Husband Approved Whole Wheat Biscuits

Since I started staying home and focusing much more on the inner operations of our household, I wanted to pick a few go-to recipes and perfect them.  I've also been interested in decreasing the amount of sugar and white flour where I can.  My aunt gave me 100 Days of Real Food - which is about eating whole food (meat, dairy, fruit, veggies, whole grains and nuts) and only eating processed foods with five ingredients or less.  The Whole 30 program also made me more aware of the health benefits of shopping from the outside aisles of the grocery store.

If I haven't lost you yet with all the health talk, here is my recipe for Whole Wheat Biscuits.  Brett's requirements are that the biscuit must stay together when you pile on eggs and bacon for a breakfast biscuit sandwich.  It can't crumble apart leaving you holding only the eggs and bacon.  It's also gotta taste good! My quest led me through several online recipes and cookbooks and I finally landed on the Whole Wheat Biscuit recipe in the Joy of Cooking book. 

Sidenote: Isn't this note in the front of this cookbook the sweetest?  I read it this week and it made me smile.  "Miss Mabel" was my Grandma Jane's best friend.  I loved her wit, laugh and well-aging jet black hair!

Just FYI I found that butter is quite tasty but makes your biscuits more crumbly.  Shortening helps them stay in tact, but doesn't have that buttery flavor.  Now you know.  This version has both.

Whole Wheat Biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup of Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Half of 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (refrigerated)
2.5 Tablespoons butter (cold)
1 cup sour cream (can also substitute buttermilk here or do a combination of both sour cream and buttermilk to total 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Instructions

Add dry ingredients to a large bowl.  Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in butter and shortening until the mixture resembles course crumbs or peas.  Then add 1 cup of sour cream and stir with a fork until moistened and the dough comes together.  If the mixture is just too dry and crumbly to come together, add a tablespoon of cold water and continue to mix.

It's going to look pretty dry and crumbly, so avoid adding water unless there is no hope to pat it into a ball and roll it out.  

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead and pat until the dough is smooth.  LISTEN, this is gonna take a minute.  You're going to think it's not going to come together, but keep working with it and it will.  Pat or roll out until the dough is an inch thick.  Using a 4" round cutter, (or a heart shaped one!) cut out the biscuits and reshape the dough until you're all out.

This is totally an example of motherhood.  My first instinct was to get frustrated that she left no room for any other biscuit cutters!  We must be efficient!!! No need to roll and shape more than you have to! Thankfully I held it back and bragged on her heart shaped biscuit.  And we just squeezed in the rest.  

Brush tops with whole milk and sprinkle each with a pinch of kosher salt.

This time I put them in a round cake pan but I normally put on a large sheet pan (it was dirty!).  Either way works just fine.  Makes about 8 large biscuits.

Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

Optional topping: While the biscuits bake, mix about 2 tablespoon of melted butter with 2 teaspoons of honey.  When the biscuits are done, brush the honey/butter mixture on the tops and enjoy!

Additional note:  Recipe can easily be doubled and you can stick the uncooked biscuits in the freezer for another breakfast.  Cut out the biscuits and flash freeze on a sheet pan and then put into a sealed plastic bag.