Gluten-Free Biscuits

I picked up the free bag of Bob's Red Mill 1-1 gluten-free flour, then had to figure out what to do with it.  There's a cookie recipe on the back, but I have a lot of sweets in the house.  I decided to check out their online recipes.  There was one for biscuits, and I was planning to make some anyway.

I'm changing their recipe slightly based on the comments.  The biggest change is using shortening instead of butter.  I use butter-flavored shortening, and I do see the chemical advantage to using it in a gluten-free recipe.  The rice flour that makes up the majority of the product absorbs water at a different rate than wheat flour does, and shortening is virtually water-free.  It also melts at a higher temperature than butter, so it doesn't disappear into the dough until baked.

I do like their idea of folding the dough.  It isn't quite the same as laminated, but will get you layers.  I became a fan of layer biscuits after buying a tube of Pillsbury Grands in December.  They were better than what I make because they have yeast in them, but I really liked the folded-dough texture.

And then, after all the trouble of attempting a gluten-free recipe, I made sausage gravy with wheat flour to put on them.  Whatever, I'm not GF.  There are ways to make a country gravy with other thickeners.  I didn't feel like going into that.  The important thing to note is that if no one tells you they're GF, you would never guess it.  They just taste like shortening biscuits with part whole wheat flour.

This is a half-recipe to make 4 large or 6 medium biscuits.  I didn't need more than that, and it was an amount of dough that was easy to work with.

1-1/4 C Bob's Gluten Free 1 to 1 flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C shortening
1 egg
6 Tb milk or buttermilk (1/4 C + 2 Tb) plus more for brushing

1.  Preheat oven to 450º (yes, really) and line a baking sheet with parchment or Silpat.

2.  In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Cut in shortening to make pea-sized chunks.  Up to this point, it's just like making any other biscuit.

3.  In a small bowl, beat together egg and milk.  Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in liquids.  Stir together until wet.  Unlike with a gluten dough, you don't have to worry about over-mixing.

4.  This is where it's going to get different.  Unlike with a gluten flour, you aren't going to sprinkle anything on the work surface.  Line the surface with plastic wrap and transfer the dough.  Cover the dough with another layer of plastic wrap if sticky.  Pat into a rectangle 1/2" thick.

5.  Then you are going to make the layers.  Remove the top plastic and fold the dough in half.  Pat back down to 1/2" thick.  Do this two more times.  On the third time, only pat to 1" thick, or however deep your biscuit cutter is.

6.  With a 3" cutter for big or 2" cutter for medium, cut out the biscuit rounds by pressing straight down.  Do not twist.  Transfer rounds to the baking sheet.  You don't have to worry about reworking the scraps because there's no gluten or added flour, but you'll lose the layers.  Repeat until all the dough is used.

7.  Brush tops with a bit more milk, then bake for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned and set.  While warm, brush with melted butter or more milk, if desired.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.  They won't rise much, but you'll be able to see the layers where the shortening melted away.  Serve warm.

Makes 4 to 6

Difficulty rating  :)