Easy Cheesy (Way Better than Red Lobster's) Biscuits

This is an adaptation of Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen's drop biscuit recipe. In this case I added cheese and some spices. Other additions that would be great would be chopped pickled jalapenos, scallions, cooked bacon.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (coarse grate or cut into small 1/8 inch cubes)
1 cup cold buttermilk (or reconstituted powdered buttermilk*)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons melted butter mixed with 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried parsley for brushing biscuits

*If substituting with powdered buttermilk, mix buttermilk powder with dry ingredients and water with wet ingredients.

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°F.

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and garlic powder. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in separate bowl.

Dry Ingredient Mixture

Melted Butter and Water (I used powdered buttermilk)

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients, add shredded cheese and stir until just incorporated (don't overmix) and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.

Cubed Cheese Added to Batter

Dough Mixture

 In this case, I separated the mixture into two batches - one that's a "grown up" version where I mixed in 1/4 cup chopped green onions and about 1 teaspoon finely chopped serrano.

Green Onion and Serrano for "Grown Up" 1/2 Batch

The "Grown Up" Batter Mixture

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).

Use Ice Cream Scoop for Smaller Biscuits

Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Watch the bottom of the biscuits, with all the butter and cheese, they burn easily. You may want to rotate your cookie sheets between the top two racks of your oven.

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

Basting of Biscuits

Homemade Pizza - Dough and All (Part 1)

I'm used to buying pizza dough from the market and while it's not expensive, I've always found it a bit gummy and hard to work with. In my search for a homemade recipe that's worthy of the effort, I came across what I think is the winner.


This is not a last minute dish - you'll need to plan ahead at least a full day for the sponge to set up overnight and the dough to proof.


Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe from Epicurious


Sponge:

• 1 cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast (approx 2-1/4 teaspoon, divided into 1 teaspoon and 1-1/4 teaspoon)
• 1 cup all purpose flour, separated

Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm (110°F to 115°F) water
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 6 cups (or more) all purpose flour
• Olive oil
• Yellow cornmeal

I've never made a sponge but apparently from the reviews, this makes a huge amount of difference.

Ingredients for the Sponge: Yeast, Water and Flour

First the proofing -- 1 teaspoon yeast, is combined with the warm (110 to 115 degrees) water, along with 1/4 teaspoon flour. After 5 to 10 minutes you should start to see a change in the mixture. It'll look a little cloudy as the yeast starts to feed off the flour.

About 5 Minutes After 1 Teaspoon Yeast, 1/4 Teaspoon Flour and Water Combined

Then the remaining 1 cup of flour is added to the mixture.

Combined Remaining Flour to Starter

After a couple of hours, the mixture will look decidedly more "sponge like." Set it aside on the counter and let it sit overnight.


Sponge After Two Hours

My day got away from me and I didn't have a chance to photograph the dough itself (will update post next time I make the recipe).

To the rested sponge, add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 envelope yeast, and reserved remaining yeast (1-1/4 teaspoon) to sponge, then add 6 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating with dough hook to blend after each addition.

Continue to beat until dough is smooth and comes away from sides of bowl. It should be barely sticky to the touch - about 5 minutes. If dough is very sticky, add in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time. I found that I only needed 5-1/2 cups so keep an eye on the mix. Scrape dough onto floured surface and knead to form a smooth ball.

Brush inside of large bowl with oil. Add dough; turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill 6 hours, kneading dough down when doubled (after 2 hours).

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead gently; shape into 16-inch log. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Knead each piece into smooth ball.

Arrange 2 balls of dough on each sheet. Cover loosely with kitchen towels and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 1-1/4 hours.

[If you are not using the entire recipe -- this made almost 3.5 lbs of dough in my case, enough for 8 9-inch pizzas -- at this point, divide the dough and freeze what you're not using.]

About 1 1/2 hours before baking, dust a baking sheet with flour. If using pizza stone, place in oven. If you don't have a pizza stone, a rimless baking sheet (or an upside down rimmed baking sheet) works great - just make sure to pre-heat it in the hot oven.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees for 45 minutes. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough with flour. Press into 5-inch round, then gently stretch and roll out to 9-inch round.

If using pizza stone, sprinkle pizza peel or rimless baking sheet with cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide pizza onto stone or place pizza on baking sheet into oven. Bake pizza until sauce is bubbling and crust is crisp and brown, lifting edge of pizza to check underside, about 14 minutes.

If you don't have a pizza stone (in which case I'm going to guess you don't have a pizza peel either), I prefer to pre-bake the dough because transferring a slab of wobbly dough piled high with ingredients is not an easy task. First remove the pre-heated baking sheet from the oven, wipe with a thin layer of oil (use spray oil or a paper towel wadded up and saturated with oil). Quickly transfer your dough to the sheet pan. Don't take too long in this process, you don't want to lose too much heat from the pan. After 5 minutes in the 500-degree oven, remove from oven, add toppings and bake another 10 minutes.

Recipe:
Overnight Pizza Dough from Epicurious

Easy Baking: The Best Dinner Rolls

I've never had much luck with bread - it always turns out too dense, tastes a bit too "yeasty" and mostly winds up in the garbage after everyone has the obligatory first bite. I'm trying to start with the easy stuff and giving myself every advantage by splurging on a fancy mixer with a dough hook. I hope today's experiment is any indication of good things to come.

I love dinner rolls -- particularly those with a touch of sweet. I came across this recipe from allrecipes, well rates by over 1,800 people so I figured what have I got to lose! The recipe below is adjusted from the allrecipes version which is intended for bread machines.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour [I reduced to 3 cups]
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

Directions

1. Warm water and milk to 110 degrees, add sugar and yeast and proof for 10 minutes in the mixer bowl.
2. Once yeast is puffy, add 1/3 cup butter, salt, and 1/2 of the flour to the mixer bowl with dough hook in place. Mix at medium high for 2 minutes until mostly combined then add remainder of the flour. Mix until everything is well incorporated and dough wraps around the hook - about another 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Allow dough to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled.
4. Punch down dough and divide into 27 pieces (having a digital scale helps here) - placing 9 pieces of dough per pan (I used a 9-inch cake pan) Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F .
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.

I proofed the yeast with a warmed mixture of milk and water (heated to about 110 degrees), then added the sugar. I had yeast from the jar and winded up using 2 teaspoon. I also adjusted the amount of flour down to 3 cups based on one of the reviews to get a less dense roll. After the first rise, I split the dough in 27 dough balls.


Dough Balls After First Proofing

  After a 2nd rise, I placed into a 350-degree oven. Unfortunately I think my lower rack was a bit too low. The top looked great but the bottom side of the two pans on the lower racked were pretty much burnt. Good news is that the pan on the top shelf turned out perfect! After they came out of the oven, I brushed some melted butter over the top.

Recipe:

• Sweet Dinner Rolls

Bread and Brisket

I finally broke down and bought a standing mixer. I've never had any luck with bread and everything I've been reading is telling me that my lazy kneading technique is to blame. So I caved (with a 20% Bed Bath & Beyond coupon as the enabler) -- but I'm pretty sure I'll never make enough bread to justify the cost of the KitchenAid, but I can dream.

So ta da - here is the bread! I went simple, Googled "foolproof bread recipe" and came across this recipe for Amish White Bread. It was definitely easier with the mixer and while not perfect, it definitely beats my previous attempts at bread baking.

With the other half of the brisket left over from last weekend's BBQ brisket recipe, I defrosted and searched for a recipe for braised brisket (aka pot roast). This recipe from Cooks Illustrated that I found on a discussion board sounded perfect. After it was cooked through (to 190 degrees), I let it rest for an hour, sliced it, and then put it back in the defatted gravy to heat through in the oven until dinner time.  Perfectly moist, very tender and tremendously yummy.

Finally, it was time to break in the mixer for dessert. I love chocolate mousse and since it had plenty of whipping involved, it gave me another reason to justify the purchase. I looked through a number of recipes and landed on this one from Tyler Florence since I got to whip the cream and egg whites (a few recipes omit egg whites -- don't know about you, but I always hate those recipes that use either the yolk or the white. Do I throw the other part away? Do I put it in a container, forget about it, and throw it away later?

And of course someone else out there has thought this through. Here is a link to ideas for leftover egg yolks (conveniently categorized by number of yolks). The ideas for leftover egg whites tend to revolve around baked goods like meringue, macaroons, angel food cake. Here are a few ideas here.

Recipes:

• Amish White Bread
• Cook's Illustrated Onion Braised Brisket (scroll on the discussion board)
• Tyler Florence's Chocolate Mousse
• Ideas for Leftover Egg Yolks
• Ideas for Leftover Egg Whites