Gluten Free Mile High Biscuits Recipe
Updated Jun 13, 2018, Published Apr 15, 2013
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I was recently asked in an interview “what keeps you up at night?” My answer was “how can I do it better?” Whatever “it” is, I am always wondering if there couldn’t be a better way, and easier way, a prettier way, a more foolproof way.
Such is the case of biscuits. For months now it has been bothering me that while a high percentage of people who tried my gluten free biscuit recipe got good results there were a few that said theirs didn’t rise, crumbled, or as in one person’s case, were like hockey pucks!
Some people might chalk it up to the baking ability of the maker and leave it at that but me, I obsess. I want a foolproof recipe that works no matter what! Ok, you do need to use the right ingredients and follow directions but other that than, foolproof.
For anyone who tried my original biscuit recipe and said it didn’t rise, give this one a try! It made big giant biscuits that rose beautifully and tasted wonderful.
Here are some tips to help you make foolproof, mile high biscuits:
A final product will only be as good as the ingredients you start with; I used Asian flours and tapioca starch in developing this recipe – Asian flours are milled very finely and do not make baked goods grainy or crumbly and are a whole lot cheaper than superfine flours.
Make sure your baking powder is fresh, it has a shelf life anywhere from 6 – 12 months but things such as humidity and moisture can affect it. To test if your baking powder is still “active” place ½ a teaspoon in a bowl and pour ¼ cup of boiling water on it, if it bubbles up violently and immediately, your baking powder is good. If not, toss it and get some fresh.
All biscuits need some sort of fat cut into the flour, a combination of shortening and butter works best. Your butter should be cold. I cut mine into small pieces and then stick the piece into the freezer for a few minutes, this really chills it.
I used a food processor to combine my ingredients and cut in the shortening and butter. If you don’t have one, you can do this by hand just work quickly and don’t overwork the dough.
Use a ruler to measure how tall your round of dough is, you would be surprised what we think is one inch and what really is one inch. Cut your biscuits with a well-floured cookie cutter or drinking glass. You want to press straight down with the cutter, not twist it. Twisting the cutter when cutting out the biscuits seals the dough and prevents the biscuits from rising.
Bake your biscuits in either a cast iron skillet (the best!) or if you don’t have one, a cake pan, I find the extra support from the pan helps the biscuits reach the moon.
Steam helps things rise which is why you start baking these biscuits at 500 degrees. You then reduce the temperature a bit to cook the biscuits through.
A little melted butter makes almost anything better so I brush a bit on my biscuits as soon as they came out of the oven.
I did not test this recipe dairy free but I think it can easily be done by making the following substitutions:
Substitute the powdered milk with powdered soy milk.
Use one stick of dairy free butter substitute for the butter. If the stick dairy free butter is salted, reduce the salt in the recipe.
Replace the buttermilk with a dairy free version, put a tablespoon of white vinegar in a liquid measuring cup, add enough of your favorite dairy free milk to make 1 cup, stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
This Gluten Free Mile High Biscuits recipe makes seven giant biscuits. I know seven is an odd number and I have been trying to figure out some way to justify making seven biscuits as opposed to six or eight. I couldn’t come up with anything so I guess you just have to deal with it. In any case, I like the number 7. And it is reported to be lucky. So seven it is.
I am hoping now to be able to rest easier at night, not having to worry about you folks out there that had trouble making gluten free biscuits. Please let me know or else I am just going to lose even more sleep!
Gluten Free Mile High Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1½ cups white rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- ½ cup sweet rice or glutinous rice flour plus more for kneading
- ½ cup powdered milk
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, 1 stick
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup melted butter, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Combine the white rice flour, tapioca starch, sweet rice (glutinous) flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a food processor. Pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and shortening and pulse several times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces. Add the egg and buttermilk, pulse to combine. Flour a work surface generously with sweet rice flour, dump the dough onto the flour and knead several times until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Pat the dough into a circle a full 1 inch thick; the circle will not be very large in diameter. Cut out 3 inch biscuits using a well-floured cookie cutter or the top of a drinking glass. Place the biscuits into a cast iron skillet or non-stick 9 inch round cake pan. Reform the scraps and cut until the dough is used, you should have seven 3 inches by 1 inch biscuits.
- Bake at 500 for 5 minutes then reduce the temperature to 450 and bake another 15 – 20 minutes or until a light golden brown on top. Brush with melted butter if desired and serve with jam.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Carol – these biscuits look fabulous! They would be perfect with sausage and gravy – yum. I want these for breakfast – this recipe will definitely be on my to bake list!
Thanks Ina – I am right there with you on the sausage gravy – favorite breakfast ever!
I live in the Netherlands and I don’t know what vegetable shortening is. Can I use Crisco or something else?
Hope to hear from you soon, cannot wait to bake those biscuits! ?
You can use room temperature butter
Is Crisco also an option, or should I use butter instead?
Crisco shortening, yes. Crisco vegetable oil, I haven’t tried it but I think it would work, they just might not be as flaky.
Wow! These look amazing….my little boy is gluten sensitive, so I am always looking for a great, new gluten free recipe…..going to try these this week!
Enjoy Kim!
Hi Carol. Just wanted to mention, I tried printing this recipe – but it printed the page where it says to print the recipe, I was not able to print the actual recipe. Any ideas?? thanks
Thanks I am going to make sure I didn’t put something in wrong. Sorry!
OK, I fixed it. So sorry about that but it works now! Thanks so much for alerting me.
I had the same printing that Ina mentioned. I’ll just copy and paste it into something else. Have to give this recipe a try! They look wonderful!
Thank you and I will have the print issue looked into!
Yes, the “print recipe” doesn’t work, so I copied and pasted and now have it.
Thanks, I am going to have to get that checked. Sorry!
These really look great. Can’t wait to try them.
Thank you, enjoy!
Hi Carol,
Just before I became gluten free I learned how to make chicken and dumplings. (an old family recipe) The recipe calls for canned biscuits that you tear into pieces and drop into the soup / sauce. I have been looking for a gluten free biscuit dough recipe that would work in the same manner. Do you know if this recipe would work?
Thank you!
Hi Denise. I do think so – dumplings are just biscuits that are steamed on top of a stew (or soup) instead of baked. My guess would be to cook them the same amount of time it calls for in the recipe you are using. Good luck and let me know. Chicken and dumplings sounds amazing right now!
Hi, Carol-I tried this biscuit recipe last weekend. They turned out great! They were a bit over-browned; I might skip the initial cook time at 500 degrees, next time. Also, I used your “all purpose” flour that I purchased a while back in place of the separate flours and starch (3 cups total) that the recipe calls for. My husband has really been trying to cut out wheat from his diet. He loved these! So I’m really happy that I can still make things that he loves; but without the wheat! Way to go, Carol!
Thanks Karen! SO happy you enjoyed them. Instead of skipping the initial 500 degree stint try placing a piece of foil over the top about halfway through the baking time, this way you will get the rise but not get them too brown.
Did try this one but I couldn’t get it looking as good as your final photos :-( I guess thats the differenece between the professional touch and my home cooking efforts.
Hi Jerry, I am not really a professional, just a home cook. DId you cook in a cast iron skillet or cake pan?
Really! such a mouth watering biscuits.
Thanks Angelina!