Photo: Claire Lower
Portland was covered in ten inches of snow on Wednesday, which is a lot of snow for a city full of people who don’t know how to drive in snow. This means I’ll be staying home until it melts, and playing a fun game of Chopped with my pantry and chest freezer. I hope to unearth many treasures. Seeing as I’ve already found a box of Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix, I’d say I’m off to a pretty good start.
If you’re not familiar with this particular mix, I’m happy to tell you it’s pretty good, and close to the biscuits you get at the mid-range seafood chain. (Though I have not been to a Red Lobster in a long time, the box mix biscuits taste pretty much exactly how I remember them tasting in the restaurant.)
One of the nice things about making things at home is that you can play around with the format. I didn’t feel like portioning the dough into biscuits so instead, I scraped it all into a loaf pan, then baked as usual, adding about 10 minutes to the bake time.
Photo: Claire Lower
It turned out beautifully, if you consider a giant, sliceable biscuit to be a thing of beauty. (And I do.) Being a biscuit, it did not rise as much as a loaf of yeasted bread, but you could always double the recipe (and double the cook time) to make a taller sliceable biscuit, but I find the slim slices to be quite charming.
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Once sliced, you can lay down a few pieces and slide a fried egg on top, or fry the slices in butter for further crispiness (and then slide a fried egg on top). You could also lay down a thin slice of cold cream cheese, a few slices of ham, or anything else you think would be good on a cheesy, buttery biscuit plank. If you get bored with the flavor, you can always switch out the cheddar for a different cheese. I made mine with Jarlsberg (because I am snowed in and out of cheddar), and it was pleasantly sweet and nutty, but I can’t wait to try it with aged gouda, or Dubliner.
Cheddar Bay Loaf
Ingredients:
1 box Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix1/2 shredded cheese, such as sharp cheddar, gouda, or Dubliner3/4 cup cold water1/4 cup butterSeasoning packetMix the cheese into the dry mix, then add the water and stir until a dough forms. Press into a greased standard loaf pan and bake in a 350℉ oven for 25-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Melt the butter in the microwave, mix the seasoning packet into the butter, then brush butter on loaf. Let cool until you can touch the loaf pan, then run a butter knife around the edge before turning out the loaf onto a cutting board. Slice and serve.
