21 May 2016

Baking for breakfast

I woke up this morning and found that I had no bread in the house. I was going to pour a bowl of cereal, but I really wasn't in the mood for something sweet--I wanted savory. But I also wasn't in the mood to get dressed and drive to the store or to go out to breakfast. So, I rummaged the cupboards and the refrigerator and made myself some drop biscuits!

Flour, baking powder, salt, butter, and milk--that's all you need. Of course, my baking powder was ancient, my "butter" was Earth Balance "buttery spread," and the only "milk" I had was almond...but I decided to forge ahead and see what happened. Just to make them truly savory, I went out to the garden and picked some marjoram, chopped it up, and added it to the dough with a little grated smoked gouda cheese.

Cutting the butter into the flour with two knives (I couldn't find my pastry cutter, that's how long it's been) was a nostalgic moment--it made me remember my mom making biscuits and gravy for my dad on Saturday mornings. Hers, of course, were properly kneaded, rolled out, cut with a biscuit cutter,  and glazed with butter, which I contemplated until I finished stirring in the almond milk (much more watery than regular milk) and decided that kneading was beyond this dough.

The drop biscuit recipe said it made 12, but I made them large so I got eight out of the recipe. I preheated to 450 degrees, mixed everything up, dropped them onto the cookie sheet, and popped them into the oven. Then I made coffee while waiting 15 breathless minutes for their emergence (would they be edible?)...et voilĂ !

I decided to celebrate my small baking victory by drawing and painting the biscuits, but I was in a hurry to eat them, so I decided to try a Liz Steel and do a 10-minute quickie draw-and-paint before the evidence disappeared. Not quite up to Liz's standard, but fun to do...and then I was rewarded with biscuits!


By the way, they were pretty good! A little doughy in the middle, which I attribute to the almond milk, but savory, crunchy around the edges, satisfying! I had three.

1 comment:

  1. Great sketch,the problem with baking is trying not to eat too much...it's so much nicer than buying ready made!

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