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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits - Scones



Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet posted the most wonderful biscuit recipe. We have been yearning for a good scone since we gave up white flour and this is it.

Since we eat dairy, I used butter cut into the flour and kefir for the acid liquid. I inadvertently used a 400 degree oven and baked them for 15 minutes. They were perfect. I've not tried the hotter oven myself. I also added currants at the end and think that next time I'll soak the currants with the flour at the outset.

-2 1/2 C. Whole Wheat lower gluten flour or 10 2/3 oz ground grains
-6 T butter cut into flour with pastry cutter
-3/4 C. Kefir or Yogurt adding more to make a medium stiff dough

Let this mixture sit covered overnight at room temperature.
Chill dough about 1/2 hour before baking.
Roll out into an 8" x 10" rectangle on floured board using a little white flour.

Over two thirds of the dough, with a strainer or sifter, sprinkle:
-1/2 t. Baking Soda
-1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
-1 t. Sea Salt

Fold the empty third over half of the dusted two thirds.
Fold the other third over the doubled part.
Turn 90° and roll out into the same sized rectangle, 8" x 10".
Do this 6 times, adding 1/3 cup currants before the 6th time if desired.
Cut with a sharp knife with one stroke and don't use a sawing motion to give the best lift.
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.

Update:  Recipe amounts and picture added 2-7-10

Update: Adding the currants before soaking worked perfectly. I also noticed that with frozen flour, I need to use less. I think it's more compact. Next I'll try cheese added in at the end. These are the best! 4-11-09

Update: I used chilled dough and found that at about 50 degrees, it was very easy to roll out the dough and incorporate the leavening while at the same time layering (laminating) the dough for exceptional fluffiness. The butter layered rather than soaked into the mass.

2 comments:

  1. You know so much more about baking than I do -- I always thought baking soda and baking powder would have to be integrated with the flour to produce the desired result. I'll have to try this!

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  2. Lovely to hear from you Eve. The blogger Kimi Harris discovered this way to add the leavening since it's not at all helpful to add it to the wet ingredients if you are going to soak them. The soaking of grain makes it much more digestible and helpful nutritionally. I sometimes soak the ball of dough 24 to 28 hours (just works out like this, no special number of hours but more than 7) and I think it adds to the flavor.

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