Everyone should have the opportunity to experience the joy of making homemade biscuits and all manners of breads from scratch.
My entire life, I have been able to express my creativity within the walls of my kitchen through:
- Baking
- Savory Meals
- Herbal Medicine Making
It was my mother and great-grandmother that taught me the art of homemade.
I learned standing by their sides.
Generation to generation…the skills were passed on.
A Case for Making Your Own Bread
Throughout time and ancient cultures, bread has been revered as a sacred source of life.
Bread was such an important staple primarily because it was considered:
- nourishing
- practical
- healthy
- appetizing
Today bread — and all of sorts of its varieties — are readily available on nearly every street corner and grocery.
Since the farming shifts and introduction of industrialized agriculture…producers of food have been forced to produce the maximum amount of food for the minimum out-of-pocket costs. Leaving consumers with a cheaper, longer-lasting product, devoid of nutrition — and disastrous health to accompany.
Darina Allen says it best in her book Forgotten Skills of Cooking:
During the last 50 years the sales of bread have plummeted and the number of people with wheat allergies and full-blown celiac disease has skyrocketed. Once the (industrial method of bread production) was universally adopted all research was dedicated to producing varieties of short-stem wheat, strains of yeast and additives to facilitate this fast production method. Nourishment just simply wasn’t a factor. Advances in functional properties of wheat have come at the expense of nutritional quality.
I won’t go any further into this very complex issue.
I’m just attempting to give a case for making your own breads…and with this particular recipe — biscuits.
How to Make Homemade Biscuits from Scratch
I love biscuits and so does my family. If you’re gluten free then this recipe might not work for you, but you can probably switch out the wheat flour for almond or coconut flour instead.
Homemade Biscuits Ingredients
-3 cups organic, unbleached all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon real salt
-4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
-1 1/2 tablespoons raw honey
-1/2 cup grass-fed tallow, or butter from grass-fed cows
-1 pastured egg
-1 cup whole milk, or homemade buttermilk (see recipe below)
Supplies Needed
Homemade Biscuits Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Using a pastry blender, food processor, or Kitchen Aid Mixer cut cold tallow (or cold butter) into the flour.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients just until the dry ingredients are wet and well incorporated.
- Flour a flat surface.
- Dump the dough onto the floured surface.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until desired thickness is achieved. Note: I roll mine out anywhere from 3/4″-1″ thick.
- With a biscuit cutter or top of jar/cup — cut out your biscuits! Note: You will have to continue to ball up and roll out your dough again a few more times before all the biscuits are cut.
- Place cut biscuit dough on cookie sheet or cast iron skillet.
- Cook in oven for 13-17 minutes. Watch closely and remove when biscuits are golden brown and fluffy.
Notes:
To make your own buttermilk, combine 2 cups of whole milk (preferably raw) and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a bowl and let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. The milk will curdle. Stir well before using and store in the refrigerator. It will keep fresh for a couple of days.
Ever made your own homemade biscuits completely from scratch? How did they turn out?