These dairy free biscuits were developed to appease my gr-son, Gabe’s love of Milk Sausage Gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Last night I served them with Drunk Beef Stew (aka Boef Bourguinon) to Daryn and Kerryn and they were mighty good on a cold, blustery, end of winter night.
Dairy Free “Buttermilk” Biscuits
Pre-heat your oven to 450*. Add 2 TBS lemon juice to 2 cups almond milk and allow it to sit for at least ½ hour until it has clabbered and the solids have floated to the surface. Skim the solids off the top into a measuring cup. Add enough of the leftover liquid to make one cup of clabbered almond milk. I haven’t tried this with other kinds of milk substitutes but I imagine it works just as well. You could also use vinegar to achieve the same results.
Sift into a medium bowl:
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2 ½ (approximately) cups all purpose flour
Carefully spooning the sifted flour into a 1 cup dry measuring cup, taking care not to pack the flour down and leveling off with a knife, measure out 2 cups of the flour into a large bowl. Add and mix into the flour with a large balloon whisk:
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1 TBS double acting baking powder
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½ tsp baking soda
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1 tsp salt
cut into small (¼”) cubes
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6 TBS very cold margarine
and drop into the flour mixture, occasionally coating the cubes of margarine with flour. Cut the margarine into the flour with a pastry cutter or quickly rub the flour and margarine between your hands, breaking up the cubes and coating it with flour but not working the flour into the margarine. Make a well in the center and pour the clabbered almond milk into it. Gently stir with as few strokes as possible until most of the flour has been mixed into the almond milk. The dough should be very sticky. You can add a little more of the almond milk liquid if needed.
Turn the dough out onto a board that has been generously floured with the rest of the sifted flour and gently pat it with your fingers—do not roll it with a rolling pin–into a half inch thick circle. Gently knead the dough, pulling a portion of the dough up and folding it towards the center and patting it gently together, turning the dough ¼ turn each time for 2 rounds (8 kneading movements). Pat it into a 1” thick circle with your fingers—again do not use a rolling pin. Work this dough as little and as gently as possible to avoid developing the gluten. You should still be able to see bits of margarine and some dry streaks of flour at this point but it should be very sticky.
Cut it into 3” rounds with a floured glass or biscuit cutter. Gently gather the scraps together and pat them into rounds. Place the rounds into a large cast iron skillet or on a heavy cookie sheet with the edges touching each other. They can be spaced apart but they won’t rise as high as they will if they are crowded together. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.
Barbara Gavin-Lewellyn
