making biscuit dough to freeze.

[T-Bird]

I make scratch biscuits all the time for my family. When it's just my wife and me, I don't want to cook a whole batch and would like to freeze the formed biscuits for later cooking. I have tried baking them while still frozen (like the store bought frozen biscuits), I have thawed then baked. In both cases, the biscuits did not rise and would not brown. My recipe is 9oz AP flour, 1Tbl baking pwdr, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 4 Tbl Crisco, 3Tbl cubed butter, 1 cup buttermilk and when this dough is fresh, it rises like a champ. Anyone know what the secret is for good biscuit dough to freeze?

[DougGuy]

YES!! Roll it out after thawing and call it Pizza Dough! :bigsmyl2:

[Nobade]

My Mom used to do that. It never worked. When you mix the water in with the self rising ingredients, it rises. If you wait a while it doesn't. Best to make smaller batches.

[TyGuy]

I have frozen my sourdough biscuits prior to baking. While they’re nowhere near as good as fresh they are still quite good. I can post up the recipe if interested. Reminds me, I need to make a fresh starter…

[pworley1]

I go ahead and bake mine, just not till brown. Then I just brown them as I need them in the toaster oven.

[GregLaROCHE]

Try adding bacon fat instead of Crisco. Not sure is it will improve them after freezing, but fresh, they are great.
You may try yeast instead of baking powder and wait for them to thaw and they rise.

[Wayne Smith]

Find a recipe that does not use self-rising ingredients. Or mix up your own biscuit dry mix and use that instead of freezing.

[T-Bird]

yea, I've got a yeast biscuit recipe that I make for holiday dinners that is fantastic! They are more like a roll tho. Store bought frozen biscuits rise well in the oven so there's something we don't know. The one thing I do know is the way I'm presently doing it don't work!

[Springfield]

If you mean the biscuits in the break open can, those aren't actually frozen, just refrigerated. Never seen frozen biscuits, have to look next time I go to the store.

[G W Wade]

Pillsbury does offer a froozen bisquit. Tried them because did not want 8 biscuits every time. Individual but looked small. Cooked up pretty well GW

[country gent]

Mom kept the dry mix made up in the cupboard and added the wet ingredients when she made them.

[gwpercle]

If you mean the biscuits in the break open can, those aren't actually frozen, just refrigerated. Never seen frozen biscuits, have to look next time I go to the store.

Pilsbury makes several virieties of frozen biscuits , they come in a zip-lok bag ... Grands - Buttermilk , Southern Style , Honey Butter , Butter Tastin . They may be partialy baked but if placed close together will rise more up than out .
They may not taste like fresh made and baked ...but they taste pretty good , better than I can make and much cleaner kitchen when I get done .
I'm not sure what the secrete to frozen biscuits is . They don't appear to be pre-baked just white hocky puck you place on the baking sheet to brown .
Gary

[T-Bird]

I was specifically referring to the Pillsbury brand. Like GW said, they don't appear to be parbaked at all. They look like hockey pucks, but if touching on the pan while cooking, they rise well. They taste pretty good too!-- not as good as mine;)

[Hogtamer]

Here’s a better recipe I think…
grate frozen stick of unsalted butter into 2 cups soft southern (like white lily) self rising flour into cold bowl. Incorporate with finger tips into flour.
fold in 1 cup ice cold buttermilk and stir into flour. DON’T OVERWORK!!
Let mixture set in freezer for 10 minutes then turn out and roll to about 1 in, use biscuit cutter on dough.
Cook what you need in preheated 400* oven on middle rack. Put unused biscuits on sheet pan and put in freezer until firm, then bag ‘em in ziplock bag and back into freezer.
To cook frozen biscuits preheat oven and put frozen biscuits touching in oven (about 15-20 minutes)

Yes, everything needs to be COLD! Flour, bowl, butter and buttermilk. Work quickly! Whole thing takes 15 minutes plus cooking.

[BJK]

Biscuits are super fast to make, why not just downsize the recipe? Or even halve it and have next days breakfast? Slice them in half and fry in butter. I can't eat them any longer but I remember how to do it. :grin:

Or make Bannock. I think I posted the recipe here. I have made Bannock for one, but I never do because the wife always wants some when I make it, so I always make for 2.

You could also make a premix using Bakewell Cream and add the baking soda , mix the dry ingredients, and right before mixing in the wet. That would work 100% guaranteed! Bakewell Cream is a New England thing but it can be ordered and it never loses it's potency.

BTW, check the sodium in the break the tube type biscuits. They are definitely not on a low sodium diet if that means anything.

[country gent]

could you make the dough with regular flour and ingredients freeze then when wanted thaw and add yeast let rise and cook

[Jim22]

I don't care about your preferred recipe. I have a couple of observations:

1. If you are making biscuits are they cut biscuits or drop?
a. If cut use a mix either made by yourself or by a manufacturer that only requires water or milk. Use a small bowl and mix as much as you need. Cut, place on a sheet pan, and bake.
b. If drop it's the same but less mess.

2. I regularly use a Marie Callendar cornbread mix that requires only the addition of water. I have figured the quantities out so Wife and I wind up with either 2 or 3 muffins in paper cups. She likes the corn muffins better than biscuits. We like the kind with honey in them.

3. Restaurants often use pre-baked frozen biscuits. You can do the same. Bake until done and pick off a couple to warm with breakfast.

Jim

[T-Bird]

I make cut biscuits, I know not to over work etc. Been making them for 20 years, family loves them. Refer to post #8 for my conundrum. As far as reducing the recipe, you can't make a scratch biscuit recipe for 4 biscuits.

[farmbif]

freezing bread or biscuits, cake, whatever, seems to work best if they are frozen after baking.
now after reading all this its time to thaw out another package of that venison sausage and get biscuits made for breakfasts this weekend.

[Hick]

If your biscuit dough uses stuff like baking soda or baking powder (or bisquick) they rise because the baking soda reacts chemically with water and forms carbon dioxide bubbles. Freezer temps do not stop that chemical reaction-- so you lose all the rise in the freezer. On the other hand, if you are using yeast dough the action of the yeast is slowed down by freezing, so it lasts months.

[Mal Paso]

My impression is biscuits are all about the flour. If you don't have good Soft Flour, you are wasting your time so I have just bought mixes. You just don't see Soft Flour on shelves here. I found a source for White Lilly and will try the recipes. Thanks!

[William Yanda]

I go ahead and bake mine, just not till brown. Then I just brown them as I need them in the toaster oven.

That's what works.

[farmerjim]

My impression is biscuits are all about the flour. If you don't have good Soft Flour, you are wasting your time so I have just bought mixes. You just don't see Soft Flour on shelves here. I found a source for White Lilly and will try the recipes. Thanks!

Yes!
All purpose, and bread flour have too much gluten to make good biscuits.

[T-Bird]

I use White Lily. frozen biscuit dough can be made w/o yeast that rises in the oven well. Pillsbury does it- apparently nobody here knows how they do it either:D

[Fishman]

Can't help with the freezing question but a good do-it-yourself premix is called "Missouri Mix". The recipe is put out by the University of Missouri Extension and it works for all sorts of biscuit, pancake and other needs. I'm sure I ate quite a bit of it as a youngster and for the past several years we have had it in stock in the pantry. It keeps for a long time and it easy and quick to mix up, without tasting like a commercial pre-mix.

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/gh1055

[T-Bird]

Thanks fishman. I'm gonna try that baking mix. I can't believe you can add the fat (shortening) to the dry ingredients and it doesn't taste rancid in a short time if not refrigerated. Sure looks easy. Think I'll try it with powdered buttermilk instead of milk.

[Fishman]

Thanks fishman. I'm gonna try that baking mix. I can't believe you can add the fat (shortening) to the dry ingredients and it doesn't taste rancid in a short time if not refrigerated. Sure looks easy. Think I'll try it with powdered buttermilk instead of milk.

It easily lasts 6-8 weeks. I had the same concern and to be honest I really don't know how long it can last since we cycle it out regular. Whole wheat flour on its own goes south quicker than this mix.

[bangerjim]

We've switched to all store-bought frozen rolls for holidays. Not worth the hassle of dragging the bread maker machine out of storage. The key is good SALTED real butter! And lots of it when serving the piping hot rolls.

To my taste, store bought need just a bit more salt. But everything is going low Na these days. Salt is what makes things taste like homemade "Grandma-style"! Love that rich white pan-made country-fried chicken gravy!

[T-Bird]

made biscuits with the Missouri mix this am. They were very decent. Didn't use buttermilk powder because I hadn't found any when I made the mix the first of the week. I tried to make 6 biscuits, used 1 cup mix, spooned in and leveled and 1/4 cup H2O. Only made 3 biscuits but they were good and EASY! Will use this for the small numbers of biscuits my wife and I need and forget trying to freeze them. Thank's Fishman. Bangerjim, I make yeast biscuits for gatherings. You make a regular biscuit dough and add yeast too. Put the dough in the fridge to ferment for 3-5 days, then the big day, take it out roll it out like biscuits and bake. They blow doors off every store bought roll I ever ate. Recipes all over the net, but mine came from a magazine.