Tender Biscuits | Baking with Dorie

Tender biscuits may be easy to do, but hard to make perfect — from my experience. The dough comes together by hand in a bowl. No mixer required. First, cut butter into the flour mixture (2 cups all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar), simply by pressing and rubbing butter (3/4 stick) with your fingers against the dry ingredients, until they start crumbing. You get shapes of flakes or peas. Then add yogurt (1/2 cup) and milk (1/4 cup). Turn the dough out, knead and pat it into a raggedy of almost any form (square, round or rectangle) you like. Finally, cut the dough into individual biscuits.

Guess what, I ran out of all-purpose flour when I was ready to bake last night. The project becomes tender biscuits with scrambled eggs this morning, after a trip to the grocery store. Who wouldn’t like a delightful breakfast of eggs and biscuits served with some greens and tomato jam?

Here comes the unexpected: my husband pulled out the left-over coquilles St.-Jacques from the fridge to eat it with the biscuits. I got a bite from his plate. Can’t tell you how much I enjoy the way a buttery biscuit enhances and enlivens a cheesy herby scallop leftover sauce. That’s a stunning discovery!

The final takeaway: the savory tender biscuits pair well with a seafood dish such as the coquilles St.-Jacques.