Biscuits

 

These buttery biscuits are so light and fluffy. The trick is to use cold butter and laminate the dough.

Laminated dough is a culinary preparation consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter or other solid fat, produced by repeated folding and rolling. Such doughs may contain more than eighty layers.[ During baking, water in the butter vaporizes and expands, causing the dough to puff up and separate, while the lipids in the butter essentially fry the dough, resulting in a light, flaky product.

Laminating dough is easy to do. You simply roll the dough out to a rectangle and then fold the dough into thirds, rotating the dough by 90 degrees and repeating the process two more times. After that you cut the biscuits and bake. 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
8 tablespoons cold butter or ( 1/2 Cup or 113.4 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup half and half, (you may need 1 additional tablespoon of milk)
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar or lemon juice
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Directions


Pre-Heat Oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together milk and vinegar and let sit while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Using a pastry knife cut in cold butter until it resembles bread crumbs.
Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the milk mixture. 

Mix until just combined. DO NOT over-mix. (If the mixture is too dry then add the additional tablespoon of half-and-half)
Pour the mixture out onto a floured surface and pat it into a rectangle. 

Fold the rectangle in thirds, like you are folding a letter.

 Rotate the dough by 90 degrees and roll the dough until it doubles in size. 

Fold the dough in thirds again.

 Repeat this process one more time. 

Then roll the dough until it is about ½-inch thick.
Using a round biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits and place them onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Re-roll the scraps until you have used all the dough. 

Brush the tops with egg wash. (Beat the egg and then add 1-2 teaspoons of water).
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Print Recipe:

Best Buttery Biscuits

Mix the milk and vinegar and let sit for a few minutes until it has thickened.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

Cut in cold butter.

Make a well and pore in milk mixture. Mix until just combined. Do Not over-mix. Add a little more cream if needed to bring the mixture together.

Pat the dough into a rectangle onto a lightly floured surface.

Fold the dough into thirds.

Rotate the dough by 90 degrees and roll out the dough until double in size.

Fold dough into thirds again.

Rotate and roll the dough out again.

Fold into thirds. Then roll the dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick.

Place on parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets.

Prepare egg wash. Beat egg and then add a little water.

Brush tops with egg wash.

Bake in 425 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes.

Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta Casserole

 

This is a creamy, cheesy pasta casserole that in my ever so humble opinion hits all the notes. The recipe is from Recipe Tin Eats. This casserole re-heats well and tastes even better the next day.

Taco Spaghetti

Who doesn't love tacos or spaghetti. This one-pot dish combines both. This is a great week night meal with hardly any clean-up afterward.

Cold Brew Coffee

 

It is that time of year I start to crave cold brew. I have tried many recipes and contraptions and I have found that this is the easiest and tastiest. All you do is steep ground coffee in cold water for 24 hours and voila you have cold brew. You will need a fine mesh strainer, cheese cloth and a jug to store the brew in. Then add ice and cream and you are good to go. Much more affordable than buying it from the coffee shops. The process of steeping the coffee for 24 hours creates a sweeter less acidic drink than  "iced coffee". You can scale up or down the recipe to suit your needs. Store cold brew in a sealed jug for up to 2 weeks. 

 

 I don't particularly like bagels from the grocery store or from the various fast food outlets. They are dense and gummy, fills the void but nothing else. My first introduction to bagels was back in the 80's at a little bakery on the west side of Edmonton called the Bagel Bin. These bagels were freshly baked daily right in the bakery.  Oh those were the days my friend. Sadly, little mom and pop bakeries such as the Bagel Bin are very few and far between. I probably would have to go to New York or Montreal to get a good bagel now. 

So I went on a little quest and I think I found a winner from Sally's Baking Addiction.  These bagels are a little crispy on the outside but very tender and chewy on the inside. What I love about this recipe is that you have the option of making the bagels on the same day or you can make the dough the night before and then store it away in the fridge overnight. Then, in the morning you have fresh bagels for breakfast. Toppings and flavours are endless. My favourite bagels are "everything" and jalapeno cheddar. 

One recipe yields 8 bagels. These bagels freeze well.

 I love garlic but hate mincing it, but I don't like to buy pre-minced garlic as it contains unwanted preservatives and stabilizers. I like to buy a bunch of bulbs of garlic and mince my own and then store in freezer to have at my fingertips. The hardest part is peeling the garlic but put on a good podcast or some great music and the job is much more enjoyable. Once all the garlic is peeled it is minced in the food processor. I add a little olive oil to the garlic and pack into little plastic containers and store in the freezer. I keep one container in my fridge and when I am out I know I have a good supply in my freezer. My future self is always so grateful. 

Homemade Frozen Diced Hashbrowns

Ultra Processed Food: "It's not food. It's an industrially processed edible substance". Fernanda Rauber



I read a really interesting book this winter called Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken. He explores how Ultra Processed Food ( UPF) impacts our bodies and the planet. An easy way to know if a food is UPF is to look at the list of ingredients and if you don't recognize or you couldn't find the ingredient in a home kitchen than it is UPF.
So with this in mind, I read the frozen diced McCain hashbrown list of ingredients that I had in my freezer. I like to make hashbrown casserole at Christmas or for brunches etc. I never looked at the ingredient list. I just assumed there would be the usual cast of characters like potatoes, fat and salt. Well was I surprised to find there was 25 ingredients. Yes 25 ingredients. These little potatoes were filled with colours, sugars, starches and stabilizers to just mention a few. I couldn't with good conscience buy these hashbrowns ever again. I also couldn't find another brand of diced hashbrowns that would work so I decided to make my own. These homemade hashbrowns have 3 ingredients, potatoes, olive oil and kosher salt.
They were easy to make and tasted better too.
Please read the ingredient list of all the food you buy and avoid UPF as much as you can.



Ingredients McCain Diced Frozen Hashbrowns:
Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola And/or Soybean And/or Cottonseed And/or Safflower And/or Sunflower And/or Corn), Modified Potato Starch, Wheat Flour, Rice Flour, Modified Corn Starch, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Dextrin, Corn Flour, Baking Powder, Yellow Corn Flour, Sodium Phosphate (to Retain Natural Colour), Sugars (dextrose), Xanthan Gum, Corn Starch, Potato Starch, Autolyzed Yeast, Modified Cellulose, Guar Gum, Natural Flavour, Natural Beef Flavour (wheat And Milk), Citric Acid, Caramel, Annatto. Contains: Milk, Wheat