You know you have a good cookbook when it is no longer pretty, most likely has a food drip/stain on the jacket cover and probably has handwritten notes on how you want to make a recipe again. That is this book.
I call a book like this beautiful, because it is used and appreciated. Tattooed if you will, with the living of life in a busy kitchen, while helping to feed the family and friends that drop by.
This book contains some great recipes including our favorite Banana Bread.
Angel Biscuits came before dairy case biscuit dough in a tube. These biscuits are baked from a dough made up ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. Just like tube biscuits, only homemade, with your choice of ingredients. Think Monkey Bread, biscuit dough pizza, biscuit topping for pot pie or fruit cobbler. If you can make it with tubes of biscuit dough, you can make it with Angel Biscuit dough. The finished dough can be stored for up to 7 days, and frozen for up to 1 month.
Angel Biscuits Adapted/made from: The Wooden Spoon Bread Book
the intro:Â Angel Biscuits are a Southern Specialty. The dough, risen by both yeast and quick leaveners, produces a very light biscuit. The mixing can be done ahead of of the baking to suit your schedule.Â
To soften yeast, in a small container combine,
3Â tablespoons warm water
1 scant tablespoons (or 1 packet) active dry yeast
let yeast stand while preparing the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together:
5 cups unbleached flour
1Â tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
and then to cut the butter into small pieces, drop it into the flour mixture, one piece at a time. Process on low until the butter has been worked into the flour mixture.
OR
with a pastry blender or two knives, cut into the dry ingredients,
1 cup butter or shortening of choice
make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Into that well pour the,
softened yeast
2Â cups buttermilk
Gently mix with a wooden spoon just until dry ingredients are moistened. Just a few turns of the paddle mixer did the trick.
Dough will be soft. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Cover with waxed paper and then a china plate.
Chill for at least 1 hour or longer.
When ready to bake remove enough dough to make desired numbered biscuits. On a lightly floured surface, knead gently two or three times. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut as desired and bake in preheated 400 degree oven, 12 – 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
To substitute this dough for tube biscuits in your favorite recipes, divide the dough into 4 parts. Each part will be approximately one tube of biscuit dough.
Now that you have dough, what will you make with it? Having Angel Biscuit dough ready to go is very convenient. The bowl sits quietly in the refrigerator, until you have need to use it. Like I said, convenient! For a quick meal last week, we had Easter Ham bone soup and dinner scones
I make scones, because I am a lazy biscuit baker! The rolling and cutting and re-rolling of the dough, phooey! I prefer to pat the dough out, cut into the number of scones I need/want and bake. Done and done.
To make scones, preheat oven to 425.
Remove dough from refrigerator, score dough into 4 parts. Note:Â Each part will be about the same as a tube of dairy case biscuits for those recipes you want to adapt to Angel Biscuit Dough.
Using one part, knead dough 3 – 5 times on a “floured” surface, I use oat bran. It keeps any dough from sticking and does not leave a floury finish. Pat into a circle approximately 1/2 inch thick. Cut into desired number of scones, place circle in a prepared baking pan. Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until done in your oven. Enjoy!
And now lets make Monkey Bread Ring.
Monkey Bread Ring
350 degree oven
1 portion of Angel Biscuit dough
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup broken pecan pieces
Combine brown sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg, set aside. Using one portion of the Angel Biscuit dough, knead 3-5 times on a “floured” surface. Flatten to a rectangle. and cut into 24 pieces.
Roll each portion of dough into a ball, coat in melted butter, roll in brown sugar mixture and arrange in baking pan.
It is safe to use a jelly jar for the center support, just remember it will get very hot in the oven. To prevent the jar from over heating, add a small amount of water to the inside of the jar before placing in oven.
When all dough has been used, scatter pecans over top of dough balls, pour maple syrup over and finally use up the butter and the brown sugar mixture by scattering over the top of the dough balls. Bake 25 minutes.
Remove from oven, cool 5 – 10 minutes, carefully remove jelly jar from center and set aside to cool (do not place in a sink of water, it will break, please do not ask me how I know this!) the jar is very hot.
The Monkey Bread is delicious, even the next day, moist and it reheats well.
Now that you have the basics, what will you make with your Angel dough?
For more great recipes and ideas visit Mom’s Sunday Cafe.
As always thanks for taking a moment to stop by.
I appreciate your visits and your comments!
This is it next to the one I’d bought the week before that was now fully ripe, and no good for this recipe.
I got to work, peeling, slicing and grating. Discarding the seeds of course. The ripe fruit for snacking and smoothies. The grated green papaya for salads (wonderful with a simple french vinaigrette).
All of a sudden there were tons of papaya in the house!
