We’ve all been there, a mishap in the kitchen. Could it be the recipe, a missed ingredient, an incorrect measurement or maybe it was just an off day for your oven? I had one of those mishaps happen to me recently when I made Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits. I had some leftover buttermilk in my fridge from a previous recipe and I didn’t want to go to waste and I wanted to make something different; I’ve never made biscuits before. Unfortunately my biscuits didn’t rise and I ended up with some pretty flat biscuits – I don’t even think I can call them biscuits. I’m still not sure what exactly went wrong.
My prep work seemed to be just fine… I started by putting flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of my stand mixer.
With the mixer on low I added in cold diced unsalted butter.
Once the butter looked like small peas I added in a buttermilk / egg mixture and continued mixing the ingredients until the mixture was moistened.
In a small bowl I combined shredded cheddar cheese with a small handful of butter.
After adding in the cheddar to the dough I dumped the dough onto a well-floured surface and kneaded the dough a few times and then rolled it into a rectangle.
I then sliced the dough into 8 pieces and placed it onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and brushed them with an egg wash.
After baking in a 425 F preheated oven for about 25 minutes this is what I got… Flat biscuits.
Luckily they tasted really good and were a nice breakfast treat the following morning with my cup of tea! Thankfully my mishap wasn’t a total loss.
What kind of mishaps have you encountered in your cooking and baking adventures?
Yield: 8 Biscuits
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 cold extra-large egg
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 F
2. Place 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low. Add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas.
3. Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl or measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and mix only until it’s moistened. In a small bowl mix the cheddar cheese with a handful of flour. Add the cheese to the dough, still mixing it on low, and mix until roughly combined.
4. Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead lightly about 6 times. Rolled the dough out to a rectangle (10 by 5 inches.) With a sharp floured knife cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles. Transfer to sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with the egg wash and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. Can serve hot or warm.
Bead Yarn & Spatula 
I made something Brazilian called Pan de Queijo (Cheese bread) a few months ago, and accidentally put less than the required amount of flour. They were supposed to be all puffy and round, but mine were flat and more like cookies.
I think these look fine, though. It looks like they are nicely browned on top.
Hey Dave, thanks for the positive words and for sharing your baking mishap. These biscuits definitely looked the part, they were just lacking in the puffy department. I have since changed my baking powder, I suspect that may have had something to do with it.