First Shortcake Report
I was hoping to get all four recipes tested before Passover and bought strawberries, and cream. Then I thought I'd at least get the main two done, but the second one is big and I never got the fridge space for a whole assembled cake. Now we're past the cease gluten and yeast time, so it's not going to happen and I should tell you about trial #1. It's the one biscuit style one I thought sounded good before the thread we just had (#3 and #4 come from that thread). NYT Recipe from "Jane Grigson's Fruit Book" which I think said it was first published in the Times 30 years ago.
This is a sweetened biscuit style shortcake with a goodly amount of cream. I made it pretty much as directed, though a half batch, and I buttered the top, not just the center, and didn't open to rebutter after baking. This recipe has you lightly knead and roll the dough, then butter one cutout and stack another on top to bake. I used an unbleached AP with 11.5% protein, but with all that butter and cream it was very tender. The yield for a half batch was three doubled shortcakes and a good sized tester. The bottom came out with a nice crispness that had crunch without being tough. The crumb was soft and not too sweet, not too salty, though I think it could have used just a little more salt--scaling salt is notoriously tricky. There was a little of that sticks-to-the-roof-of-your-mouthness that comes with a moist high fat content, but it was fluffy and tender enough to dissolve right away.
Over all I get why so many people lauded the recipe. I thought the two biscuit presentation, while elegant, wasn't as good as a fork split center, catching all the drips. That, especially, because I did my own thing with the berries and cream. Just a little sugar on the berries to intensify the flavor because they were already perfect--I would have just served them plain if I weren't testing shortcakes. And a literal pinch of sugar, and a little splash of Cointreau in the cream, instead of vanilla. As it was, there wasn't any soaking in, especially with the buttered surface. Crannies and cracks, people! One of the (curated) commenters said she'd baked them up as singles and they came out great, which I will likely do next time.
That looks good enough to eat for sure! Looking forward to three more results to see which looks and sounds best.
Right out of my childhood playbook. Looks delish.
Well, YUM!!!
I'm on my way!
I keep coming back to this thread but I’m realizing it’s mainly because I’m for the first time appreciating biscuits. I’ve never thought much of them but then most have either been from a tube or from fast food restaurants. And right now I’m in Charleston…
FOAS, I hope you're enjoying Charleston, not just working in captivity! I imagine it's a good place to sample biscuits. ;) My usual biscuits, which sometimes come out perfectly :) (though are always at least fine), are very wet with buttermilk dough (specifically, cultured buttermilk) and totally fluffy cloud when baked. The shortcakes, pictured, are a much tighter dough, with heavy cream making them that much shorter. Still slightly warm from the oven, there's some fluff in the crumb, but they're much denser than a regular biscuit, and cold eat pretty heavy. Good as shortcakes, but, to me at least, not a biscuit texture, though they bake like biscuits. Have fun while you're there!
That looks scrumptious… i think that’s the best word to use.
Looks yummy. I’ve never liked biscuits, though.
IT does look yummy and I like biscuits a lot. Also scones, which are a sweet biscuit and those cheese/garlic things like Red Lobster has. All biscuits to me, LOL.
Annie