When I was growing up biscuits were a big thing in my house. My step-dad made them pretty much every weekend. I have really missed them so I’ve been wanting to make something that is a closer similarity than what I’ve been able to do with almond flour.
What is Lentil Flour?
When I purchased some lentil flour I noticed it had a nice powdery texture similar to regular what flour. I thought it might be possible to make some softer biscuits with it.
Lentil flour is basically ground up lentils that have been cooked and dehydrated and then ground into flour. With the Specific Carbohydrate Diet ™ you will need to make sure your lentil flour was made with properly soaked lentils. I know a few of you make your own lentil flour and that should work too as long as it’s ground very fine. I buy my lentil flour here.
Making Light Lentil Flour Biscuits
My first attempt at the biscuits resulted in a very dense, heavy biscuits. They tasted okay, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. If I wanted heavy and dense I could stick with almond flour. On this first attempt I tried making drop biscuits and used olive oil for the fat instead of butter.
For the second attempt I decided to try some classic biscuit-making techniques including grating in frozen butter and “folding” the dough to make layers.
I had a lot of hope while these biscuits were baking because as they were cooking they smelled exactly like the biscuits I remembered growing up with. That had to be a good sign.
It turned out it was. As soon as I picked up one of the freshly baked biscuits I could tell it was much lighter than the previous attempt.
Lentil Flour vs. Regular Flour
There are a couple of important things to remember about baking with alternative flours. You can’t replicate the exact same textures as wheat flour. For one thing, gluten is a binder. It helps hold baked goods together. With SCD™ we don’t use a lot of the typical gluten-free binders like Xantham gum or tapioca starch. That’s why a lot of SCD™ baked goods tend to be more crumbly.
That doesn’t mean we can’t make some very satisfying things, we just need to learn to adjust expectations. These aren’t the kind of biscuits you can slice in half and put in butter and jam, but you can top them and they go great with soups, stews, and chili. They’re also very satisfying for breakfast.
What do Lentil Flour Biscuits Taste Like?
I like these biscuits a lot. Yes, there is a slight lentil flavor, but this second batch also had a much lighter flavor in addition to the lighter texture. I don’t know exactly what to compare it with, but I would say it reminded me a little of a savory scone. Crunch on the outside and light in the middle. There was definitely some flakiness too it, not as much as a regular biscuit, but the layering process really helped with that. I was even able to pull these apart.
They are a great savory side, but I also tried topping with some butter, honey, and cinnamon and it worked very well.
Give them a try and be sure to let me know what you think!
What Do You Need to Make Lentil Flour Biscuits?
- Lentil flour
- Unsalted butter
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Honey
- Lemon Juice
- Baking Sheet
- Mixing Bowls
- Parchment Paper
- Cheese Grater
- Mixing spoons
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Grain-Free Lentil Flour Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp SCD yogurt
- 3 Tbsp almond or other nut milk
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 ¼ cups lentil flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp butter – melted
Instructions
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Measure 3 tablespoons from a stick up butter and put in freezer for 30 minutes
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Heat oven to 425°F
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Add yogurt to small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth
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Add almond milk, lemon juice, and honey and whisk until mix thoroughly
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Set mixture aside while assembling the other ingredients
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Add lentil flour, baking soda, and salt to medium mixing bowl and stir to combine
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Use a cheese grater to grate the hard butter into the flour mixture and stir just to mix it in – it doesn't need to be blended, you should be able to detect the grated pieces of butter in the mixture
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Stir in yogurt mixture
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Stir gently to combine until mixture is in crumbly chunks and there is not a lot of loose flour – you don't want to overmix because that will melt the butter and make the mixture too dense
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Use hands to press the mixture into a ball
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Place dough on a piece of parchment paper and use hands to flatten into a rectangle that is about ¾ inch thick
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Slice rectangle into three equal parts and stack them on top of each other and then flatten into a another rectangle
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Repeat above process two more times
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Flatten one last time into a ¾ inch rectangle
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Slice into six equal pieces
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Place on parchment lined baking sheet and baste with melted butter
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Bake for 10 -12 minutes until biscuits are golden on the bottom and are firm on top
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Cool for a few minutes before serving
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Store leftover in refrigerator
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To reheat – wrap in paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds or place in air fryer or toaster oven at 280°F for five minutes
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