It seems I can’t just leave a good gluten-free recipe alone. I have to tweak it to see if I can make it better, usually healthier. The way I often do that is by increasing the amount of whole grain slightly and decreasing the starch by an equal amount. I’ve done it with French bread, and French bread rolls. This time I did it with these delightful drop biscuits.
My family of guys likes having bread with a meal. Not always, but often, and it goes well with the soups and stews I make during the colder months. I usually rotate between a few recipes, and these biscuits are a favorite.
They are not your typical flaky, buttery biscuits, but they are wonderful. They have a delightfully soft texture, and my family loves them.
Drop Biscuits Revisited
Ingredients
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, softened (or vegetable oil)
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup milk (sub. should work)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Combine the sorghum flour, starches, xanthan gum, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a small bowl.
- In your mixer bowl, combine the butter, egg and milk.
- Add the dry ingredients and beat on high about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and make sure it is mixed well.
- Spray an ice cream scoop with cooking spray and drop the dough by scoopfuls onto a sprayed cookie sheet.
- Bake at 400 degrees about 12 minutes until golden brown.
This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Mondays at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.
I love biscuits – they're one of the first really tasty GF baked good I made! These sound similar to mine, but look lovely! Can I ask you what the cream of tartar does for them? Curious.
I like to do the same as you and pursue the lower starches in my recipes. Your famous for "The Best Biscuits" in our house!
Aside from rice flour I bought for the potato soup – I have not invested in other flours and baking aids. I did buy a pouch of Pamela's Pancake & Baking mix and she had a "Bisquick" style biscuit recipe that I'd like to try. If I don't have success w/Pamela's then I will break down and buy the individual flours.
I love biscuits especially for breakfast. I've tried a couple of GF Drop Biscuit recipes with no success. I will try this recipe in the morning and if mine turn out half as good as yours looks I will be happy. Thank you.
You always have such amazing breads and rolls. I was thinking about trying the french bread rolls for Thanksgiving, but these look great too. Which do you think would go best with a traditional Thanksgiving meal?
Iris – Thank you! I think I would go with the French bread rolls since they are a yeast bread and more like a traditional roll.
I love the way you combine good food and convenience. It's so user-friendly. It's neat that you tweak and tweak your recipes to make them even better. It's truly the mark of a passionate cook.
Thanks for linking to Slightly Indulgent Mondays!
Alta – The cream of tartar is acidic and works with the baking soda. Many baking powders combine the two. The recipe I was originally working from used the two and I stuck with that. I should try it with baking soda some time and see if I notice a difference.
I'm curious as to why the mixing technique is so different from regular biscuits, since the ingredients are so similar? I know there isn't the issue of gluten development, obviously, but what about keeping the butter cold, and cutting it in to the dry mix, and then adding the milk and egg?
Thanks so much for a great recipe, and a great site.
Carrie
Carrie, I think that cutting in the cold butter is more critical for a rolled & cut biscuit. Many wheat based drop biscuit recipes use oil and don't involved cutting in. It would be interesting to try this recipe that way, though, and see what difference it makes.
Linda, I just made your drop biscuits (original recipe). I subbed chickpea flour for the sorghum, and used Earth Balance for the butter and almond milk for the milk. These biscuits are fabulous!!! Thank you
I made these tonight. I used a pre-made mix instead of the flours you listed, and they were still awesome! This is my first successful (to me) GF biscuit recipe. Thank you!
Michele, I’m glad to hear they turned out well with a flour mix. Thanks for letting me know, and I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Michele Johnson, When I’m in a hurry I also use pre-made mixes. I wonder which one used for the biscuits.
Linda, I really enjoy your page, insights, etc. and I have fun trying the recipies as well anjoy eating them! Great job!
Thanks!
Giangeet, I make my own mix, I use equal parts brown rice flour, sorghum flour and a starch (usually tapioca, but I have been using potato lately). I like to add the xanthan gum when I make each recipe since different recipes call for different amounts. Having the mix on hand helps speed things up. With a large family and a new baby, I need all the streamlining I can get, lol. 🙂
THANKS FOR THE TIP MICHELE!
Hi Linda & others , I made this biscuits Caribbean style- sea salt (instead of regular salt), brown sugar (instead of white), Coconut oil (instead of vege oil) and Coconut milk (instead of cow milk). Delicious & healthy! It’s great to be creative to suit our needs and preferences.
Thanks for sharing the substitutions you made. I was not dairy free when I wrote the recipe. Now I use almond milk, and often coconut oil. 🙂
Hi, these were so good! Thanks for the recipe, I am linking the recipe to my recipe site. 🙂
I made these last night my family loved them made them w\ almound flour since did not have any sourghum didn’t have potato starch either also used cocunt milk and some gf pancake mix. Well make again using sourgum thanks for all the great recipes.
Hi, Just after a translation please, I’m english living in australia. Would these be like a scone or a dumpling do you think? I haven’t tried either gf yet
i am allergic to sorghum. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative flour?
Thanks! I want to try these biscuits!
I would try using millet flour.
You have made my life so much easier and better! I am sooo happy to be able to make chicken pot pie and its delicious!!! I love your recipes . I feel like a real mom again because I can make great meals. Thank you so much!!!
You’re welcome, Sarah. Thanks for your comment. You made me smile!
This was a good recipe and easy. I loved that I did not need to cut in any butter. I used earth balance melted. I subbed the potato starch for tapioca and I doubled the recipe and froze half of them. This recipe seems to be a forgiving one and next time I will use half chickpea flour for an extra buttery taste. Linda I love that you consider health when creating your recipes. It is so important to consider the nutrition of what you are putting in your body. When excluding wheat so many gluten free products are made from rice flour and tapioca starch which has zero nutrition. In fact where I live people once used tapioca starch for clothes starch. It is that void of nutrition. Keep up the good work Linda!
These biscuits turned out perfectly moist, soft, and not the least bit gluten-free-ish! I eliminated the sugar since I stay away from sugar as much as possible. I baked them in a cast iron biscuit pan with 7 individual slots, and the dough was exactly the right amount. I made homemade pimento cheese with Primal Kitchen avocado oil mayonnaise to smear on the hot biscuits, and absolutely enjoyed the heck out of them!
I really want to try these! They sound easy and look delicious. My hubby is avoiding night shades though. Is there a substitution I can make for the potato starch!!
Renee, you could use corn starch.