Fool Proof Baking: Meet My New Baking Sherpa
TLW #4 - Rosemary Cheddar Biscuits with Hot Honey? Say Less!!
If you’ve been around me for any length of time, you will hear me say “I’m a cook, not a baker”. I’m happy to have found the yin to my yang in the culinary arts. I post weekly recipes, but you will notice a giant void for baked goods for good reason. I’m just not good at it. But since I found this Substack, I’ve gotten excited about it.
So I’m so excited to have Rachel Ciordas with Next Level Gluten Free as my guest this week while I’m doing several family things! Welcome Rachel!!
Enjoy meeting her and learning more about what she has to offer. (Spoiler alert…Cooking Classes!!!) The recipe she’s included is so hot, I’m planning to include them in a special dinner I’m making in a few weeks! If you’re already excited about having a Gluten Free Baking Sherpa, you can click here to get 20% off her subscription including the cooking classes and videos plus all her archives! But read on to find out all the details and see the full recipe!
Q: Hi Rachel, can you tell me a little bit about yourself - who are you? How did you get into gluten free baking?
Hi Christi, thanks so much for having me on Real Food Sanity! I’m a chef and cooking instructor, much like yourself. I’ve worked in the hospitality industry for a long time. I started teaching cooking classes when I was working at a cooking school around 15 years ago.
I began teaching seasonal recipes with produce from the farmers market that was across the street. It was so much fun and I met so many interesting people.
From there I started teaching cooking classes everywhere, cooking schools, hospitals, health food co+ops, kitchen stores, businesses, people’s homes, just everywhere.
When my kids were babies I owned a bakery business as well, but when one of my sons was diagnosed with celiac disease I started cooking and baking gluten free. The first attempts were not so great but over time I developed really great gluten free recipes and methods and I share them in my newsletter Next Level Gluten Free and in my workshops, and cooking classes.
I started developing the recipes that we wanted to eat, that we missed.
Q: So you are a Chef and Baking instructor. Tell me a little bit about how your recipes are different from traditional baking and what you love about teaching people to bake.
I joke with my students that I make all of the mistakes so they don’t have to. Gluten free baking can seem complicated and intimidating. I test my recipes over and over, I find the problems so that I can share the best possible recipes with my readers. They can be sure that these recipes work, and that I’ve removed any extra steps or complications. If something is in one of my recipes, it’s because it needs to be there.
Then I walk people through the recipes step by step. I like to be the friend in the kitchen that knows about gluten free baking.
I feel like I’m hanging out with my readers, and I love that.
Q: I love that. Gluten free baking can be very challenging, but you’ve taken the guess work out of it! Tell me about your newsletter Next Level Gluten Free – What can we expect?
In Next Level Gluten Free newsletter I send out well tested gluten free recipes with clear instructions, for foods that gluten free people miss!! About half of those are free, and half are “signature” recipes for my paid subscribers. I also test gluten free products like flour blends, waffles or pizza dough so you know which ones are worth paying for. I hold gluten free baking online workshops for paid subscribers that are basically cooking classes. Its so nice to see how a recipe comes together and be able to ask questions in real time. I even feature gluten free guests from time to time on the newsletter.
Q: You are sharing a recipe with us today (I’m drooling over this one!) can you tell me about the recipe, what do you love about it? Why did you create this recipe?
Today I have one of my signature gluten free recipes, unlocked just for your readers!! These are flaky gluten free biscuits that are gussied up with Rosemary and Cheddar Cheese and I serve them with spicy honey that reminds me of the sweet/spicy combo at a chain of chicken restaurants in Oklahoma that I loved when I was a child.
These are flavor-forward and flaky. My advice is to cut them with a pastry cutter or bench scraper into large squares. Go straight up and down with the pastry cutter covered in a bit of extra flour, you’ll create sharp edges that way exposing the sides to create the most lift and ultimate flaky layers.
I use a cheese grater for the butter in these biscuits, that lets you keep the butter really cold, giving you maximum lift and flake here. I use this trick in other flaky recipes like my pie crusts.
These biscuits would be a wonderful base for a breakfast sandwich or chicken sandwich. I’d serve them in a breadbasket alongside dinner, or go full southern and smear on some pimento cheese or make some gravy.
Who doesn’t love a biscuit??
Q: I’m totally making these! Where can we find your work and how can we stay in touch with you Rachel?
Join me on my newsletter at Next Level Gluten Free – I even have a 20% off coupon for your readers today! (Hint: Hit the 20% off link to access the discount.)
My upcoming gluten free baking classes, including paid subscriber workshops, online classes and in person classes in the Kansas City metro area are always listed on my website. www.rachelciordas.com You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook @nextlevelglutenfree
Gluten Free Flaky Rosemary Cheddar Biscuits
with Hot Honey
by Rachel Ciordas of Next Level Gluten Free – all rights reserved
Yield: 8
2-1/2 cups (370g) gluten free 1-1 flour mix (King Arthur Measure for Measure, Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1, and Krusteaz have all worked well)
2-1/2 tsp (13g) baking powder
1/2 tsp (3g) baking soda
1 tsp granulated sugar (optional)
1 tsp (6g) salt
2 tsp dried rosemary or 2 Tb fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 cup (113g) very cold butter
4 oz sharp cheddar, grated
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (180g) buttermilk or coconut milk mixed with ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tb (15g) buttermilk or coconut milk
1/4 cup (85g) honey
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 450° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put butter in the freezer for a few minutes while you gather the other ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, rosemary, and salt in a large bowl. Grate butter on the large side of a cheese grater, and mix butter and cheese into the flour mixture.
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and 3/4 cup buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the eggs and milk. Stir until a soft dough forms. The dough will be slightly wet.
Turn the dough out onto a large piece of floured parchment paper. Cover with another large piece of parchment and roll or pat dough to 1/2 inch. Cut dough into squares with a floured butter knife or bench scraper or cut with a biscuit cutter, If the dough sticks, dip the knife into gluten free flour between each scone.
Place biscuits 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with 1 Tbsp milk. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
Mix honey and pepper flakes and drizzle over the warm biscuits when serving.
Those biscuits with spicy honey sound amazing!
Thanks so much for having me!!!