Grandma's Sourdough Biscuits Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What does adding an egg do to biscuit dough? ›

For super light, crumbly biscuits try grating or pushing the yolks of hard-boiled eggs through a sieve into the biscuit dough. This increases the fat content and slows down the development of gluten. Cookie recipes on the other hand are more likely to contain eggs. Adding moisture as well as binding the mixture.

When sourdough bread dough doesn't rise, it's usually because the starter you used wasn't active enough. To remedy this problem, make sure you're using recently fed, active starter with lots of bubbles. Also, next time try using warm (not hot) water when you mix up the dough and rising it in a warmer location.

Handle the dough as little as possible. Every time you touch, knead and fold, you are developing gluten. The more developed the gluten, the tougher the biscuit. Our recipe asks you to the dough 10 times; this will create a cohesive dough with visible pieces of butter and sprinkles of flour.

If your biscuits are falling apart…

If this sounds familiar, you could be adding too much flour to your dough without knowing it, disrupting the ratio of dry to wet ingredients.

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery. The explanation for this lies in the fact that eggs are made up of protein.

Baking soda neutralizes some of the yogurt's acidity, helping the biscuits to brown. Patting the dough by hand keeps the biscuits light, as a rolling pin can easily crush the soft dough.

Most biscuit recipes will tell you to fold or stack the dough in on itself once or twice, rolling it out in between stacking. If your favorite recipe isn't yielding the height that you'd like to see, consider adding an extra fold or two, which will create more layers.

For sourdough, we simply cannot used instant dried yeast, as a complex, homegrown culture of both yeast and lactobacillus is the only way to provide that defining sour flavor. If you have flour and water, you have enough to maintain your own colony. The tricky part is jump starting the culture.

First, use warm water and increase the water-to-flour ratio slightly. This will help the yeast to activate quicker and aid in rising more quickly. A 1:2:2 ratio or higher, even 1:4:4 ratio helps. Another tip is to add some sugar or honey to the dough, as this will also help the yeast become more active.

The secret to excellent biscuits is COLD BUTTER. Really cold. Many times the biscuit dough gets worked so much that the butter softens before the biscuits even go in the oven. Try cutting the butter into small pieces and stick back in the fridge pulling out only when ready to incorporate into the dough.

Should I refrigerate biscuit dough before baking? ›

But if you chill your pan of biscuits in the fridge before baking, not only will the gluten relax (yielding more tender biscuits), the butter will harden up. And the longer it takes the butter to melt as the biscuits bake, the more chance they have to rise high and maintain their shape. So, chill... and chill.

Heavy cream provides rich butterfat that gives the biscuits tenderness and flavor, as well as moisture from its water content. The formula requires minimal mixing, reducing the risk of too much gluten development.

To prepare crunchy biscuits, reduce the amount of ingredients that tend to retain moisture, such as 00 type flour, eggs or brown sugar. Prefer white granulated sugar or corn syrup instead, for drier biscuits.

I call this my 'extra flaky' dough.” She adds, “When you get into four to six folds, you're more in rough puff pastry territory — a lot more visibly flaky.” As for biscuits, “any number of folds between one and four will make the dough lighter and flakier, and allow the biscuit to rise taller,” she advises.

Overworking (or Underworking) the Dough

The biscuits will be hard and tough if you stir the dough too much. They will have a floury, uneven texture if you don't mix enough. Our Test Kitchen cracked the code: Stir the dough 15 times for the perfect consistency and texture.

Eggs play an important role in everything from cakes and cookies to meringues and pastry cream — they create structure and stability within a batter, they help thicken and emulsify sauces and custards, they add moisture to cakes and other baked goods, and can even act as glue or glaze.

besides the nutritional benefits there are a few other good reasons to use egg in breadmaking. It makes the bread lighter and fluffier. The reason for that is the fat in the yolk that inhibits gluten formation just as any other fat would. This results in a looser dough that can expand and puff up more.

While biscuits receive some leavening power from chemical sources — baking powder and baking soda — the difference between serviceable and greatness comes from the extra rise that steam provides. In order to generate steam, the oven must be set at a minimum of 425 degrees for at least 10 minutes prior to baking.

"Historically, egg whites were used as an adhesive, added to recipes to bind ingredients together," Hysmith says. "This is the same idea. This means using an egg wash mixture to make something stick, such as using one to make braided pie dough or pocket dough stick together.