Scallion Biscuits with Sausage Gravy


Time for the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally! Gretchen of Kumquat hostessed this month with the challenge of biscuits. What a great way to start off the new year. Growing up in South Florida, biscuits with sausage gravy comes to my mind first. It's been eons since I've had biscuits and gravy; probably a good ten years. I decided to throw some scallions in there, since I've been craving Chinese style scallion pancakes for some time and since it's nice to get some green in my food during the winter. These definitely hit the spot. Oof. Should hold me over for some time.

The Gluten-Free Ratio Rally is a group of GF bloggers, rallied by Shauna of GlutenFreeGirl.com, where we put our on spin a a culinary standard. These culinary standards are known formulas, ratios, that professionals use. The caveat is that everything is done by weight, since weight is more standardized and much more accurate than measuring by volume. This is the foundation of the GFreeRally as started and explained by Gluten-Free Girl here. The book that we base our ratios is Michael Ruhlman's Ratio. Ruhlman's biscuit ratio is a 3 parts flour : 2 parts liquid : 1 part butter recipe. Mine turned out to be to the same 3:2:1/flour:milk:butter. There are some major tricks here. First, boil the milk and add it to half the flour to gelatinize the sweet rice flour to give it some elasticity. Second, cool down the dough before adding in the butter. This ensures the butter will not completely mix in, giving some rise and flakiness to the biscuits. Third, roll out the dough and fold multiple times to give many layers to the biscuits. Lastly, and most importantly handle the dough as little as possible. The colder the keep the dough, the better rise and less the butter will melt. The sausage gravy is a traditional bechamel thickened with a roux made with potato starch.

Ingredients:
Biscuits:
200 grams (mL) milk, boiling
150 grams sweet rice flour
150 grams brown rice flour
1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher/sea salt
1 tablespoon (14 g) baking powder
100 grams unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4" cubes
3-4 scallions, greens only (reserve white ends for gravy), chopped finely

Sausage Gravy:
60 grams potato starch
60 grams butter
1 teaspoon salt
dash nutmeg
black pepper
300 grams (mL) milk
1 pound your favorite breakfast (sage) sausage
3-4 white ends of scallions, finely chopped


Directions:
Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 400F. Place the sweet rice flour in the work bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a paddle mixer. Add in the salt. With the mixer on low, add in the bowling milk in one portion. Allow to mix until it is cool enough to touch. Add in the brown rice flour and baking powder. Put the bowl in fridge until it has cooled down. Return to mixer on low and add in the cubed butter, followed by the chopped scallions.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured cool surface. Roll out with minimal handling into a rectangle. Fold into thirds. Roll out again and repeat. Chilling may be necessary in between depending if it gets too warm/soft. Repeat this about 4 times. Last time, roll out evenly with even edges with a dough thickness of about 3/4". Cut into about 12 squares using a large, sharp chef knife. Space out evenly onto a sheet of parchment paper. Brush with milk or egg wash. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack.

Sausage Gravy:
In a medium/large fry pan over medium heat, brown the sausage. Breaking up into small pieces. Turning frequently. Once browned, remove from heat, strain fat/liquid. Add in chopped white ends of scallions. This will be added to the bechamel sauce.

Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan, heat the potato starch and butter over medium heat. Add in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir continuously with a whisk. After a couple of minutes, turn the heat to low and add in the milk (that's been heated in the microwave) with whisking. Turn up the heat to medium and whisk continuously until the sauce has thickened and starts to boil. If it is too thick, add tiny increments of additional milk until desired thickness is achieved. Add in the sausage and scallions. Taste for seasoning and add more if needed. Enjoy!

-Erin Swing
The Sensitive Epicure

Head on over to Gretchen's host post to see her amazing Sweet Buttermilk Biscuits and all the other fantastic recipes brought to you by rally participants this month! Thanks again Gretchen for hosting a biscuit of a challenge! Also, if you're on Twitter, search #GFreeRally

Amanda from Gluten Free Maui made Classic Biscuits and Gravy
Amie of the Healthy Apple made Wasabi Parsley Biscuits
Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] made American Style Biscuits
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free made Whole Grain Pecan Drop Biscuits
Charissa of Zest Bakery made Eggnog Biscuits with Grated Nutmeg
Heather of Discovering the Extraordinary made Amond Coconut Tea Biscuits
Jean of Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes made Jammers
Jonathan of the Canary Files made Vegan Sesame Shiso Biscuits 
Karen of Cooking Gluten Free! made Biscuit Template with Dairy Free Substiutions
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen made Fluffy Biscuits
Mary Fran of Frannycakes made Suprise Flavor Biscuits
Mrs R of Honey From Flint Rocks made Turkey Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping
Rachel of the Crispy Cook made Hummus in a Biscuit
Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen made Sausage-n-Cheddar Bialy Biscuits
TR of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Lemon Basil Biscuits

Comments

Amanda on Maui said…
These biscuits look so tender and light, yet filling and warming at the same time. The sausage gravy looks fantastic as well.

I'm so excited to see that you didn't use any gums in your recipe. That makes life a lot more delicious for me soon.

I'm curious about the texture. I use sweet rice flour (mochi flour) a lot to make mochi cakes and daifuku. Because of its lowered nutritional value I don't use it much in my gluten free baking. However, I am going to have to give it a shot and make these biscuits.

Yum!
Karen said…
ooh sausage gravy, a nice addition. I grew up in Florida too--your post made me think of my mom who loves the word "eons". and of course "pocketbook"
Rachel said…
Pass me some of those scallion biscuits! They look really flaky.
Caneel said…
Oh wow, Erin, these would hit the spot for me, too. Love the savory combo. Mmmmmm!
Anonymous said…
My OH MY!!! Look at the HEIGHT!! Look at the NOT CRACKED TOPS!!!

I can't WAIT to make these for breakfast in the morning!!

Curious... have you tried making, cutting then freezing, then baking?? How do they hold up? As another ratio rally participant mentioned, rolled biscuits take t-i-m-e, and that is something I lack in the morning rush - hence my NEED for a biscuit I can make ahead and pop into the oven when I need them.
Anonymous said…
I forgot to mention...

THANK YOU for the tips!! I just KNEW there had to be a "trick" to making these things work and come out LOOKING like a more traditional biscuit. Boiled milk... of course!
My husband would love these. I denied him the gravy this round, but hope to surprise him with your recipe. Thx for sharing!
Lisa @ GF Canteen said…
Erin - those look really really good. Want some. With the gravy, please.
Jonathan said…
Did you have to mention scallion pancakes? [stomach rumbling] :) These look so good, Erin. Thanks for sharing!
Julie said…
Erin,
I am fairly new to your blog, and I LOVE your precise techniques and science-based approach. In the biscuit ingredient list, you call for baking powder, but in the directions, it says baking soda. Which is correct? I'm guessing powder, but want to confirm. I really like your recipes because they're in grams (amen!) and don't call for any gums, which I'd rather avoid. Thanks in advance!
Erin Swing said…
Hi Julie! I'm so glad you found my blog! And caught my typo. Oops. It's baking powder. I only use baking soda to neutralize any acid & help w rise. I only use gums when there's no other way around it. ;p. I'm so happy to hear you prefer scaling. I feel so strongly about high margin of error in measuring volumetrically, that I'd rather not post volumetric measurements for the major components of the recipe.