Sep 20, 2012 Posted on Sep 20, 2012 | 1 comment

Beautiful Buttermilk

Seems both my mother and my father in-law drank buttermilk when they were kids. With pepper on it. Like, ewwh. Although I can’t stomach the thought of drinking it straight up, my appreciation for this magical dairy product has increased over the last couple years.

Somehow this thick sour liquid creates the moistest creations. In fact, I refuse to make any quick breads that don’t include buttermilk in their recipe.  By quick breads, I mean biscuits, scones, pancakes, waffles, and banana bread.  And I thought I’d share a recipe or two with ya’ll of my favorite buttermilk creations.  These recipes using wheat flour don’t suck. Have to have some white to make them work though.

Buttermilk Biscuit Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I do 2/3 cup wheat and 1 1/3 cup white)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup cold Crisco (I sometimes do half unsalted butter or even all unsalted butter)
• 2/3 cup plus 2 Tbs buttermilk

Directions-

Sift flours with all other dry ingredients. Cut in shortening and blend until it resembles “meal”.

Add buttermilk and stir until it forms dough. Scrape out onto floured surface.

Fold over a couple times. Them press to a half inch thick, grab a glass, and cut as many rounds as you can. Reform the scraps to cut more or make monkey biscuits.

Brush with milk after placing onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Either bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Or place them in the freezer this way. When their frozen, transfer to baggies. And cook them later by adding a couple minutes to the cooking time to allow for thaw.

 

Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup wheat germ
• 1  tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbs light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
• 2 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Vegetable cooking spray

Directions-

     Preheat oven to 200 degrees to keep the cakes warm.

In a food processor or in a medium bowl with a whisk, combine the whole wheat flour, white flour wheat      germ or oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and salt and set aside.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease the surface with oil.

Stir together melted butter, buttermilk, and eggs in a larger bowl.

Stir the flour mixture into the buttermilk mixture.

Ladle ¼ cup of the batter onto the griddle to form 4 inch pancakes. Once bubbles form on the top of the pancakes and edges are slightly dry, flip them over and cook them on the other side until golden brown  about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to oven platter. Yields 16 four inch pancakes.

 

A comparable Banana Bread recipe can be found here. Except cook an hour and poke with sharp knife to come clean. Overcooking takes the joy right out of it.

Hope you enjoy these recipes. I have made my own buttermilk ranch dressing which was pretty good. And I’ve used it to tenderize chicken. Except then the crunchy breading didn’t want to stick while frying. I’ve not tried the Martha Stewart blend the moss with buttermilk and smear it on the garden urn but I hear it does work. And Didn’t Annie Lebowitz take a great picture of Whoopi Goldberg coming out of a bathtub full of buttermilk? Got any other ways to use it I’ve missed?

 

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One Response to “Beautiful Buttermilk”

1. Michelle ; ) says:

   September 21, 2012 at 1:36 pm

   THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THE TIP!!! AND THE RECIPES!

   Reply