Rolling in Dough - Biscuits

Now that the three sourdough starters are a week old, it's time to start using them. Over the last three days, I made biscuits with each of the starters. The clear winner is the potato water wild yeast version.

I chose a simple biscuit recipe from Mother Earth News.  The recipe uses baking powder in addition to the sourdough starter, so it's not an authentic sourdough recipe (which would only use the starter as the leavening agent). Baking powder wasn't even invented until the mid-1800's!

Sourdough Biscuits

2 cups flour, preferably unbleached
1 Tbsp sugar, if desired
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening or butter
2 cups starter (approximately)

Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in shortening or butter with a pasty blender until you have pea-sized bits. Now add in your starter using a fork, putting in about 1 1/2 cups first. If the dough is still too stiff or dry, add enough until you get a soft dough.

Once your dough is formed, pat it out (you can also use a rolling pin) on a floured board. Cut out biscuits using a 2 inch cutter, and place 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. If you want to do something different, you can pat your dough into a square or rectangle, and using a knife, cut out square biscuits.

Bake biscuits in a 425-degree oven for about 12 minutes. Always keep and eye on them and they should be nicely browned when done.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with butter.


Last night, it was time to feed the starters again. I took out and reserved 1 cup of each. I fed the rest with 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup water. Removing some starter before you feed it helps keep the yeast vigorous.

Each of the reserved starters also got a feeding of 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water.

The first batch of biscuits used the unbleached flour starter. 

After all of the starter was mixed in, the dough was still very dry, so I added a little splash of milk to get it moist enough to hold together.

I took the quick route of patting the dough out into a rectangle and cutting it into biscuits. The more you handle the dough the tougher the biscuits are, so this method besides being quick and easy, eliminates the need to re-roll scraps of dough for cutting more biscuits. I think the rough shapes are rustically attractive!

After nearly 15 minutes in the oven, the biscuits seemed to be done but were not browned. I was afraid to leave them in the oven any longer because they'd dry out.

Of course I forgot to photograph them right from the oven. G.W. and I had already sampled them before I remembered the camera.

The biscuits did not rise into fluffy clouds. They formed a nice crunchy crust on the top and bottom and were moist in the middle. But they are considerably more dense than traditional biscuits. And there was the distinctive sourdough tangy taste. I love that flavor! G.W. was not as impressed. He said he prefers light, fluffy biscuits. While these are not 'hockey pucks', they are definitely in the stick-to-your-ribs category.

The second batch used the potato water wild yeast version. I followed the same procedure as the first batch.

These rose a little more than the first ones, but didn't brown either. The outside was crunchy and the inside was moist and a little lighter than yesterday's version. They also had a much stronger sourdough tang. Both G.W. and I liked the way this batch turned out.

The final test batch used the rye flour starter. Supposedly, rye flour creates a stronger yeast, so I was curious if there would be a noticeable difference in how much the biscuits rise. I used unbleached flour to make the biscuit dough, by the way...not rye flour.

Once again, I forgot to take a photo of them right out of the oven. We were hungry and started in on them immediately. As you can see, they did not rise much. So much for that "rye starter is better" theory.

The insides were moist and dense, but not in an unpleasant way. 

The flavor was OK, but not nearly as good as the wild yeast ones.

I'm not surprised that the wild yeast made for a better biscuit. After all, it's how people made starters for pretty much all of baking history.

In order to get a nicely browned biscuit, I will either brush the tops with butter before (or mid-way through) baking, or add a little more shortening to the dough. 

Before I throw out the other two starters, I have one more experimental baking session with them. Today, a couple of friends are coming over to help make sourdough donuts. Stay tuned for the results!