Three Ingredient Biscuits

My husband and I have a little home on an island in the Puget Sound, and recently we headed there for a little vacation.  Because we live on the east coast, there is quite a bit of preparation necessary for this westward trip, including meal-planning and reviewing the inventory of supplies for re-stocking or replacing.  Groundwork is laid for where we'll shop prior to the flight so that the number of stops for pickup/purchase is minimized once we're on the west coast.  Keeping an up-to-date inventory of household items, both food and otherwise, has been a tremendous help.

The good news is that we are pretty good at planning.  The bad news is that even good thinkers occasionally forget.  And guess what we forgot to purchase on this last trip out?  Hint: sweet, white, and granular.  I can't believe it either, but yup, we forgot to buy sugar.  Yikes!

We had planned to have a good friend over for dinner while vacationing.  And all of the needed ingredients for a couple appetizers and a vegetarian dinner were purchased.  The missing sugar was just for the dessert, but I knew we could plate a couple cheeses and fruit if need be.

Even so, I did have self-rising flour, coconut oil, and powdered milk from which to make something.  I decided that I could bake biscuits...slathered with butter and jam...Bingo!  This could be the dessert ticket.  And anyway, I wanted the cheese plate for the appetizer.  I prepared the dough and put it in the refrigerator so that I could bake it when we were ready for dessert.  Nothing better than hot-out-of-the-oven biscuits, right?

Long story short?  Our friend brought dessert!  A flourless chocolate cake and a container of homemade strawberry jam.  Happy, yummy times!  (And there was no mention of the biscuit dough chilling in the refrigerator.)

The following morning,  I made those biscuits... to go with that leftover jam.  Since I had already prepared the dough the day before, I just needed to remove it from the refrigerator, roll it out and slice it into random shapes (kind of like what I did with the Canistrelli cookies).

Notes

1.  It's hard to believe that you can make a delicious bread from scratch with just 3 ingredients.  Hold onto your hats cuz you can...and should!

2.  If you don't have self-rising flour (c'mon now...I've been throwing my support at this staple since forever), you can use all-purpose flour and add baking powder and salt.  See ingredient list below.  And yes, this then becomes Five Ingredient Biscuits...still a good deal :)

3.  I only had powdered milk, so I reconstituted to make what the recipe needed.

4.  The chilled dough rolls out beautifully.  Cutting random shapes is quick and there are no leftover pieces to re-roll.  What's not to like about that?

Three Ingredient Biscuits
(mentor recipe here)

2 cups self-rising flour (OR use 2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 T. baking powder and 1 tsp. salt)
1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup milk

Directions

1.  Place the self-rising flour into a bowl (or the all-purpose flour plus additions).
2.  Add the coconut oil and mix with fingers until everything uniformly clumps together when squeezed.
3.  Add milk and mix with a fork until dough just comes together.
4.  Pick up dough and place on a floured surface.  Knead a few times to get it together.
5.  Form into a rectangle (square, circle) an inch thick.
6.  Wrap in saran and chill a few hours or overnight.
7.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425º F.
8.  Remove dough from refrigerator, unwrap, and roll out to 1/2 thickness.
9.  Cut into random-sized pieces.

10. Place on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat, parchment, or greased.
11. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden on the tops.

12. Remove from oven and serve immediately with butter and jam.

Smoky Meyer Lemon Pizza

It's hard to write down how I feel about the way the days are laying themselves out lately.  I cannot say enough about how I have missed the sunshine for long stretches, and even though many days or portions thereof are still cloudy (so much of the winter was cloudy and dreary, don't you think?), the glimpses of spring sunshine hold great promise...longer and warmer days, the meltdown of snowy piles, the appearance of awakening landscapes, those early and brilliant yellow and purple crocuses, and the feeling of getting a chance to renew (and maybe do better).  In her wisdom, Mother Nature offers us an opportunity, on many levels, to try again.  I am grateful.

When I was teaching, I used to read John Updike's A Child's Calendar to my students.  This beautifully illustrated book (Trina Schart Hyman) takes a poetic look at one year, sharing the essence of each month.  For April, Updike writes in part:

It's Spring. Farewell
To chills and colds!
The blushing, girlish
World unfolds

Each flower, leaf,
And blade of turf--
Small love-notes sent
From air to earth.

And though the poem continues, I think you might get my drift.  Dearest Spring, It is with profound relief that I bid farewell to your predecessor and joyously welcome you into my life.

Our grill was buried much of the winter, and we rarely shoveled around it.  So except for a time or two, we pretty much ignored our Weber... but, not now!  Thank you Spring!

I have posted about my favorite pizza crust here.  With few ingredients, the dough is not fussy.  Recently, after preparing the dough, I let it proof for many hours because I was out hiking.  When I finally had time to take a look, the dough had risen and the surface was quite bubbly.  After punching it down and allowing it to rest, I began to assemble this luscious, Smoky Meyer Lemon Pizza.  I also prepared a Dilled Sour Cream, Salmon, and Caramelized Onion Pizza because the recipe yields dough for two good-sized pizzas.

Notes

1.  I used a Meyer lemon because I had one, but a regular lemon will do.  Just try and slice it as thinly as possible.  Don't forget to remove the seeds and discard the ends.

2.  I used Smoked Gouda, but you could certainly use smoked mozzarella.

3.  The pizza dough was finger-pressed and then rolled into a rectangular shape, but it can be round or free-form...you and your dough will work it out :)

4.  When we make pizzas in my house, they are always grilled outdoors.  I tell you this because you will need to transport the dressed pizza (to the grill) on a surface after it is rolled out and adorned.  We have used a  pizza peel heavily dusted with cornmeal OR a cookie sheet heavily dusted with cornmeal.  Cornmeal gives the bottom crust a great crunch and allows the pizza to slide off the cookie sheet (or peel) right onto the grill grates.

5.  Set your grill on high and let it pre-heat for 15-20 minutes or alternately use a 475º F oven.  (If you are oven-baking, you will need to bake on a cookie sheet or pizza pan.)

6.  If you are interested in the Dilled Sour Cream, Salmon, and Caramelized Onion pizza, see end note and pic.

7.  The yield for this pizza crust is variable, dependent upon the size you need.  In this post, I was able to create two large rectangular pizzas, each measuring approximately 16" x 10".

Smoky Meyer Lemon Pizza

Pizza crust recipe or use 1 pound prepared pizza dough
1/2 pound (or to your liking) smoked gouda
1 Meyer Lemon, sliced thinly, seeds and ends discarded
Ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil for drizzling
Extra flour for dusting the rolling surface/rolling pin
Cornmeal for dusting the pizza peel/cookie sheet

Directions

1.  Prepare crust.
2.  After dough has proofed and doubled in size, punch down to release gas.
3.  Let dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes.
4.  Divide the dough in half.  Remove one piece and cover the other.
5.  Flour your surface and place the dough onto the flour.  Begin to finger press the dough into the shape you want.
6.  Then use a rolling pin to flatten to 1/4 inch thick or so.  Refresh with a dusting of flour on the bottom and top as needed to keep from sticking.
7.  Transfer the dough to a corn-meal dusted pizza peel or cookie sheet.  You can do this by rolling the dough around the rolling pin, and then unrolling the dough onto the cornmeal-dusted cookie sheet.
8.  Arrange the lemon slices onto the dough.
9.  Scatter the grated cheese over the lemons.
10.Pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil.

11. Slide the pizza onto the grill grates and bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and turning golden brown.  The bottom will be crisp and a bit dark in spots.
12. Using a metal utensil, slide pizza from grill onto a cutting board.
13. Slice and serve...yummy!

14.  Perhaps you'd like another topping option.  Mix sour cream with chopped dill sprigs.  Spread on the pizza dough.  Top with bits of cooked salmon and caramelized onion.  Bake as above.  Drizzle with balsamic before eating.

Dilled Sour Cream, Salmon, and Caramelized Onion Pizza