Gluten Free Biscuits

Derek and I like to pick up lunch from a great little soup joint in Tacoma.  It is a hole in the wall kind of place that makes the most amazing soup.  What’s better is they have their soups grouped into “creamy,” “non-creamy,” “vegetarian” and “vegan.”  Then, they mark the menu with the soups that are gluten free.  If the menu isn’t marked you nicely ask and they will mark it up.  There are no tables to sit at so we have taken our soup to the nearby park or home to enjoy.  They also make lovely looking drop biscuits that Derek always purchase and I look longingly at.  We walk across the street and purchase me a piece of cake or other treat to make up for the fact that I can’t eat the oh so yummy looking biscuit.  It’s just not the same.  I love biscuits.

My grandmother makes lovely biscuits (to go along with her fried chicken that I also cannot eat).  There’s nothing quite like hot soup and a biscuit on a cold Autumn or Winter day.  Derek looked at me the last time we went to the soup place and said, “that should be on your ‘mission’ list too… make the best gluten free biscuits.”  [I have this mission to make the best gluten free pizza and bread.]

I’ve never had a gluten free recipe turn out stellar the first shot out of the hat.  My first snickerdoodle cookies, while amazing and edible, just weren’t quite right.  The second batch… A.MA.ZING.  I died.

Last night I did some looking around for a good biscuit recipe thinking I’d make chicken pot pie with them.  I started baking and then realized that I can’t put untested biscuits on a chicken pot pie.  So I cooked them all the way through.  I died again.

I’m fairly certain that these are almost better than my gluten filled biscuits.  They are that amazing.  I will note that while I am supposed to eat a gluten and diary free diet, my system will tolerate diary in baked goods.  I’m not sure why, but I can still eat butter and milk/buttermilk in things like pancakes, waffles, cookies and any other thing you’d put milk into.  I can also eat butter on things.  I think I really would die if I couldn’t eat butter.  Just call me Paula.

I started with Mary Frances’s Light and Fluffy Gluten Free Biscuit recipe.  I read all of the comments and gleaned a bit of information to develop my recipe (which is really still hers).

1 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. white rice flour
2 c. corn starch
1/2 c. sorghum flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 stick of butter
1 c. buttermilk milk
1/2 c. water
1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl thoroughly combine the flours, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum.

3. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or fork or your fingers so that there are no large balls of butter.

4. Add the buttermilk milk, water, and beaten egg to the flour and stir until the dry and liquid ingredients are combined.

5. Using a large ice cream scoop (or spoon), drop the dough onto a parchment lined pan to make about 20 biscuits. Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Mine didn’t fully brown up, but I didn’t want them to get too dried out.

These are amazing right out of the oven.  Srsly.  Our biggest concern was how they’d reheat.  I did some in the toaster oven this morning and they were fabulous.  I did some in the microwave at work and also great.

Sorry I don’t have photos.  I’ll do better next time.