Enter our US/UK/CA giveaway Savory Baking: Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything in Between by Erin Jeanne McDowell. Please be sure to check our Calendar for Erin Jeanne's events.

Savory Baking: Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything in Between by Erin Jeanne McDowell offers a collection of savory bakes from French onion muffins to perfect crepes. Along with the base recipes are variations, Erin’s helpful tips to boost flavor (roasting garlic, crispy onions etc) as well as tutorials in understanding yeast, rise times and more including step-by-step technique photos that will have you creating dishes that will have your family and friends clamoring for more. Also included are the author’s favorite soup and salad recipes – you need something to dip those French onion muffins in (or maybe that is gilding the muffin?) or a salad to balance out a mushroom topped toast – this book has it all. Measurements are given in weight and volume. 

Flakiest cheese biscuits
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Makes 12 biscuits
Difficulty Medium

These were inspired by Hungarian pogácsa—a yeast-raised dough that goes through a quick lamination to create light, flaky layers. The tenderness is similar to that of an American-style buttermilk biscuit, with a lovely crisp exterior and a beautiful lightly yeasty, very cheesy flavor.

  • 600 g / 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 9 g / 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
  • 12 g / 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional)
  • 3 g / 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 282 g / 10 ounces unsalted butter: 56 g / 2 ounces / 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch/ 1 cm cubes, and 226 g / 8 ounces butter at room temperature)
  • 454 g / 2 cups sour cream, plus more as needed
  • 200 g / 2 packed cups shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Gruyère, or Gouda
  • Egg Wash for finishing
  1. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, yeast, and salt to combine. Add 56 g / 2 ounces / 4 tablespoons of the butter and use your hands to break up the cubes, tossing until well coated with flour. Use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until it’s fully incorporated and the mixture looks like coarse meal. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the sour cream. Mix with your hands or a spatula until the dough comes together; it will look craggy, not smooth. If the dough appears dry, add cool water 15 g / 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together.
  2. Turn the dough out, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (and up to overnight).
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches/ 25 x 30 cm and 1/2 inch/1 cm thick. Brush away excess flour with a pastry brush. Dot the remaining 226 g / 1/2 pound butter over the surface of the dough and gently spread into an even layer. Fold the dough into quarters.
  4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough again to a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches/ 25 x 30 cm and 1/2 inch/1 cm thick. Sprinkle about one third of the cheese over the and fold the dough into quarters. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to relax the dough.
  6. Repeat this process twice more, using the remaining cheese. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (and up to overnight.
  7. When ready to bake the biscuits, preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C with a rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  8. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle about 9 x 10 inches/23 to 25 cm and 3/4 inch/2 cm thick. Use a 3-inch /8 cm round cutter to cut out biscuits and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches /5 cm between them and staggering the rows. The dough scraps can be pressed together and rerolled 1 or 2 more times to make more biscuits.
  9. Egg-wash the biscuits and bake until deeply golden brown, 30 to 34 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving warm, or cool completely and serve at room temperature.

Make Ahead and Storage

These biscuits are best within the first 24 hours after baking. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature. To rewarm, use the oven method described in Warming Pastries.

Excerpted from Savory Baking: Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything in Between © 2022 by Erin Jeanne McDowell. Photography © 2022 by Mark Weinberg. Reproduced by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Special thanks to the publisher for providing three copies of this title in our promotion. Entry options include answering the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you like to try first?

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