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Gluten free angel biscuits, made with both baking powder and yeast, rise high in the oven with layer upon layer of flaky goodness.
Why I love these gluten free angel biscuits
If you've ever had trouble making biscuits (or, to be honest, even if you haven't), then this is the pastry recipe for you. With baking powder, baking soda, and some yeast, these biscuits rise like angels.
Tender, light and flaky angel biscuits, with a bit of extra flavor from the yeast development—not to mention biscuit-rising insurance. Do you hear them singing? ?
These biscuits take a bit more time than, say, the easiest of all biscuits but not necessarily the most rewarding gluten free biscuits. And they freeze beautifully after baking, but not before since they're yeasted.
But the flavor development and lightness of the layers are unequaled. Let me at least make my case…
How to make pastry that needs cold with yeast that needs to rise?
Yeast, once hydrated, needs at least some warmth to be active. Pastry like biscuits needs cold fat (like butter) to expand in the oven. How can we do both?
Pastry is about architecture as much as it is chemistry. The pieces of cold butter, surrounded by flour, expand when they hit the warmth of the oven and push out the flour all around. But then how is the yeast supposed to proof?
The answer lies in a slightly different recipe ratio (a bit less butter), handling the dough as you would expect, then allow rising in warmth followed by a shock of cold.
Cold, then warm, then cold again
First, handle the dough like you would any pastry with cold ingredients and a light touch. You don't want the cold butter to melt in your hands, and you want to layer it in between pieces of flour, just like we always do with flaky biscuits.
Since these biscuits are made by folding the dough repeatedly as we do with any layered pastry, you'll begin to see the layers separating from one another before the pastry dough even goes into the oven.
Set the dough to rise in our usual warm, draft-free location, but we've used a bit less butter. That helps keep the dough together during the rise, without leaking at all.
Then, right before it goes in the oven (after proofing), we shock it in the freezer. Keep that in mind when selecting the size baking pan you'll use, and use multiple pans if necessary so they can fit in your freezer.
Ingredients and substitutions
The flour blend: In place of the combination of a well-balanced all purpose gluten free flour like Better Batter, along with nonfat dry milk and cornstarch, you can use 2 1/2 cups (350 g) Cup4Cup gluten free flour, or my mock Cup4Cup blend. Cup4Cup is a perfect pastry flour, and we are mimicking it here by adding milk powder and cornstarch.
Dairy: The dairy in these gluten free angel biscuits comes from buttermilk, butter, and from nonfat dry milk. I've successfully replaced them both in this recipe, which is good news if you're avoiding dairy.
In place of buttermilk, I recommend using half (4 fluid ounces) plain nondairy yogurt and half (4 fluid ounces) unsweetened nondairy milk, like almond milk. I don't recommend simply adding some vinegar or lemon juice to almond milk, as it won't produce a truly thickened buttermilk substitute.
In place of butter, I highly recommend Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen brand vegan butter. The biscuits will not brown quite as well in the oven, and the edges won't be exactly as clean but they'll have great taste and texture.
In place of nonfat dry milk, you can use coconut dry milk. I really like Native Forest brand dairy free and vegan coconut milk powder, and I find it at most larger grocery stores today.
Cornstarch: In place of cornstarch, you can use arrowroot powder or even potato starch.
Gluten Free Angel Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) gluten free pastry flour, plus more for sprinkling (you can also use Cup4Cup here)
- 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum, (omit if your pastry flour already contains it)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons (24 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter, grated or diced and chilled
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) buttermilk, chilled
Instructions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the pastry flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and yeast, and whisk to combine well. Add the salt, and whisk again to combine.
- Add the grated or chopped and chilled butter, and toss to coat it in the dry ingredients. Flatten each piece or clump of butter with the back of the mixing spoon.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk, and mix until the dough begins to come together. If necessary, press together with floured hands, handling it as little as possible.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured piece of unbleached parchment paper and press into a disk.
- Roll out the dough into a rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick, moving the dough frequently and sprinkling lightly with flour to prevent sticking.
- Fold the dough over on itself like you would a business letter, and then fold the side thirds of the rectangle into the center to form a square. Sprinkle the dough again lightly with flour, and roll out the dough once again into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Repeat the process one more time for the flakiest biscuits.
- Sprinkle the dough again lightly with flour, replace the parchment paper and roll out the dough, but this time into a disk about 1/2 inch thick.
- Using a floured 2 to 2 1/2-inch cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out rounds of dough.
- Place the rounds about 2 inches apart from one another on the prepared baking sheet.
- Gather and reroll the scraps, cut out as many more round of dough as possible, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap, and place in a warm, draft-free location until nearly doubled in size (about 1 hour).
- Place the covered baking sheet in the freezer until firm (about 15 minutes).
- Preheat your oven to 375°F while the biscuits are chilling.
- Remove the baking sheet from the freezer, remove the plastic wrap, and place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until the biscuits are puffed, very fragrant and lightly golden brown around the edges (about 15 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow the biscuits to cool briefly on the baking sheet before serving warm.
Video
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Nicole, i’ve searched for a nondairy coconut milk but for some reason they add milk proteins to it. I have a severe milk protein allergy so I look out for that. I ended up using rice milk powder or soy milk powder. In making biscuits from your first/second(?) book, can’t quite remember which I have all three, I subbed Earth Balance for the butter. I ended up using my 5lbs of Better Batter for biscuits because my 17yr old told me I had to make enough to last him for 2 weeks. The freezer is an awesome friend….
Hi, first I do indeed have your books, plus follow your site as well as on FB. LOVE all the info you provide. Finally
I read through all the comments and did not find whether these will freeze well AFTER being baked.
I love your “first,” watchingnow! Much appreciated. And that you read through the comments before asking your question! Finally—yes! They freeze really well after being baked. :)
Cheryl, these are Angel Biscuits, which contain both chemical leaveners (like baking powder and baking soda) and yeast. And you can store yeast in the freezer before it is activated in dough. Afterward, it can, indeed, kill the yeast. It doesn’t usually, but it can. That is why I do not recommend it. I have a number of other pastry recipes on the blog and in my books that describe how to get light and flaky pastry by using cold ingredients and layering the fat with the flour well.
I adore angel biscuits and it’s one of those things I’ve had in the back of my mind to convert to GF “someday.” Now I don’t have to wait till I get around to it. Thank you!
Thanks, Nicole! You are so very helpful! I think I have it all figured out now! I have both your books on my Kindle and am slowly cooking through them — enjoying baking again!
WOW! You’ve done it again girl! Angel Biscuits have been a favorite of mine for many years…Did you hear me thinking about them recently????? I used to make up a 5 cup of flour batch. I would bake a few and leave the remainder in a bowl in the fridge for a few days so I could have half a dozen hot biscuits whenever I wanted them. They are soooooo good and everyone seems to enjoy them and find them a little special (is it a biscuit or a bun?). You just keep Rockin’ Lady!
Saw a non-gluten free recipe today for Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze…like a cinnamon bun with lemon and nutmeg instead of cinamon…..any thought to tackling something like that?
Ohmygosh- lemon cinnamon rolls sound awesome!
So true, Lorna. Angel biscuits are sort of a cross between a biscuit and a bun. Love ’em!
Those sticky lemon rolls sound fabulous. You could definitely use the recipe in my bread cookbook, Bakes Bread, for cinnamon sticky buns and add some lemon juice and/or zest to the glaze!
As I explain the post, S. Harris, pastry needs to be cold for the butter to expand when it hits the heat of the oven, so it fluffs out the flour around it.
Ah yes, I see. Well I guess I better make some room in my freezer because these look super tasty. I’m always on the lookout for a tasty GF biscuit!
Beautiful, are these similar to KFC biscuits? My eldest has CD and she loved them… my youngest daughter is always asking for them and we sneak the odd one for her to enjoy, with a heavy heart knowing that Amanda can’t enjoy them anymore. I will be making these for Easter! Thank you
Not really, Lucy. Those are more cakey, less flaky, I’d say. These are flaky, more like traditional biscuits.
Okay…..we’re having Easter dinner after the evening service — could I put these into the refrigerator after the rise for the approximately 2 hours we’ll be gone instead of the freezer and then bake when we get home — will that kill the yeast?
Aaand just like that….Sunday dinner solved! Thank you Nicole!!!!
your GFF,
John L