This recipe title sounds like a breakfast cheer, and here is where I ought to make a cute joke about breakfasts of champions, etc., but I’m fresh out of creative wordplay, so let’s dive right in. Shortly after I got married, my sister handed me a stack of hand-written recipe cards as a way to tide me over until I could get my hands on my own copy of the family cookbook. The recipe “1-2-3 Biscuits” was on one of those cards.
The family cookbook comes from my dad’s side of the family, and it is full of delicious treats and secrets that I am not allowed to divulge should I wish to keep my place in the family bunker set aside for the imminent zombie apocalypse. (It’s coming. Trust me.) However, 1-2-3 Biscuits comes from my mom’s side of the family, and they are less secretive and less prepared for the zombies, so I can share it to my heart’s content. (But I will miss them when the zombies have eaten them.)
Without further ado, you will need:
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt (or a little less)
- 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
- 1/3 cup of oil
- 2/3 cup of milk
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together with a fork. Pour wet ingredients in and stir everything together. Knead the resulting dough about 10 times in the bowl, then “pour” onto a floured surface. You can roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter, or you can shape the dough into a flattened square and slice a tic-tac-toe design across it to make nine square-ish biscuits. Or, you can divide the dough into nine balls of dough and then lightly flatten them by hand. It’s really up to you.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 425º F for 8-10 minutes, depending on the oven. I like mine to be lightly golden on top, and that usually ends up with an increased baking time, but your oven will be different, I’m sure.
According to my sister, I would have died without this recipe. Hyperbole aside, this recipe is very handy. It is simple enough to use for lazy weekend breakfasts or to whip up as a side for dinners after work. What I really appreciate about this recipe is how customizable it is. I’ve made it with whole wheat flour, with half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour, and with just all-purpose flour. The biscuits still turn out great! I haven’t dabbled in gluten-free baking yet, but I have a feeling that since this isn’t a yeast dough, it would work well with other flours as well.*
Other ways to change up these biscuits are to add smushed berries and sugar; to mix in cheese, Italian or pizza seasoning, and browned ground beef (if you’re a carnivore); to throw in some ham and cheese; or simply to mix in cinnamon and brown sugar. There probably is an end to the possibilities, but there is certainly room for variety.
*If you try this recipe with different flours, please let me know how it comes out!
8 replies on “1-2-3 Biscuits”
Oh, my gosh. You people are so bad for my diet. Now I want biscuits AND fry bread! Thanks for posting this, Â Dormouse. We’ll definitely be having biscuits for dinner. (Oatmeal for breakfast, though.)
I feel sorry for carbophiles who miss out on the Joys of Biscuits.
Personally, I like to drop the dough by heaping spoonfuls on to the cookie sheet instead of shaping them in any way. The peaks and crooks and edges get a little toastier and a little crunchier while the inside is soft and hot and moist.
I know what I’m having for breakfast this weekend!
It’s pretty much Bannock! Yum! Hint: add a couple of tablespoons of sugar or fry in oil and roll in cinnamon and sugar: bannock doughnuts!
It’s a very basic dough, so I’m sure it’s used for other recipes too, but what is this bannock you speak of?? I love learning about new foods!
Bannock although originally Scottish, is a traditional Aboriginal bread eaten by the First Nations and Metis of Canada. In the States it is probably closest to Fry Bread. Bannock was a staple during the fur trade era and is still often eaten today. Basically your recipe is it except that it can be fried as I described above or even wrapped on a stick and cooked over the fire. It is delicious. instead of making biscuit sized ones, it’s typically a big slab of dough that you cook in oil on a skillet over the fire. Getting the delicious flavour of cast iron and campfire into the dough. Nothing sticks to your ribs like it. One woman, of Metis ancestry that I know makes what she calls “indian tacos” which is a flat bannock with taco beef and the fixings on it :D
It would be cool to write a post about the wonders of bannock and its social significance!
This looks like a biscuit recipe even I can’t screw up. yay. :)
It is VERY easy. One thing to note: if you don’t like salt, try using a *little* less than the recipe calls for. I usually just guesstimate a teaspoon and it turns out fine. :)
Oo, good to know.Thanks. :)