February 2012
Look at the sun shining on that butter and the flour clinging to those kitchen tools.
In my minty colored kitchen, that combination could easily mean a morning batch of pancakes, which I could happily eat once a week. For the sake of variety, and for the sake of keeping my chief pancake flipper guessing, I diverged from my Saturday morning creature comforts.
I sure did! I said “sage” too! Then I started talking about cheese, and from there, things became a little salty but fortunately, not in the sassy or sarcastic sense of the word.
Salty Sage Biscuits for Breakfast Sandwiches
Makes 5 larger biscuits or 10 small biscuits
(the pictured biscuits were on the smaller side)
Biscuit Ingredients
3/4 cup chestnut flour
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour, plus more for dusting
1 Tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons grated pecorino cheese
Fresh sage, chopped
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 stick organic, unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
3/4 cup buttermilk (I was fresh out, so I used this method for homemade buttermilk)
Recommended Breakfast Sandwich Filling
Sliced Porqueta
Aged gouda
Eggs (local/free-range), sunny side up
For the Biscuits
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Position rack in the middle. Line a baking stone with parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the salt, baking powder, baking soda, black pepper and pecorino cheese. Add the chopped sage.
Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand.
Add the buttermilk, and stir until a dough forms.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and knead it until it comes together.
Pat the dough into a rectangle, about 1 in thick.
Use a small, round cutter, stamp out as many biscuits as possible. Reroll the scraps if necessary and repeat.
Transfer the biscuits to the baking stone, and bake for about 20-30 minutes, until golden and risen.
Let the biscuits cool.
Fill the biscuits with slices of porqueta, aged gouda and sunny side up eggs.
Enjoy lazily with someone special!
Might I also suggest a tiny teapot of this chai?