Whole-grain biscuits: tender, buttery, AND wheat-free
April 11th, 2010 by PJ HamelRecipe: Ancient Grains Biscuits
Now, isn’t this just the picture of a perfect whole-grain biscuit?
Not only that, it’s a whole-grain, wheat-free, gluten-free biscuit.
Hold on, now. I know we’ve been paying a lot of attention to gluten-free baking lately, but just because you don’t NEED to bake gluten-free, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try anyway.
Lots of GF baking is pretty darned tasty. And these biscuits, based on five different whole grains, are a prime example.
I have to admit, I scoffed. Whole-grain biscuits? If there’s ever a time you want to dig into your canister of white flour, biscuits is it.
Lots of folks go a step further, claiming only soft bleached flour makes a good biscuit. I can’t go that far, since I’ve seen how flour is bleached (by guys wearing protective suits, hats, and masks, pouring powdered bleach into freshly milled flour. No thanks.).
But after tasting these biscuits – being forced to taste them, if the truth be told – well, just like The Monkees, I’m a believer.
That nicely crunchy exterior. The soft inner crumb, its network of tunnels just waiting for the application of soft butter.
And the taste – not a hint of whole wheat’s sometimes tannic “bite.” Just smooth, rich, nutty flavor.
Heck, I’d even make these biscuits if I wasn’t going for something whole grain or gluten-free – they’re that good.
And if you do happen to be baking for someone avoiding gluten… or trying to add an array of wheat-free whole grains to your diet in the nicest possible way, you’ve found the ideal recipe: Ancient Grains Biscuits.
Our King Arthur gluten-free flour mix combines stabilized brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch in an easy-to-use, versatile GF blend.
It’s sometimes tough to get fiber and whole grains into a gluten-free diet. Our Ancient Grains Flour Blend is a mix of four whole-grain GF flours, perfect for higher-fiber GF baking.
So, here are the three grains that go into these biscuits (clockwise from top left): our King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour; yellow cornmeal; and our Ancient Grains Flour Blend.
Oh, and one more must-have (which I’m sure you already have, if you’ve done any GF baking) – xanthan gum. It helps hold everything together, in the absence of gluten.
Ready? Let’s begin.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment paper.
Put the following in a mixing bowl:
3/4 cup Ancient Grains Flour Blend
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour or brown rice flour blend
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whisk everything together, then add 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold butter.
Work in the butter till the mixture is unevenly crumbly.
In a separate bowl – or a 2-cup measuring cup – whisk together 3/4 cup buttermilk, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and 1 large egg.
Though real maple syrup is expensive, it’s also much sweeter and stronger than fake maple syrup. I actually enjoy the artificial stuff on my pancakes; after all, it’s the flavor most of us grew up with, because whose parents could afford real maple syrup back in the day? But for baking? I turn to my strong Grade B maple syrup. It’s especially delicious in homemade granola, where it really shines.
OK, back to our regularly scheduled program. Buttermilk, egg, and syrup, nice and smooth.
Add to the butter/dry ingredients in the bowl.
Stir together till just combined. The dough will be very wet; use a bowl scraper to scrape the sides of the bowl, bringing all the dough down to the bottom.
Scoop out the dough in golf ball-sized portions. I’m using a generously filled tablespoon cookie scoop here.
Drop onto the prepared baking sheet.
The ridged bottom of our USA Pans cookie sheet is perfect for biscuits, allowing air to flow underneath for crispier bottom crusts.
Bake the biscuits for 12 to 14 minutes, until they’re light golden brown.
Remove them from the oven.
Serve warm. Preferably with soft butter.
And jam. Or apricot preserves, my favorite.
Whole grains, gluten-free… I’m a long-time fan of full-gluten, all-purpose white flour, but these are truly delicious.
Read, rate, and review (please) our recipe for Ancient Grains Biscuits.
Tags: Ancient Grains, Biscuits, gluten-free
April 11th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this GF recipe! I make a mean Sausage Gravy but have not found a good g-free biscuit recipe. Now I absolutely must order the 2 flours featured so I can make these for my adult daughter, who is Celiac and must eat g-free. Will also have my daughter-in-law check this page out so she can make these for my son and grandaughter who are both Celiac and eat g-free. Again, thank you!!
April 11th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Is the gluten free mix all whole grain? I’d have thought the tapioca and potato flours were refined, and would be delighted if I’m wrong!
Hi Anne,
I checked with Andrea in the test kitchen and she says while there are whole grains in the GF flour, it as a whole is not considered a whole grain flour. Hope this helps! ~ MaryJane
April 13th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Those looks delicious! These biscuits are amazing! They are the best biscuits I have ever made either with gluten or without. Mary @ KAF
April 13th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Could you leave out the xanthan gum? I know it helps with viscosity and it’s not as artificial as it sounds, but I just can’t get comfortable with it. Xanthan gum is what provides the structure to replace the gluten structure. I don’t think it would work to omit it. Mary@ KAf
April 13th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve recently eliminated gluten from my diet, but biscuits are the thing I’ve been missing the most. Can’t wait to give these a try!
April 14th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I’m excited to try this recipe as I love biscuits, but having gone gluten-free has prevented me from enjoying them.
I was wondering, could this recipe be used to make monkey bread…..since past monkey bread recipes I’ve made used the Pillsbury biscuits that came in a can.
Would this recipe work for a gluten-free version if rolled into balls and baked on top of each other in a bundt pan?
You can’t really roll the sticky dough into balls, Sidney. But you could definitely plop little balls into coating, then pile them atop each other. I think it would be just fine. Probably best not to make too many layers; two layers would be preferable to three, I think. Enjoy – PJH
April 15th, 2010 at 11:28 am
i really appreciate the effort of taking photos for the step by step process of doing it..i love it!
April 16th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Wow! If they’re half as good as the picture, I’m sold!!!! Thank you for this great recipe. It looks easy too!!
April 17th, 2010 at 10:41 am
[...] Whole-grain biscuits: tender, buttery, AND wheat-free | King … [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Okay, just got my KAF order (AGFB and Xanthan Gum) from the UPS man and whipped up a batch! A bit small, but the two-bite size is really good for a mid-afternoon snack! I used Agave Nectar instead of the maple syrup and while it was just the right amount of sweet, I can imagine the added depth the maple would have given it, next time… I also went to grab my yellow cornmeal and found I only had white enriched mix in the house (has wheat flour in it). I was a bit disappointed but forged ahead anyway. I think it probably added some softness and structure to it, so I’ll have to get some cornmeal and (darn it!) try again…
Overall, excellent, highly recommended here!
May 8th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I left some of this in my rating but expanded on it here. We enjoyed these very much! The texture was very Southern: tender, flaky, buttery very slightly cake-y in the best way. The corn flavor dominated much more than expected. When we remake I’ll half the corn & sub the rest with sorghum. We used masa harina cornmeal for fine texture but it was still a bit crunchy. We liked the texture contrast but if you don’t you can pre-soak in the buttermilk for 30 min & add those together. I used the brown rice flour blend but when I measured out for the recipe I subbed in 3 tbs sweet white rice flour to better approximate the KAF blend & increase moisture retention. That worked great. We didn’t have maple syrup so I subbed Lyle’s Golden, a caramel tasting syrup. It’s very slight finishing bitter note went well with the sweet corn flavor. Split & toasted these made great strawberry shortcakes!
Thanks for sharing your tweaks, Eileen – and great idea about strawberry shortcake! PJH
May 11th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Glad you liked the info, PJ! Now that I read my last comment I realize I didn’t make clear about the brown rice flour blend I used. It was made with KAF’s GF brown rice flour, potato starch & tapioca starch, and those were terrific. The brown rice flour in particular was noticeably finer than even the superfine brown rice flour from other sources. And, I left the mix in a counter top canister but it was still in good shape. Yay, stabilization! I got the ingredients instead of the pre-mixed so I could adjust the mix a little for different food types (i.e. sweet white rice flour for closer grained crumb or Expandex for slightly more open but still cakey crumb). Thanks for the great products!
May 12th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:38 am
These look great. I’m going to try adding amaranth and quinoa flours to my biscuit recipe. I like to shorten biscuits with 2/3 butter 1/3 coconut oil (refrigerated to make a semi-solid) then serve with strawberries as a “fake” shortcake. I have a question for you: I’ve been pinching in the shortening in an effort to obtain a flaky crust (a la pie crust) but can’t really tell if this helps. Should it? Thanks, and check out my website!
To get the best of both worlds, flaky and tender, cut in half of your chosen fat until the particles are fairly small, like granola. Then cut in the rest of the fat in larger pieces and flatten them out into flakes. Be sure to chill everything well before you bake. ~ MaryJane
June 28th, 2010 at 11:37 am
What a pleasant surprise to see Gluten Free Flour on your site. Several years ago I wanted to take a bread making class and then found that I was allergic to Gluten, what a disappointment! So, is there now a possible GF class in my future?
We have had one GF class so far, and may have another sometime. It’s a bit tricky to offer, as the facility is not gluten free, but we sure do have it on our radar, so keep checking! ~ MaryJane
February 11th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Can I replace the ancient grain flour with the KA gluten free flour?
Yes, you should be able to do that. But, since we haven’t tested it – no “for sure” guarantees. Let us know how it works out for you – PJH
March 9th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
I don’t have a question, but I would like to share with you, your recipe.
First of all, the recipe was just great, taste,texture,smell, however, I did change it a bit.
I left out the Ancient Grains Flour blend, and added more of the brown rice flour blend. I also used #16 ice cream scoop. It made 9 good size biscuits. they were just wonderful, the next time i make them, I will use a very fine brown rice flour blend to see if it wouldn’t make it a little lighter texture. thanks Diane
Diane, thanks for your feedback here, and for sharing your tweaks with all of us. Interesting recipe, isn’t i? PJH
April 7th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Thanks so much KAF for providing your gluten-free products and recipes. These do look delicious, but unfortunately I’m allergic to corn as well as wheat. Could I substitute a different grain that is also milled a coarser texture (such as amaranth, teff or oat) or is there something in the cornmeal chemistry that makes this recipe work?
I think any of those in flour form would work great in the place of cornmeal. Report back to us the results! Elisabeth
June 16th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Could you substiture arrowroot or unflavored gelatin for the xanthan gum ? I omit gum in muffins, biscuits, scones that has nut butter, pureed stuff (pumpkin, sweet potatoes, fruit or honey).
I’m not quite sure how this will work with either of these replacements. Give it a try. Frank @ KAF.