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Cut (food or other matter) into small cubes.

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Reach or cause to reach the temperature at which it bubbles and turns to vapor.

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A rich white sauce made with milk and a white roux

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This is a sauce that in culinary circles is referred to as a mother sauce, meaning that you can use this sauce as a base for making other sauces. We are going to give you the recipe for the basic sauce as well as several variations. Once you master the basic sauce, your cooking will be elevated to new levels.

Pour the milk into a sauce pan. Add the onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, and mace.

Bring to a scalding point, remove from heat and cover.

Let infuse for 30 minutes.

Strain through a wire mesh strainer.

To make the roux, melt the butter in a sauce pan. Stir in the flour and let cook for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and gradually pour in the warm milk, whisking constantly.

Season lightly with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Return to the heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly until the sauce thickens and is smooth.. About 3 minutes.

Variations:

Mornay Sauce: (cheese): Off the heat stir in 1/2 cup of of shredded sharp cheddar, or gruyere cheese (or any good melting cheese of your choice) and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and an pinch of mustard powder (we like Colman's English Mustard Powder).

Parsley Sauce: Add to 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

Onion (soubise) Sauce: Mince 1 onion, then saute in a little butter until softened. About 10 minutes. Stir into the bechamel, then puree in a blender of food processor.

Mushroom Sauce: Thinly slice mushrooms, sweat gently in a little butter until tender. Stir into the Bechamel.

Print Recipe

© Copyright 2018 Food So Good Mall

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This is a sauce that in culinary circles is referred to as a mother sauce, meaning that you can use this sauce as a base for making other sauces. We are going to give you the recipe for the basic sauce as well as several variations.

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A quick light brushing or whipping motion

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An even mixture of fat (butter) and flour, used as a thickening agent

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Fermentation is the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms, typically involving effervescence and the giving off of heat.

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Sauteing is frying quickly in a little hot fat.

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Parbaking is a cooking technique in which a bread or dough product is partially baked and then rapidly frozen for storage. The raw dough is baked normally, but halted at about 80% of the normal cooking time, when it is rapidly cooled and frozen.

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Kneading is working (moistened flour or clay) into dough or paste with the hands.

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A pastry blender is a kitchen tool used to mix a hard (solid) fat into flour in order to make pastries. The tool is usually made of narrow metal strips or wires attached to a handle, and is used by pressing down on the items to be mixed (known as "cutting in").

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A pastry brush, also known as a basting brush, is a cooking utensil used to spread butter, oil or glaze on food. Traditional pastry brushes are made with natural bristles or a plastic or nylon fiber similar to a paint brush, while modern kitchen brushes may have silicone bristles.

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The biscuit method is a method for making quick breads such as scones and, well, biscuits. ... The biscuit method is one of the only mixing methods that does not require you to have all of your ingredients at room temperature. Your fats and liquids should be cold for the biscuit method.

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Updated with a new photograph, expanded information, recipe links and shopping options on November 16, 2015

The biscuit method is a method for making quick breads such as scones and, well, biscuits. That's American biscuits, not cookie-biscuits, if you're visiting from across the Big Blue Ocean.

The biscuit method is one of the only mixing methods that does not require you to have all of your ingredients at room temperature. Your fats and liquids should be cold for the biscuit method. The colder, the better. Why? Well, the whole point of the biscuit method is to keep discrete little pieces of fat dispersed throughout your dough. That way, when they melt in the oven, the steam the little pieces creates assists in with the rise. Also, you get all of these wee little buttery pockets. I love me some biscuits.

How to Perform The Biscuit Method

So, here's how it goes.

1. Mix all your dry ingredients together with a whisk: flour, baking powder and/or baking soda, salt, sugar, dry spices, etc.

2. Cut your very cold fat into about 1/2 inch chunks (if you're using shortening, or part shortening, put that stuff in the freezer. I vote all butter, personally, for flavor and for no trans fats, but do what you want).

3. Toss the butter/shortening with the dry ingredients.

4. Using your fingers, break up the butter/shortening, rubbing it into the flour. When you're done, the pieces should be anywhere from the size of grits to the size of peas. Nothing too much bigger than a pea. If your hands are warm, throw everybody into the fridge to firm up.

5. Pour in your liquid (milk/cream/half and half/buttermilk-whatever the recipe calls for). Toss together with the dry. Don't mix viciously.

6. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a square about 1/2″ thick.

7. Cut into squares (no waste) or circles. (You can re-roll the scraps, but those biscuits will be tougher. I vote squares).

8. Brush with cream/butter/egg wash. Bake at about 400 degrees, F, until risen and golden brown and lovely.

I will now take your questions. Yes? You in the back. "Why can't I mix viciously. I need to get out my aggression."

Me: If you need to take out your aggression on something, make some bread or take a kick boxing class. You want to handle your dough gently once the liquid is in there. Biscuits are supposed to be tender, and a bunch of mixing will just activate the gluten in the flour and you'll end up with chewy biscuits.

Yes, sir. You there, in the brown sweater. "Can I use my stand mixer or food processor?"

Me: I would stay away from the food processor because it can generate a bunch of heat, and you don't want your butter to melt. You can use a mixer as long as you use the paddle attachment and stop and check the consistency and the size of your butter pieces every 30 seconds or so. You don't want to end up with paste. Once you get the liquid in there, I would take the bowl off the mixer and fold the liquid in with a spatula. You don't want to develop that gluten."

That's enough for today. Thank you all for coming.

PS The Biscuit Method is also the method most often used for making pie crust. Any time you're cutting pieces of fat into smaller pieces of fat mixed into flour and adding a little bit of liquid, you can bet your biscuit you're using The Biscuit Method.

Biscuits and other Biscuit-like items on Ye Olde Blogge that Utilize The Biscuit Method for Mixing

Here are some biscuit and pie crust recipes you might want to try out. Take a look in the instruction section of all the recipes. I'm sure you'll be able to recognize the basic method.

Pie Crust Recipes on Ye Olde Blogge that Utilize The Biscuit Method for Mixing

Shop the Method

Like most of the basic mixing methods, you don't need a ton of fancy equipment to perform them properly, but here are a few of my recommendations for baking sheets, pie plates, biscuit cutters, etc, you might find useful. These are affiliate links. Thank you for helping me keep the lights on. I appreciate the support.

First up, a bench knife is a must-have. For me, I usually cut my biscuits in squares so I don't have any dough to re-roll. A bench knife does this beautifully. As well, you'll find tons of ways to use it in performing the biscuit method and beyond. Best less-than-six dollars you will ever spend.

If you do like round biscuits, I can recommend this set of graduated cutters. Choose your biscuit size from petite to mondo to any size in between. And of course you can use them to cut cookies and pie crust, as well. If you like fluted biscuits, this set of fluted cutters also gives you a choice of size.

I love a good aluminum pie pan. Light weight, conductive so you get great browning of the bottom crust, and inexpensive What's not to love? The standard size is 9″ or you can go crazy and get a 10″ pie pan.

Last up, it's absolutely necessary to have at least one heavy-duty half-sheet pan that will not warp in the oven. I like my Nordic Ware half-sheet pan. Give it a look.

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The Biscuit Method for Making Tender Biscuits and Flaky Pie Crust

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Updated with a new photograph, expanded information, recipe links and shopping options on November 16, 2015 The biscuit method is a method for making quick breads such as scones and, well, biscuits. That's American biscuits, not cookie-biscuits, if you're visiting from across the Big Blue Ocean.

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'Cut in' means working solid shortening into dry ingredients with two knives or a pastry blender until well mixed. When making a pastry, solid shortening, lard, or butter is cut in to a flour mixture until the particles are the size of small peas.

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'Cut in' means working solid shortening into dry ingredients with two knives or a pastry blender until well mixed. When making a pastry, solid shortening, lard, or butter is cut in to a flour mixture until the particles are the size of small peas. This creates a flaky texture by coating the flour proteins with shortening, interrupting the gluten formation.

Pronunciation: kutt in * (verb)

Also Known As: blend

Examples: "Cut the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until the particles are the size of small peas."

The purpose of cutting butter or solid shortening into flour is to create a flaky texture in pie pastry and cookies. This isn't a difficult process, but it takes time and some patience. Use two knives and cut across the shortening, working it into the flour. If you have a pastry blender, this process takes less time. You can also use your fingers, mixing the fat with the flour lightly with your fingertips.

Don't work the shortening into the flour so much that it becomes a solid mass. You should stop when the pieces of shortening coated by flour are about the size of small peas. Sometimes the recipe will tell you to cut the shortening into the flour until the pieces are the size of crumbs. Just follow the recipe and do what it tells you to do.

Busy Cooks Glossary

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Learn the Definition of Cut In, a Baking Term

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'Cut in' means working solid shortening into dry ingredients with two knives or a pastry blender until well mixed. When making a pastry, solid shortening, lard, or butter is cut in to a flour mixture until the particles are the size of small peas.

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Function of Sour Cream in a Baked Good: 

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Function of Sour Cream in a Baked Good: 

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Sour cream serves several purposes in baking. It provides sweetness, adds tenderness, and helps in the browning of baked goods. When added to yeast dough, it helps the yeast begin producing the gas for the dough to rise and helps to retain the moisture in the bread. It is also referred to as white sugar.

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A crumbly topping or filling made from fat, flour, sugar, and often cinnamon

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The muffin method in and of itself is rather simple. The idea is to mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another. You then pour the wet over the try and combine, mixing as little as possible. Eggs and sugar are both considered wet. Use a spatula to combine the ingredients.

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Folding is usually executed with a rubber spatula for liquid and dry ingredients, or with a wire whisk for whipped cream and egg whites so that the mixture gently incorporates as it falls through the wires.

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Folding is a term used to describe the process of combining ingredients together gently without stirring, beating or otherwise agitating the mixture. It is a technique most commonly used when you are combining one or more ingredients that have already been whipped (such as egg whites or whipped cream). The term can also apply to a recipe that requires less mixing (for example, a tender crumb). Folding is usually executed with a rubber spatula for liquid and dry ingredients, or with a wire whisk for whipped cream and egg whites so that the mixture gently incorporates as it falls through the wires.

The first step in many of our baking recipes calls for: beating butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. But what does that actually mean and why do we need to do it?

The technique of beating or creaming butter and sugar (this also applies to shortening and margarine) lays the groundwork for your baked product. During this step, you're incorporating air into your batter. This process will determine how the texture of your baked goods will turn out. The coarse sugar crystals cut into the butter creating air pockets, or bubbles. These bubbles are what will give your cake or cookie "lift" and rise (with the help of baking soda and/or baking powder). The air bubbles will also cause your butter/sugar mixture to lighten, or pale, in colour. The amount of bubbles created will depend on what tool you use to cream your batter (electric mixers will work better than a whisk) and how long you cream the batter (the longer, the more air bubbles).

Watch me demonstrate this baking technique:

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Folding is a term used to describe the process of combining ingredients together gently without stirring, beating or otherwise agitating the mixture. It is a technique most commonly used when you are combining one or more ingredients that have already been whipped (such as egg whites or whipped cream).

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A baking tool used for scooping up cookie dough and transforming to a cookie sheet.

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A sweetened baked good that is made from a dough, is typically denser than cake, and is cut into a rectangular or square shape.

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Cookies made by shaping dough by hand into small balls, logs, and other shapes.

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The Maillard reaction results when protein and sugars break down and rearrange themselves, forming ring like structures, which reflect light giving foods their distinctive, rich, brown color. As this reaction occurs, it produces a range of flavor and aroma compounds, which also react with each other; forming even more complex tastes and smells.

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How to make the perfect cookies (according to science) - Stephanie Warren

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Also known as the 'sugar-shortening' method, the sugar and shortening fat are blended together first and then creamed by added mixing. During creaming, small air cells are formed and then incorporated into the mix. ... Sugar and shortening are creamed at a medium speed until soft and light.

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Creaming method- BakeInfo (Baking Industry Research Trust)

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Also known as the 'sugar-shortening' method, the sugar and shortening fat are blended together first and then creamed by added mixing. During creaming, small air cells are formed and then

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A white, crystalline, acidic compound obtained as a byproduct of wine fermentation and used chiefly in baking powder.

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Caramelization is the browning of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. ... As the process occurs, volatile chemicals such as diacetyl are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor.

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Caramel makers have long known that, as is true in most kinds of cooking, the key to caramelization is the combination of cooking temperature and cooking time. But the the temperatures have typically been very high, the times measured in minutes. Now we know that you can caramelize low and very slow and get something different.

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Dropped cookies are made from a soft dough. The dough is dropped or pushed from a spoon onto cookie sheets. About 2 inches ( 5 cm ) of space should be left between cookies. Dropped cookies will spread more than rolled cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are popular dropped cookies.