Finally Baking Again Regularly

It has been while but I am finally starting to bake regularly again. It helps that I need to make lunches and sometimes breakfasts for the little garbage disposals at home. They get bored fairly easily so I have to provide some variety in what I give them. I also finally learned not to cook for 20 people at a time. I started scaling down how much I actually make each time I bake and even cook. Lately, my focus has been breakfast food. I hate having to give them Cherrios every day. This last week’s breakfast was biscuits. 
Most people have a certain style when they bake, I do not. Sometimes I try to be as accurate as possible by using weights, other times I use measure cups for ease, and portions or ratios when I’m trying to create a new recipe. I actually like using ratios since I can easily double or reduce the quantity.

This past week’s breakfast was biscuits. I used a recipe out of Michael Ruhlman’s Ratios, it was the same book I used for my pasta Misadventure. This ratio is fairly easy 3-2-1 (like the area code in Chicago).

Buttermilk Biscuits
(adapted from Michael Ruhlman’s Ratios)
9 Ounces of flour (about 2 cups)
3 Ounces of Cold Butter
6 Ounces of Milk
2 Tsp of Baking Powder
1 Tsp of Salt

Directions

1. Take all of the dry ingredients into a medium bowl and incorporate well (you may need to shift the baking powder).
2. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix until it becomes a loose crumble. It is a similar process when you are making pie.
3. Add the milk and mix until it forms a ball of dough.
4. Take the ball of dough and form a flat 4 by 6 inch rectangle. Then wrap it in saran wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
5. Once the dough rests remove from the refrigerator then roll it out until it triples the size on a floured counter while keeping the shape.
6. Take the short ends and fold it in to make it a 1/3 of the size. Roll it out again until it becomes a rectangle. Repeat. This process is similar to making croissants.
7. Wrap the rectangle with saran wrap and place it in the fridge for another hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 400F.
9. Repeat step 6. Then roll out the dough until it is about ½ inch thick and cut out the biscuits.
10. Place on baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes.