling it out, to see which comes out on top. 

The two recipes not only battled each other but,  I'm pretty sure they were battling me...

Recipe #1

This one is from my baking cook book. 
For starters, this was quite possibly the stickiest dough I have come across. I was about to just drop it onto the cookie sheet instead of rolling it out. But Mom told me to put more flour on the counter to combat the stickiness, flatten it out (instead of rolling), then cut the biscuits out. It worked out better than dropping them onto the cookie sheet... and probably better looking too. 

My sticky mess

Recipe #2

 I found this recipe here. This dough was more like a pie crust consistency. I found it easier to work with but it left me with the question: Is this going to be as dry and flaky as pie crust? It wasn't as dry as pie crust but it was a drier biscuit.
 

Out of the oven.

Out of the oven.

As you can see these didn't really rise that much... Even with the use of self-rising flour in the 1st recipe. I blame that on frustration because I'm pretty sure that when I was trying to roll it out, get it off the counter, then flatten it out and finally cut it into biscuits... I may have over mixed it.
As for the 2nd batch, I may have not have been gentle enough. I say that because I read somewhere that when your making biscuits you can't be mad or mean to the dough. You have to be gentle.

The Taste...

I'm not sure if you can tell or not, but the inside of the 1st batch is fluffier (so it's sticky for a reason!) and the 2nd is less fluffy; more biscuit like.
They both taste very good. My favorite is the 1st batch. I like how fluffy and moist it was. It was perfect by itself and it tasted good with all the things I put on it (which I'll get to in a minute.)
The second was was good as well, but I didn't like how dense it was. A thing to note is that the 2nd batch was sweeter than the 1st.

And finally: how I ate my biscuits...
I put sausage and gravy on a couple of them, pumpkin flavored cream cheese on one and I tried jelly on two.

Pumpkin cream cheese on top and jelly on the bottom.

The biscuits are under sausage and gravy (top) and just an egg on the bottom.

I am going to try these recipes again sometime... Probably the 1st recipe first because their my favorite and I have a score to settle, a rematch if you will :-)