All Sorrows are Less With Bread

Mondays are usually my bread baking day, and so I usually try to do work that doesn't take me too far from the kitchen. With all of the variables that interact with bread making - I don't always have set times for rises and such - I kinda just gotta look at it. If I am caught up in some job outside I will invariably come in just as it has fallen, and I cannot help but bake bricks. That's ok if it is just for us, Kelly and Katie sort of like the bread when it is a little heavy. But I have worked for decades to try to make a nice light bread, and it is kind of a point of pride for me, especially when I am selling it or trading it. So I have been skipping baking lately.

But you can only go without bread for so long.

Last week, I bought some bread from Ada, an Amish lady up the road, and it was good. In fact it reminded me of my Mom's and Grandmother's bread, and so was a nice change. But Ada only sells on Fridays, and I really don't even have the time to get up there on a schedule. I have tried cheating and buying grocery store bread, and my family will eat a little bit of it if they have to, but usually most it goes to the chickens. In fact, when Katie was little, mostly all she would willingly eat was "jelly bread" which was our own strawberry jam and bread. When we moved, and I was temporarily without an oven she nearly "starved to death."

So enter biscuits.

Biscuits seem to more of a southern thing, I guess. I don't know for sure. My Dad, my brother and I loved them, but my Mom hated them and hated making them. My Grandma made a good biscuit, but I don't think Grandpa liked them. I simply cannot understand that. When I was a bachelor living in a cabin in the woods, I would make up a big batch on Sundays and put them in a basket on the table. I would eat them all week. In fact, I believe Kelly only married me for my Butter Biscuits.

But alas, even Butter Biscuits take a little time, what with the cutting in of the butter and all. Enter Easy Cream Biscuits.

I have made biscuits out of different fats and in different ways, and although I always come back to my Butter Biscuits, these Cream Biscuits are so quick and easy they still have a place in my heart on busy days. My family can tell the difference, and will say I am cheating, but I notice the biscuits disappear just the same. I reckon they'll do in a pinch. You might like them too, so here is the easy to remember recipe:

Easy Cream Biscuits

2 cups Self Rising Flour

1 cup Heavy Cream

• Mix with a spoon or rubber spatula until a sticky dough comes together
• Turn out onto a floured board, or counter (if you do it by the sink, it's easy to clean up the mess)
  
• Fold it together a few times, adding a little flour until it holds together enough to pat out into a disk maybe an inch thick
• Cut with a round cutter (mine is about 2 1/4" in diameter) or use a glass or jelly jar (though they won't rise up much if you mush the edges)
  
• Place on a cookie sheet with a little space between them
• Bake at 450F for 12-15 minutes until they get kind of golden brown
• They'll be a bit "smoother" and not as fluffy as a butter biscuit, but really good in their own way

The whole thing takes only a couple of minutes, and can be put together while you are cooking the rest of the supper. Hot biscuits make even leftovers taste better.

You can also use this simple dough as a base for other things. You can add a handful of grated cheddar cheese to the flour before you add the cream for fancy Cheddar Biscuits. Or instead, add a couple of Tablespoons of sugar to the flour, and when they come out they can be split and topped with sliced strawberries for easy, fresh Strawberry Shortcakes. Gild the lily a bit by tossing those berries in a bit of sugar and leave them sit as they make their own syrup. Aw heck, you might even want to whip some of that cream since you have it out.

I have even made the dough a little stiffer, cut the circles, rolled them thin, and put either pie filling or sliced cheese or meat on one half. Then I folded them over, crimped them with a fork and fried them in a little grease in the skillet for a quick Fry Pie.

Not gourmet quality, but a good, fill your belly treat.