Honey Whole Wheat Biscuits

Honey Whole Wheat Biscuits - made April 16, 2011 from Whole Grain Baking by King Arthur Flour (book #88)

I wanted to make some kind of bread to go with a pasta dish I was making for some friends and although you normally don't have biscuits to go with a dinner entree, these were faster to make than the whole wheat dinner rolls recipe I was initially looking at so I went with this instead.  It was also another potential Easter brunch option that I wanted to try out.  Besides, whether it's a biscuit or a dinner roll doesn't matter as much as eating it warm with melting butter, right?

As with most biscuit recipes, this was pretty easy to put together.  Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another then mix the two together all at once.  Roll out, cut into rounds and bake.  Also like with all (or most) biscuits, these are best eaten warm, preferably-to-me, spread with butter.  I wouldn't necessarily call them flaky, not in the way a Pillsbury biscuit from a can is flaky but it's still pretty good, especially when the outside/top is crunchy and the inside is warm and chewy. The honey gives it an added sweetness and the whole wheat flour gives it some robustness.

2 ½ cups (10 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat

½ cup (2 1/8 ounces) unbleached bread flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) cold unsalted butter

1 large egg

¾ cup (6 ounces) buttermilk, plus more for brushing

3 tablespoons (2 ¼ ounces) honey

1.      Preheat the oven to 400⁰F.  Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

2.      Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.  With a fork, two knives, a pastry cutter or food processor, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Whisk together the egg, buttermilk and honey in a small bowl or large measuring cup.  Add, all at once, to the flour mixture, and blend lightly and quickly with a fork until the mixture is evenly moistened.

3.      Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and using a bench knife or dough scraper, fold the dough over on itself three or four times until it comes together.

4.      Pat the dough out (or roll very lightly with a rolling pin) until it’s ¾” thick.  Cut the dough into squares or rounds with a 2” biscuit cutter, and transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet.  Stack the scraps on top of each other, fold them as you did for the original dough, and pat out and cut again.

5.      Brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk, if desired.

6.      Bake until the tops are golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes.  Remove from the oven and serve warm, or cool on a rack.