dill pickle brine biscuits
it's pickle season
a few months back i published these pretzel biscuits (which i love and think are perfect), but due to my obsession with biscuits, i’m always thinking of new ways to make them. i wanted to experiment with flavoring them not just through additional ingredients like herbs, spices, cheeses, et cetera, but also through the different liquids and fats. in this recipe, i swapped some of the liquid (typically buttermilk / sour cream / heavy cream) with pickle brine, and found that it not only flavored the biscuits with a salty, pickle-y punch from the inside out, but gave them an even lighter, fluffier texture.
i then upped the pickle flavor by adding a ton of fresh dill for a savory biscuit that’s delicious on its own or with a swipe of cream cheese. my absolute favorite way to eat these however, is inspired by one of my favorite childhood snacks: the pickle roll up. for those who’ve never had one (likely most of you?) it’s simple: take a slice of ham, spread it with a thin layer of cream cheese, then wrap that whole thing around a pickle before slicing into rounds and devouring. it sounds weird but it’s actually genius, and the combination (ham, cream cheese, pickles) works so well piled into these biscuits.
this is a recipe that, even if you live in a one or two person household, i highly recommend you make as outlined below since it’s so easy (at multiple different points!) to freeze the biscuits for later. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve thanked my past self as i reached into my freezer, popped a few of these into the oven and had my ideal breakfast-slash-snack-slash-lunch in like 20 minutes with basically zero effort. so do your future self a favor, too. it’s worth it.
there are also a few ways you could switch this recipe up: use olive brine instead of pickle brine if that’s what you have around, leave out the dill for a savory but more subtle biscuit, or even swap in a mix of soft herbs like dill, basil, mint, chives or tarragon.
makes 9 biscuits, can be made up to 1 month in advance
20 grams fresh dill
435 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
225 grams cold unsalted butter
180 grams cold buttermilk
75 grams pickle brine (i recommend using a more sour brine for this recipe, so try to choose pickles that have little to no added sugar; i especially liked the brine from these lebanese pickles. if your brine has a lot of spices and herbs in it, strain before measuring and adding to the dough.)
3 tablespoons melted butter
flaky sea salt
roughly chop the dill, discarding any thick stems, and set aside. add flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and black pepper to a large bowl and mix to combine. carefully grate butter with a large box grater set over the bowl with the flour mixture. toss together, then use your fingers to smash and massage the pieces of the butter into the flour.
once the butter pieces are even and around the size of peas (this is approximate), use your hands to make a well in the center of the bowl. add half the buttermilk and chopped dill, mix with a spoon until crumbly, then add remaining buttermilk and dill and mix again. add pickle brine and gently mix until it’s a shaggy, crumbly dough; it will be quite dry at this point (see here), don’t worry.
turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and pat it together into a 1 inch (2.5cm) tall square, using a bench scraper if you have one to help maintain squared off sides. use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough in half length- and width-wise into four even squares. stack the pieces on top of each other, then use your hands and a rolling pin (using the bench scraper to help maintain straight-ish sides) to push and roll the mixture until it’s again a 1 inch (2.5cm) tall square. repeat the cutting and stacking, this time pushing and rolling until the square is about 2 inches (5 cm) tall, 6 - 6.5 inches (16cm) long. carefully transfer the block to a plate (or a piece of plastic wrap) and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
remove the dough from the fridge and slice into 9 3x3inch (7.5x7.5cm) square biscuits. transfer back to the plate and freeze for 10 minutes; this will help the biscuits maintain the square shape while baking, but if you don’t care too much about that, you can skip the freeze (you can also keep the unbaked frozen biscuits in the freezer for 1-2 months, well-wrapped; to bake, don’t thaw, simply bake as directed in step 5 below).
while the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 220°C/425°F. transfer biscuits to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them out about 2 inches apart then brush the tops of the biscuits liberally with melted butter. sprinkle with flaky sea salt then bake until the biscuits are golden brown on the top and bottom, about 20 - 25 minutes. remove from the oven and brush them once more with melted butter. let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
to freeze baked biscuits, bake as stated above, then let cool completely. transfer to a resealable plastic bag and place in the freezer. do not thaw, simply place the biscuits you want to heat up in a cold oven. set the oven to 180°C/350°F and set a timer for 15 minutes. when the timer goes off, you’re good to go: the outside will be crisp and the inside should be hot all the way through.