Beautiful Buttermilk Recipes

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 one or two of my favorite buttermilk recipes with y’all.  These recipes using wheat flour don’t suck but you have to have some white to make them work.

Buttermilk Biscuit Dough

From the Joy of Cooking, this recipe’s use of buttermilk and soda makes a very tender biscuit. I converted from the attempt to make flaky because these are fabulous.

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (sometimes I do a third wheat and 2/3 white flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening or 5 TB butter, salted or unsalted
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Sift flours with all other dry ingredients. Cut in shortening or blend until it resembles “meal”.
2. Add buttermilk and lightly mix until it forms dough. Scrape out onto floured surface.
3. Fold over a couple times. Resist over-handling. 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.
4. Brush with milk after placing onto un-greased or parchment papered cookie sheet.
5. Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 10 – 15 minutes depending on the size.

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

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees to keep the cakes warm.
2. 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.
3. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease the surface with oil.
4. Stir together melted butter, buttermilk, and eggs in a larger bowl.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the buttermilk mixture.
6. 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.
7. 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?