Gluten Free KFC Style Fluffy Butter Drenched Biscuits!
I have said it before..but Its time to say it again. This recipe is one of my proudest accomplishments!! You guys are in for a TREAT with this one!!!
I don’t know what to even call this style of biscuit- but they remind me a lot of the salty, fluffy, butter drenched biscuits that I had at KFC a long time ago! (I cant eat there now.. msg destroys me.) and I have heard that their biscuits aren’t as good as they used to be. So I don’t know if they are still worth swooning over. But I can tell you these are!! They taste great at all temperatures but nothing beats their texture piping hot out of the oven!! I highly recommend serving the right away if you can.
This is the best gluten free biscuit you will EVER make! I’m saying that boldy and with full confidence! I also can say with knowing that this will become your go to biscuit recipe. Not only because of how outrageously delicious they are.. but because they are STUPID EASY! You don’t even have to cut in butter!!!
This biscuit is brought to you by heavy cream!! No- not half and half. Don’t bother with that. FULL cream! We are using it in place of butter. It gives the biscuits the moisture they need to get really fluffy and tall- while ALSO giving them the amount of fat needed to become extremely tender.
If you are allergic/sensitive to dairy I recommend finding the highest in fat sub you can get your hands on! I think that warmed up/whisked coconut cream should work well. I also recommend using silk’s Dairy Free Heavy Whipping Cream!!
I am planning on buying a jar just to premix this flour blend so that I can whip these biscuits up extra quick with various meals. You could multiply the flour blend by however many times you want and carefully weight out the gram measurements and mix WELL. Then just add up the total sum of all the grams for each batch and scoop out that amount each time. When I do this - I will update this post with the exact quantities.
The magical behind these biscuits!
Folding the dough:
This step is essential! BUT- If you use too much flour in the process of doing it your biscuits will be less tender and could become a little dry.. and not rise as much in the oven! So the key is to use a bench scraper and just a tbsp or two of better batter. The dough should remain fairly sticky!
Do a sprinkle of better batter on your counter, then plop the mixed dough on top. Sprinkle a little flour over the surface and then fold the dough over. Fold another 4-5 times. This will create layers/air pockets that will add to the height and fluffiness! I add more flour just when I find the dough is sticking too much to the counter.
Liberally brushing melted butter on top before and after baking:
Melt the butter PRIOR to mixing your wet and dry ingredients together. Then liberally brush half on the tops of the biscuits right before placing them in the oven and then again after you pull them out. This is what gives them a beautiful dark golden brown color and adds some flakiness to the top!! Feel free to use a vegan butter if you want/need to!
Avoid mixing the wet and dry ingredients until the oven has fully preheated:
This part is so important. Think of those science projects from elementary school. The baking soda reacted the moment it touched the vinegar. The same thing starts to happen (though a little slower of course) in your mixing bowl when the wet and dry ingredients come together. We want most of that action to happen IN the oven. So I find its best practice with all biscuits to preheat the oven and make sure you have everything ready to go so that you can quick fold the dough, cut the biscuits, place them on the prepared pan, brush them with butter and get them straight into the oven. There’s no need to be frantic about it :) But just- be prepared and keep it moving. You don’t want them just sitting on the counter for 10-15 minutes while the oven heats up!
Ingredients:
I do not recommend any substitutions. This recipe required a LOT of trial and error and little changes made a very big difference for me. Even just adjusting the flour gram measurements by 10 grams created big changes. To master this recipe I needed to push the limit to find the exact amount of moisture that I could get away with to get then tender as can be and perfectly baked through. But this means that there is less room fore measuring error. Any more liquid or any less flour could cause your biscuits to not get tall enough or collapse too much. For spectacular results its important to use the ingredients I call for & to weigh them with precision!
Better Batter Gluten Free Orginal Blend. This flour blend continues to amaze me. It can do so many things better than most other blends that I have tried. I cant live without for my bread recipes & have found it works exceptionally well in cookies too! .
What if you cant get your hands on it? This may be the case if you live outside the US. My friend Nichole from Gluten Free on a Shoestring has figured out a mock recipe for better batter. Her version should work great in this recipe! The owner (Naomi) of better batter has confirmed that the mix is similar to the official version.
Better Batter so kindly offered me a 30% off promo code to share with all of you! This can be used as often as you would like for every single purchase made directly on BetterBatter.com Use the code: BakingAngell30
Expandex
These biscuits are truly only possible because of the magic of expandex. It is a modified form of tapioca starch that was formulated to improve gluten free baking. The word Modified tends to worry people- so let me explain further. Essentially they studied tapioca and removed portions of it leaving only the parts that would allow for it to cause amazing elasticity (aka its name) in gluten free recipes. This flour allows me to get an incredible rise with everything I use it in. It traps the air bubbles in the dough just like regular flour with gluten does! Its honestly incredible. If you eat any store bought foods you have eaten many forms of modified starch. Its nothing new- its just semi new to the home baker. Its non gmo and I typically get it from the brand Judee’s on amazon. Under no conditions can you sub it out for another regular starch.
Outside of the US there is a product called Ultratex 3 I have not worked with it but from what I understand its comparable! I would use that in the exact same quantity as the expandex amount that I call for.
Baking Powder: I highly highly highly recommend using Bobs Red Mill double acting baking powder. Its the best of the best and has very little after taste. As a result I am able to get away with using slightly higher amounts of it to maximize fluffiness. IF you need to avoid corn- it is ok to swap it out for a single acting baking powder without cornstarch. But if you can get your hands on the bobs red mill- DO IT! :)
Baking Soda: Same deal here- I ALWAYS get bobs red mill baking soda! Like the powder- it has less after taste than most brands!! It works fantastic. I was careful with this recipe to not over do it with either the baking powder or soda in hopes of all brands tasting great. But Its possible some may have a bit of an after taste. I can guarantee your flavor will be perfect if you use bobs!
Heavy Cream : Don’t swap this out for half and half! We NEED the fat. The best dairy free substitute Is Silk brand Dairy Free Heavy Cream. It has just about the same amount of fat as regular heavy cream! Its my favorite sub across the board when it comes to dairy free cooking and baking.
Eggs: Make sure to use Large Eggs! If you’re in the mood to experiment to make these biscuits egg free I think that the brand “just egg” is the best option. But I cant guarantee results as I did not test it out myself. If you want a delicious egg free biscuit I have a recipe for you too!! (Click here for the vegan recipe)
I will be posting a YouTube video soon on how to make these beautiful biscuits! Primarily because I want to demo the folding process. Its not complicated or hard- but I think seeing how things are done is helpful!
Gluten Free KFC Style Fluffy Golden Biscuits!
Ingredients
- 320 grams Better Batter Gluten Free Original Blend Flour
- 35 grams Expandex (Modified Tapioca Starch)
- 2 Tsp Baking Soda (Bob's Red Mill Brand is best!)
- 1 1/2 Tsp Double Acting Baking Powder (Bob's Red Mill Brand is best)
- 1 1/8 Tsp Salt
- 263 grams Whole Cream/ Heavy Cream OR Silk Dairy Free Heavy Cream.
- (20 grams) 1 1/2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- (81 grams) 1 Large Egg + 1 Egg White
- 84 grams Water
- 3-4 Tbsp Melted Butter to brush on top (Regular or Vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.
- In a large bowl carefully weigh in (with precision) and add the dry ingredients (Better batter, expandex, baking soda, baking powder & salt) Mix well. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl weight in and add the wet ingredients. (Whole Cream, Vinegar, Eggs and water). Whisk together well.
- When the oven has preheated - pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry. Using a spatula mix the dough until it comes together. It will thicken quite a bit within 30 seconds. Once it comes together you can stop mixing.
- Sprinkle a little better batter (2 tsp) onto the counter. Plop the dough onto it and sprinkle another tsp over the top of the dough. Dip your hands in flour to help prevent sticking. Using a bench scraper to help prevent sticking fold the dough over onto itself 6 times. Adding only a little more flour as needed if the dough gets really sticky. (Adding too much flour will create DRY less fluffy biscuits.Its best practice just to dip your hands in the flour as needed!). Do not use more than 1 1/2- 2 Tbsp flour when working with the dough.
- Press the dough out to 1 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2 3/4 inch wide round biscuit cutter- cut 6-7 biscuits. (You may need to pile the dough up to create new mounds to cut to get all of the biscuits).
- Place onto the prepare baking sheet and gently brush about half of the butter onto the tops of the biscuits. Place immediately into the oven. Bake for 14 minutes uncovered. Then place a sheet of tinfoil over the biscuits (do not "tent" or press the tinfoil down to restrict them from rising. Simply just add a layer over the tops of them to help prevent over browning. Bake another 4-6 minutes.
- The biscuits are done when golden brown on top and when you gently poke them with your finger they feel firm and the dough springs back a little. If they feel a little wet or you notice sinking keep them in the oven a bit longer.
- Remove from the oven and liberally brush more butter on top. (Sometimes I brush it on twice!) Serve piping hot! (The biscuits will sink a little as they cool- this is completely normal.)
- Store the leftover biscuits in the freezer once cool or at room temperature in a sealed bag or container. They can be eaten at room temperature but always taste the best warmed up!
