Cornmeal and Cranberry Drop Biscuits
Book Report
- Course: Bread
- Features: Fast
Summary:
Stone-ground yellow cornmeal helps create a biscuit with wonderful texture; avoid substituting fine cornmeal as the structure, flavor and crumb of the biscuits will be compromised. A favorite meal to use in this recipe is Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Corn Meal.
The final amount of buttermilk needed to bring the dough together will depend on the absorption quality of the flour and the humidity present in the atmosphere on baking day.
Makes 21 biscuits
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups unsifted bleached flour
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon stone-ground yellow cornmeal (see headnote)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 2/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries
- 1 cup whole or low-fat buttermilk, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons, as needed
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line several heavy baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Scatter over the chunks of butter; use a pastry blender or two rounded table knives to cut the butter into the flour until it is reduced to pearl-size bits. Use your fingertips to further reduce the butter to flakes of varying sizes; this should take about 45 seconds.
Scatter the cranberries over the mixture; toss lightly to coat and incorporate.
Pour 1 cup of the buttermilk over the mixture and quickly stir to form a dough, using a wooden spoon or paddle. The dough should be moderately soft and hold its shape in a spoon; add 1 or 2 tablespoons of buttermilk, a little at a time, if needed, to achieve that consistency. Use a flexible spatula to give the dough 4 or 5 quick kneading turns in the bowl. Let the dough stand in the bowl for 1 minute.
Drop heaping 2-tablespoon mounds of dough onto the baking sheets, spacing the mounds about 3 inches apart and arranging 9 mounds on each sheet.
Bake one sheet at a time for 15 minutes or until they are set, with a spotty golden color on top. The undersides of the baked biscuits will be a medium golden color. Use a thin spatula to transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack.
Serve warm.
Recipe Source:
Adapted from "Baking Style," by Lisa Yockelson (Wiley, 2011).
E-mail the Food Section with recipe questions.
(Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post)
