Tag Archives: yeast

Butter Biscuits – 1798

Thoughts:

True to their name, these are quite buttery. More what we might think of as modern rolls rather than biscuits, they are simple and wholesome, stopping just shy of fluffy. Because they are so simple, they are a perfect vehicle for your choice of condiments, including jam, clotted cream, or honey on the comb.

Colonial Butter Biscuits Recipe

Quarter Recipe Yield: 10 small biscuits

Sponge: overnight       Prep: 10 minutes       Baking: 25-30 minutes


Ingredients:

              Full Batch                   Half Batch                Quarter Batch

  • 1 pint milk                  1 cup milk                  1/2 cup milk
  • 1 pint emptins          1 cup emptins           1/2 cup emptins (or sourdough starter)
  • flour                              flour                             1/2 cup flour
  • 1 lb. butter                 2 sticks butter          1 stick butter
  • another pint milk    1 cup milk                  1/2 cup milk
  • more flour                  flour                             2 cups flour, plus a bit more

Mix the half cup milk with the half cup emptins, along with a 1/2 cup flour to make a sponge. Cover loosely with a dish towel and let sit out overnight. In the morning, your sponge will be larger, bubbly, and, well… spongy. 

Melt 1 stick of butter into another half cup of milk, and let cool until it’s just warm; if too hot, it will kill the yeast in the sponge. Add to the sponge, and gradually mix in 2 cups flour. At this point, you should have a thick batter. Gently knead in additional flour until the whole mixture comes together into one cohesive mass that is soft but not sticky.

Tear off 8 pieces of equal size, and gently form into small rounds. You may either place these directly onto a baking sheet, or into the cups of a muffin pan.

Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are just slightly golden, and the biscuits feel firm to the touch.

They are best served with jam, honey, or clotted cream.

Emptins / Ale Barm

Emptins, from “emptyings”, are the colonial American equivalent to the older Ale Barm. Both are made from the leftover yeasty dregs of the brewing process, and used in either baking or to start fermentation in new brewing projects.

Ingredients: Original Batch                                   More Manageable Batch

  • handful hops                                   ~1/4 oz. loose leaf hops
  • 3 quarts water                                6 cups water
  • Flour                                                  ~3 cups flour
  • emptins                                             1 Tbs. Emptins / sourdough starter

 Boil the hops in the water for 15 minutes. Strain out the hops, and put the liquid in a large bowl. Whisk in flour until the mixture resembles a sort of slurry, similar to the texture of pancake batter. When this goop is no longer hot, add the emptins or starter, and allow to sit overnight.

Provided your yeast mixture is warm and happy, it will go crazy in the hoppy-flour mixture. Mine doubled overnight, overflowing the large mason jar I had it in. Lesson learned. The final mixture will be thick and bubbly.  

Cover the mixture with a loose lid, and place in the fridge, as you would a normal sourdough starter. The yeast solution will begin to look like an eldritch creature, putting down tendrils in the jar until the whole thing separates into the heavier starter on the bottom, and the hops water on top. 

When you want to use the starter, simply stir up the solution, adding a hearty dash of new flour into the mix. This will feed the starter and help perk it back up. For best results, feed the starter the day before you wish to use it. Otherwise, feed your starter a handful of flour every week or so.