Spelt biscuits – look at all that texture!
Wheat/white version – they taste better than they look!
I wasn’t going to post about the biscuits I made the other day but they’ve proven to be such tasty snacks and stew accompaniments that I’m proud to post about them.
Last week I dug this cookbook, The Country Kitchen by Jocasta Innes out of my book box in the basement. I was looking for jam and preserve recipes but I found a lot of other tasty looking things that I’d never thought about making before. The recipes and kitchen wisdom in this book are pretty old fashioned and very British. It is definitely oriented towards homemade staples and living off the earth’s bounty.
A biscuit recipe caught my eye as something that might go well with the stew I was making for dinner. I decided to make two variations: a half white, half wheat flour version and a spelt flour version. I love spelt flour. I love the hearty, nutty flavor and unique texture. The market where I used to shop in Denver, Sunflower Farmers Market, made delicious 100% spelt bread that made heavenly PB and J sandwiches. I really miss that bread.
The spelt biscuits (and by biscuit, I mean crunchy cracker-like English biscuits) were much better than the white/wheat version. The spelt flour’s flaky, crumbly texture combined with just the right amount of butter made for a great consistency. The white/wheat biscuits were good too. They just didn’t look as cool because I forgot to poke fork holes in them (yes, the fork holes are important for the biscuit look). I got to practice my metric conversions for this recipe!
Water Biscuits
From The Country Kitchen by Jocasta Innes
22g (8 oz) flour (I made one batch of half white, half wheat and a second batch using all spelt flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
50g (2 oz) butter
150 ml (1/4) pint water
ground rock or sea salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Rub in the butter (I used a pastry blender).
Add just enough water to make a firm dough.
Roll dough out thinly on a lightly floured surface.
Stamp out rounds with a cookie or biscuit cutter (I used the rim of a small cup).
Prick rounds all over with a fork and sprinkle them with sea salt.
*Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden and crisp.
*My biscuits took more like 45 minutes to an hour to get really crisp. I may not have rolled my dough out thin enough. I increased the temperature to 400 deg. F for the spelt version and baked them for about 45 minutes. They seemed to crisp up faster than the white/wheat biscuits.
