Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits (dairy free, soaked, vegan)

Fluffy, Whole Wheat Biscuits
Makes 20 small biscuits
I have used both palm oil and coconut oil with great results. The coconut oil gives a sweetness to the biscuits that is very nice, the palm oil is more neutral. But beware, coconut oil melts at a much lower temperature, so keep this dough “soaking” under 76 degrees (at which point it will melt). Otherwise, you should use palm oil which melts at 85 degrees. My house was between 65 to 70 degrees when I was testing this recipe.

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (you could substitute other flours for part of the flour amount too).
6 tablespoons palm oil or coconut oil
3/4 cup of coconut milk tonic, other dairy free milk or water (last time I made it with just water and it was very good! Just make it a scant 3/4 of a cup when using water.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

1-The night before, measure the flour into a medium size bowl. Using a pastry cutter, or a fork and knife with a cutting motion, cut in the palm oil or coconut oil into the flour. When the oil is the size of peas or smaller, you are done. Add the coconut milk tonic/water and lemon juice/vinegar, and mix in until just combined. Leave overnight at room temperature, well covered. This mixture will be wetter then your average biscuit recipe. This is so we can more easily mix in the salt and rising agents the next day.

2-The next morning, place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 450. Press down the dough a bit right in the bowl. Sprinkle the baking soda, baking power and salt on top of the dough,

then fold it in half, top to bottom

and press down firmly

Fold in half again from the side, and press down firmly again.

Starting at the top, repeat this process until you have folded the dough about 10-15 times (do so until you feel assured that the rising agents and salt have been well mixed in).

3-Now it’s ready to roll it out!

I found that because the folding process develops the gluten a bit, I didn’t need to use any flour. But if you need to, feel free to use some white flour or arrowroot flour when you roll this out. Place on a clean surface, and roll out into a rectangle. It should be about 1/2 an inch thick.

4-You can use biscuit cutters to get nice round biscuits, but I like to simply cut it into squares as there is no waste this way. A pizza cutter works great here. I cut them into small pieces, so I get 20 pieces. If you wanted to make bigger biscuits I recommend that you lower the temperature to 425 degrees and cook for a bit longer .

5-Place on an un-greased cookie sheet or jellyroll pan and pop it in your preheated oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the top and bottom is lightly browned and the middle is cooked all the way through. Remove to cooling racks when done.

Biscuits are best warm, but we certainly enjoy them cold too!