The following “Chew This!” column originally appeared in “The Courier-Times” and / or “The Shelbyville News”. Check their websites for further information and dates.

Everything Bagel Seasoning…

Blaise Doubman

There has been a craze for almost a year now about Everything Bagel Seasoning! Have you participated in this craze because I have, and I love it? Everything Bagel Seasoning is a combination of poppy seeds, white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, dried minced garlic, dried onion flakes and flaked sea salt. There are all kinds of uses for the seasoning, including but not limited to, mixing into compound butter, putting it around the rim of a Bloody Mary, shaking it on popcorn, shaking it on your salad, dredging your seafood, topping potatoes or sweet potatoes, adding some to the tops of your scrambled or fried eggs or even, like the recipe I am sharing with you here today, topping your breads and yeast breads with it. I’ve always loved bagels with the everything seasoning but it was not until just recently that you could actually buy it all mixed together and labeled as such. The actual seasoning was first combined and used in the 1980’s and its popularity has only grown steadily since.

Below is one of my favorite recipes for biscuits but in actuality, use whatever recipe you may like. The goal of this whole recipe is to actually add the Everything Bagel Seasoning on top of your biscuits, before baking, so that you get the overall flavor profile of the seasoning. There are literally hundreds of ways to make biscuits. You can combine flour and heavy whipping cream, you can combine Jiffy baking mix and Sprite, you can use melted butter, melted lard, buttermilk or even milk powder in your biscuits. However, you make them, just remember to brush the tops with water, milk or melted butter before sprinkling on the seasoning mix. Now, I am sharing this recipe here because I do think you will like it and it is a personal favorite, so I really do recommend you try it. The grated frozen butter really is the secret ingredient here. After grating, if you feel the butter is getting too warm, place back into the freezer for several minutes until back to the frozen state. These are best eaten the same day but can be saved for about 24 hours. Just reheat the biscuits in a 350-degree F oven for about 5 minutes.

Everything Bagel Seasoned Biscuits

These are best eaten the same day but can be stored, covered, at room temperature for one day.

2 ½ cups white all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, frozen for at least 20 minutes

1 cup buttermilk

Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees F. Move the oven rack up to the upper third part of your oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine the white all-purpose flour, baking powder, white granulated sugar and salt. Whisk this together until fully combined.

Using a box grater, grate the stick of butter. Add into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix together until fully incorporated, being careful not to overmix or heat up the butter.

Add in the buttermilk and stir carefully to combine. The dough should come together after mixing in the buttermilk but if it still seems too dry or crumbly, add in a splash of buttermilk.

Turn the dough out onto a clean floured work surface. Pat down the dough into a rectangle that is a little over an inch in thickness. Fold the dough in half, on top of itself, pat down again and repeat this process another ten times. This will help create the flaky layers in the biscuit.

After the tenth fold, press the dough down into an inch thick rectangle.

Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter to cut out circles of dough, placing them onto the prepared baking sheet. While you are cutting, press down firmly and do not twist.

Reroll the scraps of dough and repeat this process until all of the dough is used up.

Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the biscuits with milk, water or melted butter.

Shake the Everything Bagel Seasoning liberally on each biscuit.

Bake, in preheated oven, for 15 minutes. Remove, cool slightly and enjoy.

Ask and Answer: Do you have a family recipe that you would like featured right here in this column? Visit my website, click the connect tab and send me a message about it!