LITTLE ROCK — There’s nothing wrong with greeting the day with a slice of toast topped with a smear of butter or jam. And you’ll hear no protests from us over a heartier greeting of a bagel with cream cheese and sliced tomato. But some mornings call for something special. Biscuits drizzled with honey, or orange or cinnamon rolls dripping with icing. We won’t lie and tell you homemade biscuits or from-scratch cinnamon rolls are easy. Or quick. These breakfast breads take work. But the results are well worth the effort — and sacrificed sleep.
BAKING TIPS
Use fresh baking powder (less than 6 months old). Always test yeast for freshness before mixing dough. To test, in a small bowl, combine the yeast with the warm liquid required for the recipe and set aside for 5 minutes. If the mixture becomes frothy, the yeast is good. If the mixture does nothing, discard and begin again using fresh yeast. One envelope of yeast contains approximately 21/4 teaspoons. To prolong the life of yeast, store it in the freezer. Sift dry ingredients together for even mixing. Don’t knead the dough like yeast bread; quick, gentle kneading is enough to produce a tender biscuit. Don’t reroll scraps — it creates tough biscuits — just press the scraps together and settle for a couple of odd-shaped ones. For flaky, layered biscuits, cut in fat until the largest pieces are about the size of peas. For a softer, fluffier biscuit, continue cutting in fat until mixture resembles coarse meal.
This biscuit, which gets its light texture from the addition of yeast, is known by the names angel biscuit and bride’s biscuit. The dough can be prepared up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated.
Angel Biscuits
41/2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/4 cup warm water 5 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 cup shortening 2 cups buttermilk
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Cut in shortening. Add dissolved yeast and buttermilk to flour mixture, mixing well. Knead quickly 20 to 30 times. Roll and cut in desired shape and size. Let rise 10 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees until brown.
Dough may be stored in refrigerator. When ready to use, roll out and let sit 20 minutes before baking.
May also roll out dough, cut out biscuits and freeze. To bake after freezing, put biscuits on a baking sheet in cold oven and set temperature at 400 degrees. Biscuits will rise as oven heats.
For something a little more traditional, this recipe makes enough to feed a small army. Or you can store the baked biscuits in the freezer to heat and serve later. Or make a reduced batch.
The recipe is from Callie’s Charleston Biscuits, a bakery that makes a line of frozen biscuits available in select grocery stores across the country. Contrary to many recipes, this one uses cool room-temperature butter.
Callie’s Charleston Biscuits
Melted unsalted butter, to prepare pans 1 (5-pound) bag selfrising flour, White Lily recommended (see note) 1 pound salted butter, at cool room temperature 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese 1/2 gallon buttermilk (do not use nonfat), divided use
Heat oven to 500 degrees. Brush two half-sheet pans or several smaller pans with melted butter. Set aside about 2 cups flour; pour the remaining flour into a large bowl. Cut salted butter into large chunks and add to bowl. With your fingers, mix butter into flour until sandy. When no chunks of butter remain, cut cream cheese into large chunks and add to the bowl. Work the mixture with your hands, pulling the cream cheese into pieces about the size of small peas.
Pour in 2 1/2 to 3 cups buttermilk. Use your hand to scrape the flour mixture into the buttermilk, folding and kneading. Add more buttermilk as needed. You may not need the entire 1/2 gallon. The dough should be moist and sticky.
To clean your hands, rub the dough off with some of the remaining dry flour. With floured hands, scrape the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface. (Unless you have a large surface, roll out dough in three or four batches.) Sprinkle dough with flour, and roll out gently to about 1 inch thick.
Flour a 2-inch biscuit cutter, and push straight down into the dough without twisting. (You can twist the cutter gently to remove it.) Arrange biscuits, with sides touching, on pans. If desired, press the dough scraps together and cut additional rounds. (Those biscuits won’t be as tender.)
Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden, about 15 minutes.
Serve immediately or let cool completely, then wrap well and freeze. To reheat frozen biscuits, wrap a few in foil and bake in a 450-degree oven for about 20 minutes or until hot. Open the foil and let the tops brown for a few minutes, then serve.
Makes about 120 biscuits.
Note: The amount of flour and buttermilk used will vary according to the humidity and other factors.
Reduced batch: To make 30 biscuits, use up to 5 cups flour; 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter; 6 ounces cream cheese; and up to 2 cups buttermilk.
Recipe adapted from St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Orange Rolls
21/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/4 cup warm water 1 cup butter, divided use 13/4 cups granulated sugar, divided use 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, beaten 3/4 cup sour cream, divided use 31/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided use 2 tablespoons grated orange zest 2 tablespoons orange juice
In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Melt 1/2 cup of the butter.
Add1/4 cup of sugar, salt, eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream and 5 tablespoons of the melted butter to the yeast and mix well. Gradually add 2 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Work in remaining flour to make soft dough.
Let rise until nearly double, about 2 hours. Punch down. Divide dough into two portions. Roll or press each portion into a rectangle.
Combine remaining 3 tablespoons melted butter, orange zest and 3/4 cup of the sugar and mix well. Spread mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Roll, jellyrollstyle, then cut into1 1/2-inch thick rounds. Arrange rolls in a greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish or place each roll in the greased well of standard muffin tin. Let rise 1 hour and bake, or cover and refrigerate 6 to 12 hours.
If refrigerating, remove rolls from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until light golden brown, about 30 minutes.
In a small saucepan, combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons orange juice and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches a boil and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream. Pour glaze over hot rolls.
Makes about 1 dozen rolls.
Recipe adapted from Elizabeth Martindale
Cinnamon Rolls
2 eggs, beaten 11/2 cups warm water 21/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup canola oil 41/2 cups all-purpose flour,
plus extra for dusting,
divided use 11/2 teaspoons salt Cooking spray 1/4 cup unsalted butter, very
soft but not melted 1/2 cup packed light brown
sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Glaze: 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Milk to make a spreadable
consistency
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, 1 1/2 cups water, yeast, dry milk, sugar and oil. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or, if mixing by hand, a wooden spoon, add 3 cups of flour and mix well. Add salt.
Add 1 more cup of flour, then begin kneading with a dough attachment. If by hand, scrape the dough onto a lightly floured counter and, using a bench scraper, reach under the dough, lift it and fold it over itself.
Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour until it’s fully incorporated. Resist adding more flour. The dough will be very soft, but easier to handle once it has risen.
Place the dough into a clean bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 1 to 2 hours.
Turn dough out onto a surface dusted generously with flour. Roll into a rectangle 12 inches wide and 18 inches long. Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough, leaving a1/2-inch border at the top edge. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over butter. Working from the widest side, gently roll up the dough into a jellyroll shape as snugly as possible, pinching the border to seal the roll, then cut into 11/2-inch thick rounds. Arrange rolls in a greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish, or place each roll in the greased well of standard muffin tin. Let rise 1 hour and bake, or cover and refrigerate 6 to 12 hours.
If refrigerating, remove rolls from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden. Drizzle with glaze and serve warm.
For the glaze, stir together confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, adding milk 1 teaspoon at a time, until the glaze spreads easily.
Makes 12 large rolls.
Recipe adapted from Baking With the St. Paul Bread Club by Kim Ode (Minnesota Historical Society Press)
Food, Pages 29 on 04/18/2012