Buttermilk Za'atar Cheese Skirt Biscuits
Biscuits baked on a bed of cheese for a lacy and crispy bottom skirt!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 165 grams all purpose flour
- 130 grams cake and pastry flour
- 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt or 1/8 teaspoon Morton's Kosher Salt
- 8 grams baking powder
- 3 grams baking soda
- 125 grams unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces and very well chilled
- 130 grams Gruyere cheese grated and divided into 40 grams (to add to dough)and 90 grams (to place under biscuits)
- 8 grams Za'atar
- 220 grams buttermilk
- 21 grams honey
Topping for biscuits
- 14 grams unsalted butter melted
- 4 grams Za'atar
Instructions
- Stack 2 sheet pans together. Line the top sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. (Doubling the baking sheets prevents the biscuits from getting too dark on the bottom.)
- Sift the all-purpose flour, cake and pastry flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add cold butter pieces to the bowl. Using a pastry blender, or 2 forks, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is the size of small peas. I do not recommend using your hands, as the heat from your fingers will melt the butter. You want the biscuit dough to have small flecks of butter that are not completely incorporated into the dry ingredients. Butter is about 20% water, so that when the biscuits hit the hot oven, these little bits of butter will release their moisture and create steam, which will help create flaky tall biscuits.
- Add 40 grams grated Gruyere cheese and za'atar and briefly mix. Add the buttermilk and honey and, using a rubber spatula, stir together. Just stir until there are no dry patches of flour in the bowl. The dough will look like a shaggy mess. This is correct.
- Lightly dust your counter with all-purpose flour. Dump the dough onto the floured work surface and gently knead together just to incorporate the remaining dry flour This should only take about 7 kneads.
- Using a pastry scraper, bring the dough together into a rectangle, roughly 11x7 inches. Fold one side of the rectangle into the center, then fold the other side into the center. Imagine you are folding a sheet of paper into thirds to fit into an envelope.
- Turn the dough horizontally. Gently roll or pat it into a 11x7 inch rectangle a second time. Repeat the letter fold again. Turn the dough horizontally one more time and gently roll or pat dough into a 11x7 inch rectangle a third time. Fold like a letter into thirds again, for a third fold. Repeat the patting and folding one last time, for a total of 4 folds.
- Sprinkle the remaining 90 grams of grated Gruyere cheese into 8 piles on the parchment lined baking sheet, making sure they are about 2 inches apart.
- Gently pat or roll the dough until the rectangle is about 1 inch thick. Cut dough into rounds with a 2½ inch biscuit or cookie cutter. Don’t twist the biscuit cutter when pressing into the dough. Just go straight down. If you twist the cutter, the biscuits will not rise as tall. Re-roll scraps until all the dough is used. You should have 8 biscuits. Place each biscuit on a mound of cheese, making sure cheese peeks out at the edges of the biscuit. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with za'atar. Place baking sheet in fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
- While biscuits are chilling, place oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F. Bake biscuits for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown and biscuits reach an internal temperature of 205°F-210°F using an instant read thermometer.
- Let biscuits cool on baking sheet for at least 5minutes. Any leftover biscuits can be wrapped in plastic wrap and then popped into a freezer bag for freezing. Thaw slightly, split biscuits and toast in oven.
Nutrition
Serving: -1biscuitCalories: 356kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 10gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 430mgPotassium: 108mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 691IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 293mgIron: 4mg
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