Super-Easy Whole-Wheat Biscuits from 100 Days of Real Food
Oct 27, 2014, Updated Aug 12, 2017
I love how my friend Andrew is once again spreading the good word about eating real food through his annual October Unprocessed challenge! I think it’s imperative for people to know that eating right doesn’t have to be complicated, and more importantly (except for during this challenge, of course) it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
As I learned during my own “100 Days of Real Food” pledge, living by a set of rules for a brief period is enlightening and allows you to gain a new (and often, much-needed) perspective. But I also soon found that following strict rules for life just isn’t for me because – let’s face it – stress never did anybody any good either!
Taking my own challenge back in 2010 basically forced me to come up with alternatives for things I was relying on like daily white chocolate mochas made with highly processed powder, dessert after almost every meal, fruit snacks and goldfish for the kids, and white bread for sandwiches (oh yes, I did). Then after our pledge was over we decided what “rules” we wanted to adopt long-term (turns out most of the changes were here to stay), and where we wanted to make exceptions as needed (usually at restaurants and traveling, just for convenience sake).
So as you near the end of your own challenge, I encourage you to think about what unprocessed rules will soon become your own “new normal.” This isn’t exactly a fad diet after all, it’s a new and improved lifestyle that you’ll (hopefully) agree is here to stay! And with that I’d love to share a super-easy real food recipe with you from my brand new #1 New York Times Best-Selling cookbook, 100 Days of Real Food How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love. Enjoy!
Super-Easy Whole-Wheat Biscuits
Recipe from the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook. Vegetarian & Freezer-Friendly.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons 1/2 stick cold butter
- 1 cup cold milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a whisk or a fork.
- Cut the butter into little pea-size pieces and scatter them over the flour mixture.
- Mix the flour and butter together, using the back of a fork to mash the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (You can also just forget the fork and use your fingers to mash the butter into the flour. It’s okay if the outcome just looks like pea-size pieces of butter covered with flour.)
- Add the milk and mix together thoroughly without overmixing. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times, then turn the dough out onto a floured counter or cutting board.
- Pat the dough out flat with your hands until it’s about ¾ inch thick. If the dough sticks to your fingers, sprinkle a little flour on the top and bottom. If it’s too dry (not holding together), add a splash or two of milk or water.
- Using a cookie cutter (any shape) or upside-down drinking glass, cut out biscuit rounds. Gently press together the scrap dough and cut another biscuit or two, taking care not to over-handle the dough.
- Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Notes
Nutrition
Photos:
Easy Whole-Wheat Biscuits by Carrie Vitt.
Leake Family at the Farmers Market by Kelly Trimble.
Lisa Leake is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger and author of the #1 New York Times Best-Seller, 100 Days of Real Food. She began chronicling her family’s journey on 100DaysofRealFood.com when in 2010 they decided to start seeking out the real food in our processed food world. What started as a simple pledge has turned into a valuable and practical resource that’s now read by millions around the globe. Lisa has appeared on Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, CNN, and The Doctors TV Show. Follow Lisa on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
I loved your work it is awesome thank you and keep working…
saucepan
The biscuits taste very good but mine are not rising a lot. Any suggestion would be helpful. I am using whole wheat flour and 2% milk.
The biscuits turned out perfect – nice and soft on the inside. Except the taste. The taste was awful! So disappointed. I tried so hard to like it because they were perfect texture, but the recipe calls for way too much baking soda. I’ll make these again but use half as much or even a third of what it calls for
Just realized that I used baking soda instead of baking powder. The recipe calls for baking powder. Totally messed up on my part SMH!!
I have always used buttermilk in ‘white’ flour biscuits. Is that OK with whole wheat?
Thanks for the yummy, easy recipe! They were just like my mom used to make, and went nicely with just a dot of butter on each half of the biscuit. These also reheat well. Thanks again 🙂
I replaced the butter with coconut oil and the milk with unsweetened cashew milk to make them dairy free and they turned out perfect 🙂
Why is my dough so wet? What am I doing wrong?
I use freshly milled soft white wheat flour and follow the recipe to the letter and my dough is wet. I let the dough sit for 10 mins to absorb the liquids and it is not as wet but very very sticky. I put about a 1/2 cup of flour on the counter and gently knead the dough until I get it to where it holds together.
They taste great once I fight with the dough. I want to stick to this recipe because it does taste good but why is the dough so wet? Should I not put so much milk? Help 🙂
The same thing happened to mine and I can’t believe we’re the only two with this problem! I had to add so much extra flour just to make a dough I could actually take out of the bowl. I would love a suggestion!
From experience, soft wheat (whole wheat pastry flour) requires significantly less liquid than hard wheat (conventional whole wheat flour), which is what I assume this recipe calls for.
can you sub low fat margarine for butter?
I’m guessing the recipe won’t work well with low-fat margarine, since the “fake” butters tend to be much softer than real butter. Moreover, any margarine (low-fat or otherwise) will likely have unhealthful, processed fats that Lisa and I both avoid, so we don’t recommend using it.
You may also be interested in the Cooking Oil Comparison Chart, that I created with Andy Bellatti. 🙂
You are right about these being super easy! I am so scared off by cooking with yeast that I don’t even pin the recipes.But these look fluffy and even better are healthy and don’t require yeast!
What if I add some eggs? I wish it could become more tender not too hard. However, i love your recipe, so easy to make. Thank’s for share….