Buckwheat Drop Biscuits (Experimental - input appreciated)

H

HowToBe

The Living Force
Tonight, I wanted to make some biscuits (American-type), so I looked over the recipes on this forum. The recipes here, here, and here served as inspiration, but because I didn't want to have to roll and cut the sticky dough, I decided to experiment, and see if I could make something like drop biscuits, so I could spoon the dough right out onto an oiled baking pan and just shove it in the oven. Because I'm not a passionate cook (yet?), and not very picky at all when it comes to taste, these might be far from what some might want to call biscuits, but I think they turned out good (They weren't fluffy - I don't know if drop biscuits typically are, though; they certainly weren't rocks, at least). I made a small amount because this was just a test.

1 cup buckwheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons milled flax seed
1 cup water (room temperature) (approximate - I added the water in 1/4 cup increments)

Grease the baking pan/cookie sheet you will use with butter, ghee, or coconut oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except water until thoroughly blended. Add water and stir until it forms a thick, sticky dough. Spoon gobs of dough onto greased baking pan, forming or flattening if desired (you will probably want to flatten these if you plan on spreading anything on them). Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Analysis/questions:
I'm not sure whether these are completely cooked or not; a bit doughy perhaps? Also, they didn't expand at all during the cooking phase. Maybe I should try using boiling water next time as one of the forum recipes instructed? Would this allow the biscuits to expand more in the oven before they "set"? Should a tad bit more water be used, so they won't set as quickly?
 
You may need to let the batter rest for about 20 - 30 minutes if you want fluffy ones.

The recipe may also need baking soda to get a decent rise? Not sure....
 
Gimpy said:
You may need to let the batter rest for about 20 - 30 minutes if you want fluffy ones.

The recipe may also need baking soda to get a decent rise? Not sure....
Click to expand...

Agreed, also, in some of my testing recipes an addition of half as much again of baking soda (1tsp in your case) compared with the baking powder amount, resulted in more rise (domed top). Drop biscuits is something worth persevering with as they work. When testing I use half the quantities that you use (1/2C buckwheat as the base measure). If the 'drop' is too thick you may need to turn it over to finish cooking on the other side.

There is no real shortcut other than lots of testing - have fun in the process. :)
 
Yeah, I also discovered that my cooking time was too short. After cooking them for about 20-25 minutes, the outsides turn sort of yellowish (they actually seem to brighten), and the inside of the biscuits darken to a sort of chocolate-cake color. The sharpness of the buckwheat taste reduces at this point as well.

I tried the suggestions, and they helped somewhat. It's still a thick dough, much like whole wheat, so I don't know how fluffy I could possibly get them without making a "deal with the devil". Good with jam!
 
HowToBe said:
1 cup buckwheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons milled flax seed
1 cup water (room temperature) (approximate - I added the water in 1/4 cup increments)
Click to expand...

I guess one could substitute something for the sugar, xylatol maybe?

Other than that, the receipe sounds like most of what I put in the buckwheat pancakes except I use baking soda, not powder. I didn't realize you were supposed to let the batter sit, is that to make the baking soda work? No wonder mine are always gummy in the middle!
 
I've experimented several times with making biscuits and am not really happy with them though they are good cut open and re-fried the next day in ghee. I always roll my biscuits though my mother and grandmother occasionally made drop biscuits when in a hurry. They always floured the top and flattened them so they looked rolled anyway.

What I have found is that buckwheat makes a very good shortbread and that stands in for a lot of things. Also, the fried blinis for breads at dinner are good enough that we don't really miss biscuits.

I've just never been able to get a good rise with them.

I use d-ribose for making them instead of sugar or xylitol.

Thing is, buckwheat flour needs a lot of liquid to be light and that means you can't really handle a dough that will cook well, it has to be kind of poured or glopped. I think that next time I'm going to try making it like a really sloppy wet hoecake, frying the bottom in duck fat in the iron skillet and then putting it in the oven to slow cook and brown the top. If that works, then I'll do it in muffin tins that will give the wetter mixture some shape.

Oh, plenty of salt gets rid of the sharp taste of buckwheat.
 
Tried the recipe, but used stevia instead of sugar. Came out pretty good, though I baked them for only 10 minutes or so. Bit crumbly.

Gonna try adding some other ingredients like blueberries next time.
 
I make drop biscuits with quinoa and flax meal. They turn out Ok - good enough! And they're quick. Here's the basic recipe:

Preheat oven to 450F

1 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup flax meal
3 teapsoons baking powder
1/2 teapspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon oil (melted bacon grease, duck fat, walnut oil, grapeseed oil, any of those work)
approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water

Any added flavorings you want ( basil, thyme, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries or cherries, whatever floats your boat)

Get your baking sheet ready and have it close by.

Mix all the dry stuff thoroughly. Then make a spot in the middle of the flours to hold the oil. Pour the oil in, then pour in water. Mix it gently - but quickly, and get it onto the baking sheet pronto. The less you mix it and handle it the more of a 'rise' your get out of it. So mix it pronto, then use a large spoon to scoop up big lumps and drop them on the sheet.

This is sort of like making soda bread. Same principles. The salt, baking soda, and baking powder all react to form bubbles in the batter - thus the less you handle it the more rise you get.

Bake 'em for about 20 to 25 minutes.

That makes 4 to 6 biscuits depending on how big you make the drops.
 
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