50% Whole Wheat Biscuits & Biscuit Making Tip

I’ve been trying to make a biscuit with whole wheat flour for a while and they never turned out quite right. It was always more like, they are good…for a whole wheat biscuit. 

But not anymore! Oh let me tell you…

Today was different because last night my wonderful mother-in-law, Joy, gave me her first cookbook, which was given to her when she married in 1962. It’s called “The Modern Family Cookbook” published in 1942 by Meta Given. I love old-time recipes like Nana would make. They are simple, frugal, and comforting.

I tweaked the recipe just a bit as it needed more liquid and expanded on the process of working the dough. Making biscuits is easy, once you know how, but there is definitely a technique to it. 

Biscuit Making Tips

Sift the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and whole wheat flour together two times. I don’t know what your biscuits would be like if you skip this step. I know it’s old-fashioned but if it helped make these biscuits so great I wouldn’t want to skip it.

The milk should be cold and your butter should be frozen, which doesn’t take but about 10 minutes if you forget to plan ahead, or just keep a few sticks in the freezer. Then I like to use the large holes on a cheese grater and grate the cheese into my bowl. Then fluff and mix the dough and butter with your fingers. 

If you overwork the dough you get a tough, hard biscuit but if you underwork the dough they will taste floury and uneven. You must stir quickly, about 15 times, until the dough is all moist but not in one large clump. You will dump the dough onto a floured surface and pat and shape quickly into a ball of dough.

I prefer to use a rolling pin instead of patting out my dough because the heat from your hands can warm the butter too quickly. You want to roll it into an inch thick rectangle and then fold in thirds like a letter, turn the dough 1/4 turn and roll out into a rectangle, and repeat this 3 more times.

For cutting the biscuits: Flour your cookie cutter or glass rim & push straight down into the dough and lift straight up. Don’t twist the cutter because this seals the edges and keeps the biscuit from rising as high. Gather the scraps and gently pat them into a rectangle and cut as many biscuits as you can, repeating until you have a small amount of scraps. You’ll just form these into a biscuit with your hand and it’s called the PattyCake! 

Place biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and make sure they are touching. This helps them rise. Baking at high heat causes the butter and milk to release steam and help the biscuits rise. 

50% Whole Wheat Biscuits

Recipe by Paige MurrayCourse: Breakfast, breadsCuisine: southern, americanDifficulty: intermediate

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

13

minutes

Calories

137

kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoons of salt

• 1 cup milk (I used whole milk)

• 5 tablespoons frozen butter

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450.
• Sift the flour with the baking powder and the salt. Repeat the sifting.
• Grate the frozen butter with the large holes on a cheese grater. Fluff around with fingers. Place flour and butter mixture in the freezer for 5 minutes.
• Make a well in the flour and pour the milk in all at once. Stir quickly until dough is moistened and stiffened up.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat & press into a ball of dough.
• Roll out into a one inch thick rectangle. Letter fold each end. Turn dough 1/4 turn and roll out into a rectangle again. Repeat three more times finishing by rolling out into 1/4-1/2 inch thick rectangle. Reflour surface as needed.
• Flour biscuit cutter each time and cut out biscuits. Do not twist cutter.
• Gather scraps and lightly press out into another rectangle. Cut as many biscuits as you can until you have a few scraps you can pat together into a PattyCake. (If you are freezing biscuits stop here and place biscuits on a baking sheet and into freezer until frozen. Then transfer to a ziplock bag.)
• Place on parchment paper or greased baking sheet, touching the sides.
• Bake at 450 for 13 minutes.
• Brush tops with room temperature or melted butter and serve piping hot! Especially delicious with honey or jam.

Notes

• Makes 12 2-inch biscuits.