I didn’t know until about 10 minutes ago what I was going to post today. I have been working on a post for a week about 2011. You know an annual review, so to speak. Weeeeell, that post is still in the works. And I didn’t get to biscuit making until today. That’s right, the night before I have to have a post all about how awesome it is to bake by ratio and not be tied to someone’s recipe. And I hadn’t even attempted to make a biscuit yet.
This is a post for the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally. Each month, a group of bloggers post recipes based on ratios for the same food. We were inspired by Ruhlman’s book, Ratio. More information on this event can be found here.
I even made 2 kinds of biscuits tonight. Both based on Ruhlman‘s Chicago biscuit (like there is any other ratio to try). One was made with mesquite flour and herbes de provence and the other orange-espresso-buttermilk. The prior got a little extra crispy in the oven š about 3 minutes too long made them a worthwhile experiment, but not good enough to share. I might try them again in the future. Maybe. But I have a confession. I don’t really like biscuits. I think it is that gross fatty feeling from not-quite warm fast food biscuits that I remember, but I had a hard time bringing myself to bake for this rally.
Despite my distaste for biscuits (and I have only had them a couple times since going gluten-free), I decided to mix things up a bit and make some cool flavored biscuits in an attempt to fall in love with them (like the rest of my family). And I think I actually succeeded. Espresso and orange make a delicately flavored and lightly sweet biscuit. A little extra time taken to roll the dough like a pastry chef made these pretty darn excellent and flaky.
I was following Ruhlman’s ratio: 3-1-2 (hello, Chicago!) for flour, fat and liquid. I lowered the liquid just a tad because my dough had some sugar and some liquid that had no fat. The secret here is that you need to take your time with these. While you don’t need to worry about developing gluten, you do need the moisture to absorb into the flour and then the flour to coat the butter. This is what creates those layers. And the secret to creating the layers is chilling between the rolling and folding. Also, you need both the baking powder and baking soda. Baking powder is lifting these bad boys, and baking soda is neutralizing the acid in the orange, coffee and buttermilk.
Since this is the Ratio Rally, there are bunches of other bloggers participating in the recipe creation fun. Make sure to stop by this month’s host, Gretchen from Kumquat.
Amanda from Gluten Free Maui madeĀ Classic Biscuits and Gravy
Amie Valpone from The Healthy Apple made Gluten-Free Wasabi Parsley Biscuits
Caleigh from Gluten Free[k] madeĀ American Style Biscuits
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Whole Grain Pecan Drop BiscuitsĀ
Charissa from Zest Bakery madeĀ Eggnog Biscuits with Grated NutmegĀ
Erin Swing from The Sensitive Epicure Scallion madeĀ Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
gretchen from kumquat made sweet buttermilk biscuitsĀ
Heather from Discovering the Extraordinary madeĀ Almond Coconut Tea BiscuitsĀ
Jean from Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes madeĀ JammersĀ
Jonathan from The Canary Files made Vegan Sesame Shiso BiscuitsĀ
Karen from Cooking Gluten Free! Biscuit Template with Dairy Free Substitutions
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen made Fluffy Biscuits, Gluten FreeĀ
Mary Fran from FrannyCakes Gluten-Free Espresso Orange Biscuits
Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks made Turkey Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping – Gobbler Cobbler lol
Rachel from The Crispy Cook madeĀ Hummus in a BiscuitĀ
Silvana Nardone from Silvana’s Kitchen made Gluten-Free Sausage-n-Cheddar Bialy Biscuits
TR from No Ones Likes Crumbley madeĀ Cookies Lemon Basil BiscuitsĀ
| Gluten-Free Orange Espresso Biscuits |
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- 255 grams gluten-free all-purpose flour (2 scant cups)
- 1 teaspoon xantham gum*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar**
- the zest of 1 orange
- 85 grams (6 tablespoons) cold butter, cubed
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) coffee (cold!)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) orange extract
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, xantham gum, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, salt, sugar and orange zest.
- Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles rough sand.
- Add the liquid ingredients and pulse just until the dough comes together.
- Pat the dough into a 4″x6″ rectangle and wrap in plastic. Chill for about an hour.
- Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and then sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough.
- Roll the dough out so that it has tripled in size and then fold it in thirds and roll it out again. Fold it in thirds one more time, wrap in plastic wrap and return to the fridge. Leave it there for at least another hour.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cover a baking pan with parchment paper.
- On your floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4″ if making bite size biscuits or 1/2″ if making large biscuits. Cut the biscuits using your desired size cutter.
- Arrange on the baking sheet about an inch apart. Sprinkle with a little more tubinado sugar and bake for 12-15 minutes for small biscuits and 15-20 minutes for larger biscuits.
* If your flour blend contains xantham gum, do not include it again.
** If you do not have turbinado sugar, you can use brown sugar or 2 teaspoons granulated sugar.
I of course adore anything citrus! Glad you kept at it. These sound tasty. Breakfast in a biscuit!
omg orange and espresso sounds amazing! great job this month!
ooo… love the surprise flavor combo. i’m always a fan of orange biscuits and yours look lovely.
What layered goodness! I like the flavor combo. Wish I could taste through the computer. š
Ohhh yummm … these look amazing! I love the shape and loft in these – and glad you found a biscuit you can enjoy eating! I would enjoy eating one of these, too. š
The shape on your biscuits is perfect. That’s what I was going for, but I couldn’t get it. I even tried two types of glasses for cutting them out (no biscuit cutter). Perhaps a longer chill time? I’ll get it figured out in time. I love that you flavored your biscuits. What a great idea.
I left them in the fridge for about an hour. And then I rolled, rechilled for about half an hour and then rolled and cut. I did use a biscuit cutter.
These have two of my FAVORITE flavors!! Coffee and orange… I even get a chocolate orange latte… taste like those chocolate covered candy sticks… with coffee. š
coffee and orange is a great combo! did you use C4C for these?
Actually, I ran out, so I whipped up a blend based on Gluten-Free Girl’s AP recipe.
Orange & espresso? Sign me up. Thanks for sharing, Mary Fran!
Thanks for sticking with it on the biscuits; looks like you have a winner! Also, thanks for your little tidbits about baking powder & soda…I can never figure out exactly what the difference is, so that I can use them in my recipes (still new at this, I tell you) š