Graham Gems

[caprice24]

Hi everyone! I found an old recipe for graham gems (basically biscuits) which I've been trying, but am a little unsure about my technique. I haven't been able to get my "gems" to rise like biscuits, and am wondering what I might be missing or doing wrong. Here are the ingredients I've been using:

1 cup graham flour
1 tsp sugar (I've been using coconut sugar)
1/2 tsp salt (I've been using kosher salt)
1 tbsp oil (I've been using coconut oil, but plan on switching to sunflower oil)
1 cup milk (I've been using pine nut "milk")

The picture below is part of the instructions I found. Can beating the batter really put enough air bubbles into the batter to make these little biscuits rise? Does using cold water make a difference in regard to getting a fluffier texture? What about oven temperature? Any suggestions for that? I've been trying to cook them at 400 fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. How much does the position of the baking tray matter in this situation? Please let me know if I should include additional information. Thank you!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi everyone! I found an old recipe for graham gems (basically biscuits) which I've been trying, but am a little unsure about my technique. I haven't been able to get my "gems" to rise like biscuits, and am wondering what I might be missing or doing wrong. Here are the ingredients I've been using:

1 cup graham flour
1 tsp sugar (I've been using coconut sugar)
1/2 tsp salt (I've been using kosher salt)
1 tbsp oil (I've been using coconut oil, but plan on switching to sunflower oil)
1 cup milk (I've been using pine nut "milk")

The picture below is part of the instructions I found. Can beating the batter really put enough air bubbles into the batter to make these little biscuits rise? Does using cold water make a difference in regard to getting a fluffier texture? What about oven temperature? Any suggestions for that? I've been trying to cook them at 400 fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. How much does the position of the baking tray matter in this situation? Please let me know if I should include additional information. Thank you!

You aren’t doing anything wrong. It’s the flour. Graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour. It’s called graham after Sylvester Graham who milled northern hard red wheat into a very coarse flour. It differs from standard whole wheat flour in that it is not sifted. As a whole wheat flour it is 100% extraction, meaning that all of the bran and wheat germ is left in. As such, it produces very little rise. Because whole wheat flours produce such a dense and heavy product, recipes usually call for a blend of whole wheat and all purpose flour. The blend produces a better rise and a less dense texture. But a heritage recipe would be whole wheat flour only. And it would of course produce a very low rise and a very dense heavy biscuit