BUTTERMILK BISCUITS WITH BERRY COULIS
Notes: My recipe for buttermilk biscuits is not only fast but divinely tender and cravable. Buttermilk, butter, and a touch of sugar and yeast add flavor, while a little rise in the oven is achieved with baking soda and powder. Additionally, this recipe uses pastry flour, which is key to the ultra-tender result since pastry flour is more finely milled and has lower gluten forming ability than AP flour. The protein content of AP flour is up to 11% vs. about 8% for pastry flour. The biscuits only take about 25 mins to bake and I dent them while they’re still warm and dollop on cherry and raspberry coulis. These biscuits are so unbelievably tender, buttery, and yeasty, and have just the right amount of sweetness, which makes them so easy to eat. They also stay tender for a couple days in the fridge. This is one of those recipes you’ll have on repeat. As usual, ingredients, where stated in grams, were weighed.
Prep time: 30 mins
Bake time: 25 mins
Total time: 55 mins
Special Equipment:
Pastry cutter (can use a large fork as well)
Optional: Dough Whisk (can also use a wooden spoon).
Dough whisks are useful for sticky bread doughs, this is the one I have and use: TEEVEA Danish dough whisk, stainless steel
Ingredients:
Warm water: 2 tbsp
Active dry yeast: 1 tsp
Honey (for yeast): 1/2 tsp
Pastry flour: 435 g (3 cups)
Granulated sugar: 3 tbsp
Baking powder: 1 and 1/2 tsp
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 3/4 tsp (I used pink Himalayan)
Unsalted butter, cubed: 172 g (or 1 and 1/2 sticks)
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp
Buttermilk: 240 mL (1 cup)
Egg wash: 1 egg mixed with 2 tsp water
Coarse raw sugar (for sprinkling on top)
Fruit preserves or fruit coulis: ~1/2 cup
Ingredients and directions for making the cherry and raspberry coulis (a.k.a. purees) can be found as components of the following two recipes:
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone air mat.
Combine warm water, yeast and honey in a small bowl and mix then let sit for ~ 5 mins.
Sift pastry flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix together. Add cubed, slightly softened (but still cool) butter and coconut oil in the bowl and cut into the mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until even distributed and crumbly.
Add the yeasty water and buttermilk and mix with a dough whisk (or wooden spoon) until dough just starts to come together. Don’t overmix.
Flour your counter or work surface and your hands and transfer the dough to the surface and pat into a rectangle approximately 9” x 5”.
Follow by doing a trifold: Fold the dough into thirds like you would a letter, then pat back into a 9” x 5” rectangle and repeat this process two more times for a total of three trifolds. Sprinkle the dough with more flour as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands and the surface. After the third trifold pat the dough into a rectangle ~1 inch thick and cut into six equal pieces (approximately 2.5” x 3” pieces).
Transfer the biscuit to your lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash and then sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 20-25 mins or until light golden brown on top and bottom.
Let the biscuits cool on the baking sheet for 5-6 mins and then dent the middle of each biscuit with a spoon (while they’re still maleable) to create a well for the fruit preserves or coulis.
Finish with heaping dollops of fruit preserves, or coulis of your choice.
Cut butter and oil into dough until crumbly then add yeasty water and buttermilk, and mix until it just barely comes together.
Trifold dough a series of three times.
Cut dough into 6 pieces ~2.5” x 3”.
Brush on egg wash and sprinkle on coarse raw sugar.
After pulling biscuits out of the oven, wait 5-6 mins then dent with a spoon to create wells.
Dollop on berry coulis.