My daughter, Cali, was home a few weeks ago. She is student teaching at a high school and it was their Spring Break. Home is always a little bit more fun and loud when Cali is around!!
For the last two years Cali has eaten gluten free, dairy free and red meat free due to allergies and digestive issues. It is always a bit more of a challenge to cook when Cali is home. I just have to think more. While she was home we had fun exploring and checking out some gluten free bakeries. I will post about some of the yummy things we found later in the week.
Because I did a lot of gluten free cooking while she was home I decided to dedicate this week to gluten free recipes!
You may not currently know anyone or have anyone in your family that is gluten free or suffering from celiac disease. But I can pretty much guarantee that if you don’t know someone now, you will.
Nearly two million Americans suffer from celiac disease and there are many others that are gluten intolerant. Others are choosing not to eat gluten free for better health.
Gluten is a protein complex found in wheat and several other grains. My daughter Cali is actually not gluten intolerant. The problem for her is she is allergic to wheat. But when you cut out gluten you also cut out wheat. There are a few things that don’t have wheat in them but do have gluten in it such as spelt that she can eat. We discovered last week that Killer Dave’s makes a wonderful Spelt bread!
We have become real label readers since Cali’s problems began. Gluten is hidden in a lot of things, not just things with wheat in them. One common item is soy sauce. Yes, soy sauce has wheat in it!
So even if you don’t currently have someone with celiac disease or gluten intolerance in your life right now you might want to pin this recipe and others I am sharing this week because you never know when you might! Or when you might be asked to take dinner to a family or friend that has gluten issues. Don’t let that stress you out. Be prepared!! Food allergies and sensitivities are becoming more and more common.
In trying to replicate family favorite foods for Cali I have found breads to be the biggest challenge. While she was home we wanted to have biscuits one night. For Jim and I, I had some frozen biscuits in the freezer but I wanted Cali to be able to enjoy one too. So I set out on a quest to make a nice flaky biscuit for her.
I had experimented with several different recipes in the past and never found one that was quite right. With a little more experimenting last week we found a recipe that was pretty good. It will never be the same as a big, fat, flaky, fluffy buttermilk biscuit made with white flour but we were able to make a biscuit that was flaky and flavorful.
I used the Gluten Free Flour Mix I have shared on the blog as the base for this recipe.
Because Cali is also dairy free I used almond milk in the recipe but otherwise I would use buttermilk. Dough made with gluten free flours always has a bit of a different texture and can be a bit sticker. Just add enough flour that it is manageable and not too sticky to work with.
Roll the dough out to about a 1/2 inch thick.
Then fold the dough in thirds lengthwise.
And then into thirds going crosswise.
Roll the dough back out to a 1/2 inch thick and repeat the folding procedure two more times, for a total of three. This will help create the nice flaky layers in the biscuit.
Cut out your biscuits with a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass.
Put the biscuits in the freezer for about 20 minutes to allow the butter to solidify and help create flaky biscuits. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Brush with melted butter for extra goodness.
They are then ready to be spread with a little butter and jam for some extra goodness.
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
For other Gluten Free Recipes try these:
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 1/2 C gluten free flour mix
- 1/4 C sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 C cold butter cut into pieces
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 C cold buttermilk or almond milk
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Mix together gluten free flour mix, sugar, baking powder and salt.
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Add in butter and mix together until crumbly and pea sized.
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Add in eggs and milk. Mix until a cohesive dough forms(will be slightly sticky)
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Cover counter with additional gluten free flour to make rolling easier.
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Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick.
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Fold dough into thirds lengthwise.
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Fold dough into thirds crosswise.
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Roll out to 1/2 inch thick and repeat process two additional times.
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Cut out biscuits and placed on a greased cookie sheet.
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Put biscuits into freezer for 20 minutes to allow butter to solidify and create flaky biscuits)
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Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
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Brush with melted butter after baked for extra goodness if desired.
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Your pics are so classy and elegant, Leigh Anne…just like you! This biscuits are amazing how you did them gluten free. (=
Thanks for your sweet comment Gloria!
Thanks for this recipe – I’m just munching one now! I have been looking for a GF rolled biscuit recipe for ages – yay! Now I can get my cookie cutters out!
So glad you liked them!
Would gluten free multi purpose flour work
I have several gluten free friends – can’t wait to share this!!!
Thanks for the great recipe. I am always looking for gluten free recipes for my little boy who has severe allergies. But you used butter and that is dairy product.
Yes, my daughter can have butter but not milk, so I do use butter. I would just substitute it with whatever you normally substitute butter with. I bet shortening would even work just fine, especially the butter flavor shortening.
I have just made these tonight to go with a savoury dish (beef in red wine), I myself am a coeliac (we are in the UK) my husband and daughter are strict dairy free, I use a baking block which is made up of palm and vegetable oils, it worked amazingly well, biscuits came very light (I used almond milk too).
I will be using your recipe again and again!
I am so glad you enjoyed them!! Thanks for letting me know.
Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing at the Give Me The Goods Link Party!
Oh yum. We do GF for my oldest son and this is perfection!! I so wish we had some GF bakeries around here…how fun would that be? Thanks so much for all the yummy recipes that we can all enjoy! Thank you for linking up, too!! So nice to party with you! 🙂
These biscuits are very light and flaky
So glad they worked well for yoU!They are good , even if you aren’t gluten free.
Even though I’m not gluten free I really liked them. Very much enjoyed by our Mother and daughter breakfast club:))
Leigh Anne, Thank you so much for posting gluten free recipes. i have intolerance to gluten and milk. I have been searching for an awesome gf flour mix and biscuits. Finally came across a pin on pintrest that brought me here! Can not wait to try these!! Thank you!
Hope you enjoy the mix as much as we do. Glad you found me!!
I am really impressed with these. They are probably the only GF baked item I’ve ever had that really does not advertise its lack of gluten. I’m looking forward to trying this GF flour formula in other things.
Great recipe… A quick addition… You can have “buttermilk” for those who are dairy free (like my family) by adding 2 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar to the non-dairy milk and letting it curdle for a few minutes before adding it to the recipe. It makes a world of difference! Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe!
This recipe looks wonderful! Would regular milk work instead of buttermilk or almond?
I am sure it would be fine. I often use almond milk in cooking and baking for my dairy free daughter and it works fine.
Thanks for the reply! I would rather use almond milk as that is what I prefer, but my husband is allergic and I happen to have regular milk on hand for him. I also use coconut milk a lot but not sure if that would make the biscuits taste too coconut-y. I might make half with milk and half coconut milk and see how different they turn out. Thanks again!
I am confused by what you said about spelt. Spelt is a form of wheat and is not gluten free AT ALL. They are very closely related. I can’t imagine that it’s okay to give spelt to your gluten free or wheat free child(ren). It will make them sick as well.
The post actually says that spelt is wheat free NOT gluten free.
Thanks so much for your gf recipes. Your flour mix has saved me- it’s so much better than any store-bought mix. You need to try the bread on yammiesglutenfreedom.com. It’s by far the best bread I have found! Thanks for sharing so many great recipes!
I am so glad the mix works well for you – I will definitely check out the bread. Thanks for the link!
Until I found your recipe for gluten free biscuits, I thought I would live the rest of my life devoid of buttery, flakey biscuity goodness. I’ve tried many recipes, but none of them ever came close to the real buttermilk biscuits I used to make before I found out I have Celiac. My foodie taste buds thank you, fellow Portlander. 🙂
Stacey -so glad I could help!!
Just wanted to say thanks so much for this recipe! It was the third I tried (the first 2 being a bust) and the third time was the charm! I am both gf & dairy free and my husband is from NC and loves his biscuits (& gravy) and thus is very discriminating about his biscuits. He is not gf so the fact that this was a hit is a true win!
Made these as part of Christmas brunch, and they are delicious! I made a half recipe, and cut into 8 smallish biscuits (I always make square biscuits….no wasted trim!). After freezing, I used a pastry brush to get the excess flour off the bottoms, brushed tops with cream, and they baked into light, flavorful biscuits. The layers weren’t as pronounced as in the best wheat flour biscuits, but they were certainly better than many wheat versions! Thank you so much for perfecting this recipe for us!
I have a cold and was craving some gluten-free comfort food. I’ve tried different GF biscuit recipes before, but this one is incredible. I followed the directions to the letter (I am known to tinker too soon with varying degrees of success). These turned out exactly as shown. Even better, they were flaky and tasted wonderful.
This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thanks!
So glad you loved the recipe! Thanks for letting me know.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I live at high altitude and until now I could not find a recipe that worked! I am very happy with the biscuits 🙂
I recently found out my mum is gluten intollerant and I love to cook , Ive been looking for gluten free recipies so that she can stil enjoy the sweets and pasteries I make for the family, I was wondering if I were to use ordinary milk in this recipie would it stil work??
Absolutely.
Hi Leigh Anne! I just made these delicious biscuits and blogged about them on my gluten-free website! Please check it out! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
http://hannahsglutenfreeadventure.tumblr.com/post/76387139033/day-11-flaky-biscuits
So glad you loved the biscuits!!
This is now my FAVORITE gluten free biscuit recipe! They turned out absolutely beautiful! I covered them in gluten free sausage gravy and my family LOVED IT. THANK YOU!!!!
OOH – love biscuits and gravy!!
Hi, I am Vegan, Dairy free and now becoming Gluten Free. I am confused when people say recipies are dairy free and contain eggs. Can you advise how to make this without the eggs ? Can I use an egg replacer and get the same consistency? Thanks for sharing. They look so good I would love to be able to try them minus the eggs.
Eggs are a animal by product and not a dairy product so if you are on a dairy free diet you may eat eggs. If you don’t eat animal products (vegan) you want to avoid eggs. Since the recipe is dairy free and not animal product free I always use eggs. I have not experimented with any kind of egg replacement.
Hello there! Thanks for this recipe. I made it last night and the kids raved. However, the biscuits didn’t’ turn out quite as big and fluffy as yours. I used coconut milk (with vinegar for “buttermilk”) and mixed it in a food processor instead of by hand. Do you think that might have been too much processing? I am definitely up for trying them again, but just wondered if anyone had had a similar experience as mine. Thanks again for GF biscuits at my table!
since I have been making nut cheese from cashews and acidophilus, I decided to stir some water in a couple of tablespoons of almond flour and throw in an acidophilus tablet …. let it sit till it smells like buttermilk and bam. I made buckwheat buttermilk pancakes. gonna try buttermilk biscuits now.
Could i replace the butter with coconut oil
I haven’t done any replacing of butter with coconut oil so not sure how it would work but it is definitely worth trying.
We made these last night and they turned out wonderfully! Much better than the GF biscuit recipe I was using before. The only thing I found was that they were a little sweet for my taste. I think next time I would use less sugar…I think using coconut flour adds a little extra sweetness anyway.
So glad you enjoyed them.
I have only made the recipe as is. I am sure you could make a biscuit using the gluten free mix but not sure it would be The Best Gluten Free Biscuit!
These were the most delicious gf biscuits I have made in the three years of being gf! Even my glutenous hubby loves them! Thank you for an awesome yeast free recipe! So good 🙂
I love to hear that! I know how wonderful it is to find a delicious recipe, you love, when you are GF!
This looks very interesting. My wife is pre-diabetic so she has to watch he carbs. Would you happen to know how many carbs is in this recipe?
Nikko, Sorry but I don’t know what the carb count is.
I was excited to try these out for the holidays after reading the beginning of your blog and how you made this gluten free and dairy free. However, I noticed you used butter which isn’t dairy free. Was there a different “butter” you were referring to for the recipe? Anything that you recommend to substitute it? A cup of butter is an awful lot. Thanks.
Although dairy free my daughter can eat butter so I use butter. I would just use whatever you usually use as a butter substitute. May people that are dairy free can tolerate butter because it has such a small amount of milk protein (about 1%) in it. It is mainly fat.
Looking forward to trying these! I wonder if I could make up a batch and freeze them longer than 20 min. Just pull them out when I want to make a few.
Hi any tips for gluten free bread?
Which makes/brands have you found succesful?
Gail, I haven’t made a successful gluten free bread yet -still working on it.
Can I leave them in the freezer longer than 20 minutes to bake them in a few days?
You bet – just put them in a air tight container or bag
Although you show a picture of the type of flours used in your gluten-free flour mix, I didn’t see The actual recipe that states the amounts needed of each ingredient.
Where do I find that info? The biscuits look very yummy!!
Becca, if you click on the words Gluten Free Flour Mix it is a clickable link and will take you to the recipe.
I love this recipe! The dough was perfect and very easy to work with. The cooking time was exactly right. They taste amazing. Thank you! (I was out of tapioca flour so I subbed potato starch in the flour mix.)
Donna, SO glad they were a success for you!
I used Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 baking mix, and cashew milk. They were delicious. I did not fold and roll. I scooped and lightly formed into a biscuit shape and baked. quick and easy and they were to the best gluten free biscuit I have made! Making them again now with buttermilk!
So glad you loved them. The Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 is one of my favorite store bought GF mixes!
Hi,
I’m completely new to all this way of cooking and still learning. Can I substitute the almond milk for coconut, rice or oats milk. As there is nut allergies in the family as well as gf, before I try this recipe.
Thanks Gemma (uk)
Sure, you can try substituting whatever you like, it may change the flavor somewhat though. I have only made the recipe as written.
Hi Leigh Anne. How were you able to use 1 cup of butter if your daughter is eating dairy free, too?
Linda, She is able to eat butter, Butter is mainly fat and only a small percentage of milk protein, only about 1 percent so many people with dairy sensitivities can still eat butter.
These rise nice and look gorgeous when they come out of the oven but they are way too
metallic tasting/baking powdery for me. Too much B.Powder maybe? 2.5tsps is a lot. But then less they wouldn’t rise as much. Maybe way less salt, like 1/4tsp and a couple tsps of sugar? I didn’t let them chill first, I just rolled, shaped and baked them. Any advise Leigh Anne?
Carol, I don’t find them too metallic tasting so have never changed the proportions. Feel free to play around with the recipe! Thanks
Did you change the flour in this recipe? This is/was my favorite gluten free biscuit recipe but it looks different.
No, didn’t change it. It could just be the lighting
Every time I’ve made these biscuits before, which is quite often, it called for rice flour. I’ve never used a flour blend to make them before. Unfortunately we won’t be able to make them again due to a corn allergy in our house. Thank you for getting back to me so fast.