I have shared with you my love of a good biscuit- they are just such a treat. I know that they have huge comfort-food value, and they are a great compromise when you’re trying to put together a healthy meal (like soup & salad or a ‘healthy’ veggie casserole) and you need to make your table look a wee bit more fun. If there is a steaming basket of fresh-from-the-oven biscuits on the table next to the broccoli & mushroom casserole, Mr. Fish is less hesitant to dig in.
That being said, the true baking powder biscuit- light and fluffy being the key words- is a tough thing to make without animal products. I have tried various recipes, and while I’m still not 100% convinced that this is as good as it gets, I have to admit that the recipe for baking powder biscuits in Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan With A Vengeance is really yummy (as are all the other recipes I’ve ever made from that book!).
The biscuits I made were delicious, but a wee bit salty, so I think next time I’ll back down on the salt using only a 1/4 or a half a teaspoon of salt rather than the teaspoon of salt called for in the recipe. The other difference was that the recipe calls for non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, and well, that just could not be found! I know state-side it is easier to get ahold of, but I only had the choices of using either hydrogenated veggie or animal shortening, and so opted for doubling up on the non-hydrogenated margarine. They seemed to hold up really well, so I’m not sure that was a problem. Really, the only complaint I had was the salt factor- even Mr. Fish who sadly had a tendency to drown his food in salt (sometimes even before tasting), commented on how salty they tasted.
Musings From The Fishbowl 