the bake-off
Sep. 5th, 2004 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonAs planned, this morning I pitted my mom's biscuit recipe against the Alton Brown's "Good Eats" recipe. I think the former came out better than ever because I now know that there's a difference between baking powder and baking soda and why it matters.
I decided to make the whole-wheat variation on my mother's recipe, on the grounds that if I'm going to be stuck with leftover biscuits, whole wheat is healthier than white.
Changes made: I'd been using a dark, teflon-coated pan; switched to cheapie aluminum pizza pan (3 for 99 cents at the grocery, can't be beat). I used baking powder instead of baking soda - huge positive difference in the dough's flavor. Used whole real milk instead of skim Lactaid - no effect. I also cooked them at at 450F as the recipe directed, which I hadn't before, because I thought I'd burn them!
Results: not as perfect as my mom's but closer to being on the right track than any other attempt I've made! They actually rose, and didn't burn :) Tasted better as well - the baking soda made them overly salty, but the baking powder = just right.
AB's recipe - whooboy. Be warned: the recipe claims that the dough turns out "sticky". Try "so sticky that it's not recommended for amateurs"! I lost several biscuits worth of dough because I couldn't keep it off my fingers in the bowl-to-rolling surface transfer :P The recipe suggests coating the rolling surface with a little flour, but I suggest coating your hands as well - with massive buttloads of flour, lest you be completely unable to do anything with it (the buttload is not an official measurement, but then biscuit recipes are seldom precise. "Eyeball" it :P).
Results: bigger and flakier than mom's - almost flake right apart in your hands! Nicer texture, but not appreciably different flavor, curiously enough, because it used white flour. Will probably try again at some other time when I'm willing to make a mess.
I enjoyed, D. enjoyed, both of us are very full now. I don't do the biscuit thing often, but I enjoy doing cooking on this scale occasionally - after all, in the South, food = love :)
I decided to make the whole-wheat variation on my mother's recipe, on the grounds that if I'm going to be stuck with leftover biscuits, whole wheat is healthier than white.
Changes made: I'd been using a dark, teflon-coated pan; switched to cheapie aluminum pizza pan (3 for 99 cents at the grocery, can't be beat). I used baking powder instead of baking soda - huge positive difference in the dough's flavor. Used whole real milk instead of skim Lactaid - no effect. I also cooked them at at 450F as the recipe directed, which I hadn't before, because I thought I'd burn them!
Results: not as perfect as my mom's but closer to being on the right track than any other attempt I've made! They actually rose, and didn't burn :) Tasted better as well - the baking soda made them overly salty, but the baking powder = just right.
AB's recipe - whooboy. Be warned: the recipe claims that the dough turns out "sticky". Try "so sticky that it's not recommended for amateurs"! I lost several biscuits worth of dough because I couldn't keep it off my fingers in the bowl-to-rolling surface transfer :P The recipe suggests coating the rolling surface with a little flour, but I suggest coating your hands as well - with massive buttloads of flour, lest you be completely unable to do anything with it (the buttload is not an official measurement, but then biscuit recipes are seldom precise. "Eyeball" it :P).
Results: bigger and flakier than mom's - almost flake right apart in your hands! Nicer texture, but not appreciably different flavor, curiously enough, because it used white flour. Will probably try again at some other time when I'm willing to make a mess.
I enjoyed, D. enjoyed, both of us are very full now. I don't do the biscuit thing often, but I enjoy doing cooking on this scale occasionally - after all, in the South, food = love :)
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-05 11:58 am (UTC)Glad to hear that the bake-off was a success ... proven by your happy faces and full stomachs ***GRIN***
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!
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Date: 2004-09-05 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-05 07:50 pm (UTC)Re: baking soda vs. baking powder - can you believe that for all thse years I thought that they were the same thing? :P I finally learned the difference on - you guessed it, Good Eats' biscuit show. I'm starting to really get addicted to it, because Alton Brown explains all these cookery details in plain scientific language that makes sense!
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Date: 2004-09-05 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-05 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-06 09:33 am (UTC)