Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day
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Recipe Reviews
sturlington from Hillsborough, NC
I had a very different experience from the other reviewers. My biscuits did not rise well and indeed resembled little hockey pucks. I rescued the second batch by piling several cut biscuits on top of one another to create layered biscuits.
These biscuits are indeed flaky, but they are not fluffy like I want biscuits to be. This is the second recipe I have made from this well-reviewed book that has not turned out for me. At first, I was blaming myself, but in truth, I have made biscuits many times from many recipes and they always turn out great. I also have a reliable buttermilk biscuit recipe I can turn out in less than 1/2 hour, without freezing the butter or resting the dough, and they always bake up high and fluffy. I really think the dough is worked too much with all the folding, as I have always been taught to handle biscuit dough as little as possible.
I am more than a little disappointed that I am not getting the same results from these recipes as the other reviewers, since I was so excited to get this book. Perhaps this book is just not a good fit for my baking style, but I will try one or two more recipes from it before making up my mind.
bes30 from ,
I made these biscuits to go with Easter Ham Dinner and they came out great. They are super easy to make, with total time from mixing to mouth being a little over 1 hour.
Peter says these are the best biscuits ever. They are very good, but I am a skeptic. While it is very hard for me to determine if these are the best, I was not so totally wow’d that I could give them the best biscuit crown.
I will still give the recipe 5 stars (I would give 4.5 if I could) for the perfect amount of flaky and chewy biscuit, but I will reserve the title of best biscuit ever.
homejoys from ,
Peter calls these the "best biscuits ever", which is a bold claim, but I think these biscuits live up to it! Soft, flaky, tender and wonderful flavor make these the best biscuits I've ever made. Of course, they are not low fat but I'm willing to enjoy the butter and cream in these biscuits.
The first time I made these, I followed the directions explicitly. I loved the idea of grating frozen butter. It made it so easy to work the butter in the flour. The dough was very soft and wet but I resisted adding more flour and turned it on the counter and did the folds as described. The results were without description! I stirred up some sausage gravy and we had a breakfast to dream of. (And my sweet husband watched the children so I could go for a brisk walk to help with some calorie reduction!)
The next time I made this recipe, was much more spur of the moment. One evening, my husband just decided he was very hungry for these biscuits and I decided to see how fast I could make this recipe. By doing some short cuts (no freezing the butter or dough resting time) we had biscuits from start to eating in 20 minutes. I also used half whole wheat flour in this batch. They were still wonderful! This time a few made it to the next day so we were able to find that they are almost as good the next day.
This is one great recipe. If you can try only one recipe, you won't lose with this one!
cadfael from , NS
These biscuits are ones I will definitely bake again. I followed instructions exactly, including grating the frozen butter and resting the dough. I found the tips and techniques about hydration, coating, and handling the dough very helpful.
The dough rose beautifully in the oven. When the biscuits were still warm, they had the texture and taste of a cross between a croissant and a tea biscuit. When they were completely cooled and broken in two, you could really appreciate the flakey layering. A slight tang underlays the buttery flavor giving the biscuits a real artisan bakery taste. The crust is lightly crispy, and the interior meltingly tender.
Best of all, I froze half the cooled, cooked biscuits and reheated them in a couple layers of foil for 10 minutes after letting them sit out of the freezer for a half hour. Worked like a charm, making it perfect to serve for a company dinner.
(edited 19th February 2010) (0) comment (1) useful
As the recipe's name suggests, these are indeed the best biscuits ever. I got the book Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning saw me whipping up a batch. This took all of maybe 20 minutes. They are absolutely delicious. I have made them since and they turned out exactly the same - perfectly!
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