Perfecting a Fat Free, Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipe

[ahains]

Hi all,
Hoping you can steer me in the right direction on this biscuit recipe I threw together last weekend. I wanted something tasty baked *now* so made biscuits to avoid waiting for a rise

I glanced at a few recipes and guessed at how to incorporate the apple-sauce-instead-of-fat trick that I learned from my wife's banana bread. Here is what I came up with:

2c ww flour
2tsp baking powder
2tbl brown sugar
.5tsp cinnamon
.5tsp salt (roughly)
1/2c apple sauce
1-2c to 2/3c fat free milk, as little as possible to get the dough moistened

Mix dry stuff, then mix in apple sauce until coarse pea sized chunks, then pour in milk and mix until it is mostly clinging together as one piece (under 1 minute). This was with my Kitchen Aid on the 3rd or 4th setting because I'm impatient

Baked at 450*F on parchment paper until lightly GBD, for about 12 minutes.

That was actually my second attempt. The first one had 4tsp baking powder and although tasty had a significant unpleasant flavor (I believe from the baking powder). So after going down to 2tsp baking powder it was a lot better, but I still don't like a faint flavor to them that I think is still baking powder.

I'm wondering if I can incorporate fat free buttermilk powder to go even lighter on the baking powder. Any suggestion on how I should adjust the recipe to get down to maybe 1tsp baking powder?

After some reading I decided that mixing by hand is probably the way to go, since this is quiet easy to make anyhow. I'll probably try that next time.

Thanks!
-Adrian

 

[licia]

I've never been able to get light whole wheat biscuits. Mine were always too heavy, so I gave up. If you find the ultimate recipe, please post.

 

[ahains]

I guess my more general questions are:
-Has anyone else noticed a slightly unpleasant baking powder taste with a quantity of 2tsp baking powder?
-How little baking powder can you get by with when using buttermilk?

I'll probably give it another go this weekend. I'll try to remember to post back here with whatever I try.

 

[Caine]

I think an all whole wheat biscuit could probably be mistaken for a hockey puck. Too dense.

Here is a recipe I adapted from Paula Deen's Cream Biscuits recipe and they have always come out high, light, and fat free, with a bit of a San Francisco sourdough flavor to them.

1-½ cups plain fat free yogurt
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur white whole wheat)
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt

Mix everything together in a bowl until the dough forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough 5 to 7 times, adding just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to your hands.

Roll the dough out to a ½-inch thickness. Cut the dough into biscuits with a floured 3-inch biscuit cutter. Place the cut biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray, leaving about an inch between biscuits. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

 

[bethzaring]

I've had a lot of gut level notions concerning food ingredients, and one of them has been the less baking powder I eat, the better for my body. I really strive to get by with the least possible baking powder that I can. And I eat quite a bit of foods that call for baking powder. My main recipe for whole wheat biscuits calls for 2 t. baking powder, as well as 3 T. butter. I never have been able to produce light biscuits even when I added white flour. So now I just make kinda heavy ww biscuits. I can not tell any off flavor using 2 t. baking powder to 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour.

 

[ahains]

Haven't made it to the store yet for buttermilk powder, but I tried the some recipe this week with some tweaks:
reduce 1.5tsp baking powder instead of 2tsp
increase 1tsp cinnamon instead of 0.5tsp cinnamon
add 0.5tsp baking soda
add 1/4c raisins, chopped a bit


Didn't notice any difference in rising (or lack thereof), but the raisins made it quite good.


I think these are more like a scone than biscuits. I think scones usually have eggs too though. Whatever they are, they're quite tasty, 100% whole wheat, and fat free

The kids gobble them up..

 

[luthervonruckerson]

I modified the recipe a bit and the little buggers came out *fantastic*. Here's what I did:

2c ww flour
2tsp baking powder
2tsp white sugar (didn't have brown)
No cinnamon (didn't have that either)
.5tsp salt (roughly)
1/2c apple sauce
1/4 cup plain yogurt
A splash of condensed milk

I almost forgot: I also chunked in some almond flour, about 1/4 cup

Baked at 450 for about 15 minutes, and BLAMMO! Moist, but not overly dense biscuits. Just a hint of sweetness.

I gotta get up and eat another one. Thanks for the guidance!