Another day, another tomato recipe. For day two of TOMATO WEEK I decided to put together a savory biscuit recipe. Biscuits accommodate all kinds of savory flavors. I decided to shift away from Italian flavors for a moment and capture a flavor profile found in Greek cooking as well as food from the Levant. Tomato Biscuits with Cumin and Feta are on the block today.
A Brief Biscuit Lesson
Biscuits as we know them today are a relatively new culinary invention mainly due to the development of baking powder and baking soda. These products weren’t available on a large scale to the American public until the mid 1800’s. As a southern specialty that came to prominence before the end of the Civil War biscuits were baked most often by slaves in the American south. Biscuits are an essential part of what we know as Soul Food.
The Biscuit Process
To make these biscuits I recommend keeping everything as cold as possible. If I’ve learned one thing from my biscuit trials: DON’T LET THE BUTTER MELT. Seriously. If you have cold hands, you’ll be great at making biscuits. I recommend starting off with a chilled bowl that you can pop back into the fridge between steps in order to keep everything you are mixing in it cold. Keep your other ingredients in the fridge until you need them as well.
The next consideration is that you don’t want your dough too wet. This is a challenge with using fresh tomatoes as they are very juicy. To mitigate this I recommend using a meaty tomato like Roma tomatoes. You’ll also want to discard all tomato jell. Lastly, we’ll salt our tomatoes in advance of adding them to the dough. This allows water to be expelled from the tomato prior to cooking. If you plan on making these as a breakfast treat during the week you could always perform this step the night before and keep your tomatoes in the fridge overnight. They will also then be cold and all the better in a biscuit dough.
This is bound to be a sticky dough no matter what you do. I usually like to cut my biscuits into squares, I don’t like biscuit cutters as I feel I usually wind up with some wasted dough. Here you could also opt to make drop biscuits instead, they would be much easier to handle this way.
The cumin seeds are truly something special in baked goods, but if you don’t have any I suppose (but have not tested) that half the amount in powdered form would work. I’ve found many uses for cumin seeds, so I think they are a worthy pantry staple. You could also opt for fennel seeds. A dash of sumac on top is optional, but will tie together the tangy flavors of the tomatoes and buttermilk. Whatever you do take the time to savor the beautiful aromatics of these Tomato Biscuits with Cumin and Feta. It’s worth a temporary morning slow-down, if only for a moment.
Tomato Biscuits with Cumin and Feta
Ingredients
- 2 small Roma tomatoes 1 c once diced
- 1 tsp kosher salt divided
- 280 g all purpose flour 2 1/4 c
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 stick butter 8 tbsp, kept cold
- 3/4 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 2/3 cup buttermilk kept cold
- Sumac if desired for topping
Instructions
- Place a metal or glass mixing bowl in the fridge to chill
- Dice your tomatoes into a small dice, about 1/4 inch pieces. Remove and discard seeds and tomato gel. You should end up with about a cup of diced tomatoes. Toss with 1/2 tsp kosher salt and allow to sit in a mesh strainer for about 20 minutes, stir occasionally.
- Preheat your oven to 450°
- In your chilled mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, remaining 1/2 tsp salt and cumin seeds.
- Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. If you are still waiting on your tomatoes, put the bowl back in the fridge. Once tomatoes are done place on a clean kitchen towel or paper towel and dab dry. With a pastry cutter, fork or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour until the pieces are about the size of peas.
- With a spatula, mix in cheese and then tomatoes. Add cold buttermilk and stir together until you have a tacky dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead a few times to get it to come together. Flatten out into a rectangle about a 1/2 inch thick and fold three times over. Dough will be sticky, flour hands if needed.
- Pat into a rectangle about an inch thick. Cut once in half length wise and three times width wise so you get 8 squares. (see note) Place on a lined baking sheet and brush lightly with buttermilk. Sprinkle sumac on top if desired. Bake for 15-16 minutes or until golden brown.
- Once done cool on a wire rack. Serve while warm with butter or good olive oil.