Cowboy Biscuits: Sustenance for a Texas Winter Hike
When other parts of the United States are hunkering down in the January chill, Texas weather can be perfect for outdoor activities – particularly hiking. Texas State Parks offer a variety of options, and a hike that would be, well should we say, “heat challenged” in the summer, can be delightful in the winter months. It’s best to check the Texas State Parks and Wildlife website for entry tickets and availability before venturing to a park.
Of course you will need some sustenance for your hike and may we suggest that a biscuit sandwich could be your perfect answer! Biscuits will hold their shape better than bread and won’t easily become squashed in your backpack.
To give us a lesson in flaky biscuit construction, we called in Chip Miller, who was raised on a ranch along the Rio Grande, southwest of San Antonio in Eagle Pass. This area is part of the Wintergarden region of Texas which includes seven counties located between southwest of San Antonio and north of Laredo. Due to the idyllic climate, and availability of irrigation of the Wintergarden region, vegetable farming is prolific. Chip’s family raised cattle, alfalfa, and a variety of vegetables like: spinach, onions, cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce and cabbage.
Biscuits were a breakfast tradition for the Miller family and fortunately for us, Chip honed his biscuit skill when training at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas.
As is typical of baking – the process is extremely important and can make the difference in producing a flaky biscuit. Keeping the ingredients chilled until the last moment is paramount to success. Also folding the dough in triplets creates those luscious layers. Ingredients and the process is shown below. You can watch Chip in action on Texicureans YouTube channel.
Now for a hike recommendation! Colorado Bend State Park, about 37 miles north of Llano is a beautiful park located on the Colorado River before being dammed into the Highland Lakes. My husband, son, and I loaded up our backpack with ham and cheese biscuit sandwiches and took this approximately 8 mile jaunt around a portion of the park.
Here’s the trails we took:
- Parking lot to Gorman Falls,
- Gorman Falls to Gorman Springs,
- Gorman Springs back to Gorman Falls trail and head back to the parking lot.
- Take a .75 mile hike to Colorado River Overlook.
- On the way back to the same trail, take the trail marked “Back to parking lot.” It will loop you on the perimeter of the park.
We broke out the biscuit sandwiches at the incredible Gorman Falls where a millennia of years has created stunning limestone formations as the water flows over the falls. Then we took off along the creek formed by Gorman Springs – an almost paradise setting. The Colorado River Overlook gives you an understanding of the river flow and the State Park’s location. And the hike back to the parking lot from there gives you glimpses of a beautiful deep gorge.
Are you ready for some biscuits? Whether served simply with butter, honey, and/or jelly or created into a sandwich – you will love this recipe!
Cowboy Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter
- 3 1/4 cups Cups All Purpose Flour - Cold
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1½ cups Buttermilk, well shaken
- Sea salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- The layered biscuit effect is created by folding the dough 3 times before portioning out your biscuits, but the secret to its success is chilling the main ingredients. I freeze the butter and flour beforehand and keep the buttermilk in the fridge until just ready to use it.
- Start the process by grating the frozen butter onto a sheet of parchment paper. Put this back into the freezer while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
- Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the other dry ingredients,giving it a good stir to incorporate well. Get the frozen butter out and add it to the dry ingredients. Mix it with your fingertips (or a pair of forks)to coat the butter with the mixed dry ingredients until its completely mixed in the add about *half of the buttermilk and work it into the flour/butter mix using your fingertips, add the the balance and continue to mix until the ‘dough’ comes together in a shaggy irregular shape and all flour mix is incorporated (leaving no floury residue at the bottom of the bowl). Dough will be a little sticky and unsmooth at this point.
- Turn the rough dough out onto a lightly floured surface (I use a large wooden cutting board) and shape the rough dough into a rectangle about 8x12 inches in shape, using your hands. The dough will be 2-3 inches thick. Now give the dough a 3-fold – fold the right 1/3 of the dough to the middle, then fold the left 1/3 of the dough on top of it– making a ‘book fold’. Press the dough down to flatten it and reshape to 8x12 inch rectangle again. Pressing the dough down to about 2-3 inches and reshaping it into the rectangle for the next fold will begin to smooth the dough out. Fold it again into thirds like the first time, press down and reshape into a rectangle, and fold a 3rd time. You may have to use a pastry scraper to peel the dough off the working surface. By this point your dough will be much smoother in texture and is ready to cut into edible shapes. I like to use a large chef’s knife to cut the dough into thirds long ways then make four cuts across the middle to create 15 biscuits.
- Transfer the biscuits to a sheet pan being careful not to pinch/handle the edges of the biscuit dough as that will hinder the rising and layering while baking. Bake for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees and check for color (golden brown). Note: if you pull them a little early and find they are too doughy in the middle, just put them back in the oven for 2-3 more minutes.
Video
Notes