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.

Blender Ground Wheat Bread-Compromise Loaf

Update: I am not getting the same results with this recipe each time. The blended grain idea seems to be useful, but the amount of white flour is turning out to be more like half of the recipe. 4-11-09

Help me with this method. Would you try this experiment?

You can grind your own wheat berries in your blender to make this "compromise" loaf of bread. It uses sourdough for the acid medium to neutralize the phytates and a little yeast to help things along after it's kneaded. It does use some high gluten white flour which does not need soaking. The whole grain has already been soaked, so a yeast rise which is fairly quick is OK to me since I still use a little yeast. I have never mastered a sourdough 100% whole wheat loaf that I like, so this is my compromise. I use my usual recipe amounts.

1+1/2 C. wheat berries (1 C. = 8 oz. berries)
1+1/2 C. water with a little more to drizzle in (use minimum amount possible) to maintain a vortex.
Glob of sourdough starter (about 1/4 C).

Blend for 3 minutes while maintaining a vortex in the blender.

Pour back some of the blended grain/water/sourdough mixture into the sourdough jar to save.
Let the rest soak overnight in the blender or in the bread machine bowl.

Next day add:

2 C. King Arthur All Purpose or Bread Flour
1 t. yeast or less-I've not tried this without yeast yet.
2 t. Real Salt
1 T Olive Oil or melted butter

Start the bread machine and check the dough for correct hydration since I've not used exact measurements. When the dough cycle is complete, form the loaf by hand and put in the pans you use. Bake as usual.

This dough has a great texture and seems nicer than using pre-ground whole wheat flour. The white flour has enough gluten to give this a huge rise.

This is even better: I also tried soaking whole wheat berries in whey and water and then blended the soaked berries the next day. I did add some sourdough to this dough for flavor. I got GREAT bread but almost burned out my blender. I formed two batards on parchment paper, and when they had risen, I put them in a cold oven and set it to 400 degrees and set the timer to 45 minutes.

The texture of this bread is like soft white bread. It seems pretty magical and has a nice artisan crust. The dough is at least 2/3 whole wheat (by weight) , so this is a nice surprise. The bread has nice pieces of wheatberries in it with a lovely texture. Wow! I have never gotten this crust with this much whole wheat. I believe the gluten in the whole wheat was preserved since the acid medium soak was on the outside only and didn't destroy the gluten which happens a lot to me when I make sourdough bread.


If you own a Bosch Universal, will you try blending soaked wheat berries in your Bosch with the amount of water you usually use for your bread recipe? I'd like to know if the Bosch can handle it.

Note: My wheat berries weigh about 8 oz./cup and flour usually weighs 4.5 oz./cup so my usual recipe of 3+1/2 C. flour to 1+1/2 C. water makes this about 2/3 whole grain bread. And you don't have to have a grain mill.

Gravy made with Beef Broth and Oatmeal

Oat Groats

I love gravy. I am also tired of soup at the moment. It doesn't last long, but it happens sometimes. So I decided to make gravy because I can never get enough.

Grind Oat Groats in a food mill and mix with water and whey to make a slurry.

Or put 1 C. groats in blender and add 1 C. water plus whey, blending for three minutes, drizzling in water to maintain a vortex.

I use about 2 T. whey per quart of mixture. Soak this overnight and then keep in refrigerator to use whenever you get hungry for gravy or need to thicken something. You can even cook this with water for breakfast and call it gruel.

To make gravy, heat beef broth and pour in a little slurry of oatmeal, add salt, and cook for a few minutes. You can make it any thickness you desire and can keep adding oat mixture to keep thickening it.

Tonight I baked lamb shanks and necks, covered in my le Crueset, and after they were soft and browned, I poured in water and oat mixture and put it back in the oven until it thickened.

I prefer beef or lamb flavor with oatmeal but did not like the chicken/oatmeal flavor.

Nixtamalized Blender Corn Pancakes a la Sue Gregg

I've been having such fun with Sue Gregg's Blender pancake recipe. I tried it with whole corn kernels that I nixtamalized, washed, and then ground in my blender.

1 1/2 C. Nixtamalized whole corn
1 Egg
1 1/2 T Olive Oil
1+ C. water drizzled in to make a vortex

Blend 3 minutes on high beginning by pulsing.

Using a funnel in the top of my blender, I added:

1/2 t. Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder
3/4 t. Salt

Blend only a few seconds to distribute the leavening agents.

Pour onto hot griddle. My batter was a rather thin which I really liked. These have a marvelous flavor which is really enhanced by the nixtamalization. They are very nutty and ready for spicy toppings. I had my first one with butter like a pancake. The amazing thing about this recipe is that you can have dried corn available in the pantry and then without a grain mill, you can easily use the whole grain for cooking. I froze some of the wet corn since I wasn't ready to use it. This is very handy in case I get inspired on the spur of the moment.

Sue Gregg's Blender Pancakes-Judy's Version

I love Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. It's the perfect blend of traditional cooking and technology. Her website has many variations listed and if you are overwhelmed with the information, I've extracted a simple recipe.

Night before you serve pancakes:

1 C. mixed whole grains (not flour), put in blender and add,
1 C Yogurt, Kefir, or Buttermilk.


Blend 3 minutes on high and maintain a VORTEX by drizzling in a little water. The Vortex is important in getting all the grains blended and looks like a funnel or tornado in your blender and ensures that everything is blended well. Let sit overnight or 7 hours at least for the acid medium to remove the phytates on the grains. Phytates are an anti-nutrient which keeps you from absorbing other nutrients you are eating. In history, people just soaked their grains without knowing why. It's very traditional to do this.

In the morning, add the following. Get the dry ingredients ready to dump in all at once.

1 T. Flax seeds-optional
1 Egg
2 T. Olive Oil or melted butter

3/4 t. Real salt
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder

Put the egg, flax and oil in the blender and blend on high while maintaining a vortex using more liquid.

When the flax seeds seem to be ground up, add the dry ingredients into the vortex. The easiest way is to place a funnel in the top of your blender and dump them in. The funnel makes them hit the right spot. Blend only a few seconds after the leavening is added because it thickens and that's the way you want it.

Pour batter onto heated griddle and serve with butter and maple syrup and bacon on the side!

This is part of the Nourishing Gourmet's Handmade Gift Carnival.

Update, 11-14-09: If you use Kefir, beware that storing the leftover batter with a tight lid causes pressure to build up and the jar may explode, if not with broken glass, then all over you. Kefir has good bacteria that continues to grow.

Curried Coconut Fish Chowder

Onions sauteed in Coconut Oil
Celery
Carrots
Potatoes, diced

Curry powder
Ginger, fresh grated
Garlic
Salt

Chicken broth
Coconut milk-not low fat
Fish cut into cubes and added at the end of cooking.

This chowder has lots of superfood ingredients. Coconut Oil, Turmeric (in the curry), Garlic, Chicken broth, and Coconut milk. All in one dish!

I served it with croutons made from sourdough "brick" bread tossed with butter and salt and then toasted. I save my bread flops to use for croutons or croistini. They really taste very good and the texture is no drawback.

Grain Mix for Blender Pancakes-Favorite

Using Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. I like this mix of whole grains:

2 parts Kamut
2 parts brown rice
2 parts buckwheat
2 parts oat groats
1 part rye berries

These can be changed at whim from what I can deduce. You can go gluten-free easily and maintain excellent flavor and texture. This is a pretty amazing recipe. One of those better than could be imagined. Making pancakes from this is unlike trying to use 100% whole wheat bread which is really hard to make light and tasty. One can get used to it of course, but the pancakes can be passed off as "regular" to anyone, even skeptics of healthy eating. I refrigerate the leftover batter for several days without loss of quality.

Since grains can be stored whole easily, I think it's the perfect marriage of tradition and technology.