BEST Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

So if you have ever come over to our house for a meal or just to hang out-chances are I have made you Buttermilk Biscuits. I absolutely love to make them. My stepson, Calvin will knock down small children to get them. (Not Lily, but he did push the neighbor boy out of the way to get at the last biscuits! lol)

Over the last year I have been tweaking my recipe and techniques. I'm kind of shocked I have never blogged about these before. Here is the recipe I use and all my tweaks to make the most BEST Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits. Your family will want them over and over!!

I got the original recipe from my Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking Cook book.

Buy it Here-Amazon.com

This little book has some of my very favorite recipes that I use over and over again.
Here is the link to the recipe- Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work
    surface
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) very cold unsalted
    butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Line a baking sheet with a Parchment paper. (This is my tweak-it gives the biscuits a "crispier" bottom which is my favorite part!)

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Cut in 6 tablespoons of COLD unsalted butter. 

This can be done by hand, with a food processor or with a Pastry Cutter like I use.

Keep cutting until the butter is down to small little pieces. (Don't overwork as you want the butter to not melt completely or be cut down to nothing. The chunks of cold butter is what makes the bisuits!!)

Next, mix in a cup of Buttermilk. I usually end up using a cup and 1/8th. (Enough to wet all the dough but not to be soupy.)  Pour out dough on a floured surface. I use a Silpat mat as it's the easiest to clean when done.  Add some flour on top and on the rolling pin. Keep all surfaces well floured as it's rather sticky.
Roll out the dough a bit.

HERE is the magical tip!  If you use nothing else- DO this!! I saw this on an episode of Diners Drive Ins and Dives.  FOLD over the dough and roll again. I end up folding over the dough 3 to 4 times. Don't roll it out too thin. Just fold and roll, fold and roll. THIS IS WHAT CREATES THE FLAKY LAYERS!!  I never knew this! 

Cut out biscuits. I keep my cuts about 1 1/2" to 2" thick. Place on parchment paper on the cookie sheet and brush with Buttermilk.

Bake for 18 minutes.  (You may have to gauge your oven's best timing-for mine I know to bake them for exactly 18 minutes.)

Serve with some softened butter and Apple Butter! (Or your favorite jelly)

Make some extras and save them for dinner. 

These are delicious with a little mustard, a slice of turkey and cheese. Or save them for breakfast and top with a fried egg and a slice of bacon. You cannot go wrong!!  I have even made Honey butter by putting 2 tablespoons of butter, honey and sugar in a Ziploc bag and mixing. Then, cut off a corner and use like a piping bag! (or you can pipe it out into a small sauce cup) 

I'm telling you these are BRILLIANT and if you have ever been to my house and had some-come again! We are rocking the Buttermilk Biscuits!!! 

First Time Pizza Dough-A Failure?

Homemade pizza-It has to be easy.  Right? Well……

I borrowed a recipe from my favorite baking cookbook. (for now-I have an amazing one on it's way to me from Amazon right now!!)

Here's the book. You can get it here : kids Baking by Williams-Sonoma

Here is the recipe from the William-Sonoma website: Pizza Dough recipe

Ingredients: 

all purpose flour- 2 1/2 cups plus extra for kneading

Rapid-rise Yeast-1 package

sugar- 2 teaspoons

salt- 2 1/2 teaspoons

olive oil-2 tablespoons

In a large mixing bowl use a wooden spoon, mis flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

Add warm water- must be between 115 and 125 degrees Farenheit. (Use a thermometer to check the temperature)  When water is the right temperature add to the mixture along with the Olive oil. Mix till a rough, shaggy dough forms.

Cover clean work surface with extra flour to prevent sticking

Kneading. This is the "hard" part. I usually turn on the TV or music to distract myself because otherwise 10 minutes can feel really long. Keep flour on the area where you are kneading and also on your hands to prevent sticking.

Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Lily wanted to help so I gave her a small piece to knead with me.

Gather dough into a ball. Wipe out a bowl with Olive oil or vegetable oil. (I prefer Olive oil) and place ball in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Seat aside in a warm spot and let rise for 45 minutes until doubled in size.

This is after 45 minutes. You poke to see if it's done. If the indent stays (as shown) the dough is ready. If it springs back then let it sit for 10 more minutes.

Once done, flour clean work area again and roll out dough (flour your rolling pin so it won't stick) into a large pizza pie shape.

Add sauce!

Add toppings. We didn't have an mozzarella so I used mozarella slices, string cheese, and Babybell individual cheeses sliced thin. I topped with salami (reasoning that it's almost, pepperoni-right?) and some cheddar cheese. I also added Oregano for seasoning and cut up a few Basil leaves.

The verict-meh

I think I had too much salt. I prefer a sweeter pizza dough so I think I might use less salt next time and maybe a little more sugar. The dough was pretty thick so I would roll it out thinner next time. Also, I definitely would add more sauce and for SURE wait until I had real mozzarella!!  So overall, was it a failure? Well it was all eaten so I think no. I'm going to call it a learning experience!  I WILL try it again.

On the good side-the Basil-YUM!!

Soft Pretzels

Living in the Midwest-we experienced some pretty nasty cold weather and frigid temperatures this winter. One on particularly cold morning, my neice and I decided to make soft pretzels. What could be cozier than the flaky, warmth of a nice soft pretzel?

So we got out my favorite baking cookbook "Kids Baking" by William-Sonoma. The instructions are easy to follow and in the end you and your kids feel like a Rock Star!

This is my niece, Alex helping my daughter Lily roll out pretzel dough. The recipe calls for several steps. First you make the dough, and then you knead for 10 minutes. (The first time we did this we did the kneading by hand. That's a looooonnnnnggggg 10 minutes! The second time we used this recipe i got smarter and used my mixer and the bread making hook) After the bread is kneaded and sits for a while, THEN you get to do the fun part of rolling out the pretzels and twisting their happy little middles.

After you twisted all your pretzels, then you have to boil them in water for 30 seconds each side. This gives it the chewiness. (or maybe the brown outer crust? I'm just making a guess here....) Finally you can bake your doughy friends. Don't be surprised if your family is lined up anxiously awaiting their arrival to the cooling rack!

Here's the recipe:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/pretzels.html