I've mentioned several times about making biscuits and freezing some for later. I usually don't bake them first. I've had a few questions about how well they rise once frozen. I cannot say the biscuits rise exactly as high after freezing as they do when made fresh but they are not flat biscuits by any means. There are a few key things to the process, I feel, in order to create a biscuit that rises well from frozen dough.
First, I'm going to start with my personal recipe. The leavening agents are key, I think. I's a higher amount than I see in most biscuit recipes.
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk
Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening and when mixture resembles coarse crumbs, add milk. Mix until all ingredients are damp and come together. Dump out on a floured surface and knead ten times, then pat out to about 1 inch thick. Cut out and place on an ungreased baking sheet. You can place biscuits so that they touch or you can separate them with space around all sides. If they touch, the sides of the biscuits will be softer and if they are separated they will be dryer and have more crust than if they all touch. Either method of putting them in the pan is quite all right, just do what you prefer. Bake at 450F for 10-12 minutes until fully risen and golden.
If you wish to freeze biscuits, I put some of the cut out biscuits onto a baking sheet and freeze without letting them rise at all. When fully frozen I put them into a zippered plastic bag and take out only as many was we need/want for the next meal.
I bake them while still frozen. I put on an ungreased baking sheet and bake them in a 375F oven and for 18-22 minutes until golden brown. You'll note that the temperature is lower than when baking fresh and the bake time is longer but both are necessary to have biscuits thaw and rise while baking.
You can thaw before baking but I'd definitely cook them at the lower temperature and for the longer length of time. Again, they do not rise as they do when made and baked fresh but they will rise after freezing.
7 comments:
What a great idea! Thank you so much for sharing this. Blessings, Shirley
Donna, I don't know. I've never made biscuits with anything but shortening. It's what I grew up with and what my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook recommends for this recipe. Anyone else? Can Donna sub in butter and have these turn out?
Thank you for this recipe Terri! Your little corner of the counter looks so pretty and the biscuits look delicious. I may borrow this recipe for Mike as occasionally he likes a biscuit with his meal and sometimes a biscuit egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. As for substituting butter, we pretty much use butter or coconut oil (or a homemade blend of the two) in lieu of shortening these days and it comes out delicious in pie crusts, cookies and the like so it's my thought that it would work quite well. One of the tricks I've often used is to freeze any dough for at least five minutes before baking and starting with a preheated oven of no less than 400 degrees for the first five minutes; then turn it down to the temperature recommended in the recipe. It sounds arbitrary but there's actually a scientific reason for this. If the butter / shortening is very cold when it goes into a very hot oven it causes an immediate chemical reaction between the butter and the wheat flour and that's what creates the light flakiness I'm always looking for when baking...your trick of freezing the biscuits unbaked would eliminate that freezer step haha! Hope this helps. Thanks again!
Much love,
Tracey
x0x
P.S. I should clarify that it causes an immediate chemical reaction REGARDLESS of what shortening you're using!
xox
Donna, My simple recipe is 3 c White Lily self rising flour, 5 T melted butter, cooled a bit, 2 cups real buttermilk. Put the flour in a bowl and make a large well. Pour the butter in the well and then the cold buttermilk. Stir together until combined. I drop them with a 3 T scoop then flour the tops and pat them flat. Bake at 450 for 12 to 14 minutes. My cups of flour are scooped with measuring cup so they are generous cups.
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