Bakesale Betty–Style Strawberry Shortcake
Also called strawberry shortcake, Bakesale Betty shortcake
A dense, crumbly, eggless buttermilk shortcake with a sugar-crusted top, vanilla-macerated strawberries and soft vanilla whipped cream.
- Makes
- 9 shortcakes
Based on the strawberry shortcake at Bakesale Betty, Oakland
Ingredients
Amounts are for the recipe. Sizes, times and temperatures in the method are not scaled.
Shortcake
Macerated strawberries
Whipped cream
Amounts worked out from the other system are rounded.
Method
Macerate the berries. Toss the strawberries (1500 g) with the granulated sugar (110 g½ cup + 1 tbsp) and vanilla extract (1½ tsp). Cover and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Make the dough. Keep the butter very cold. Pulse the flour (400 g3⅓ cups), cornstarch (50 g7 tbsp), granulated sugar (120 g½ cup + 2 tbsp), baking powder (12 g1 tbsp) and salt (6 g1 tsp) in a food processor. Add the butter (220 g1 cup) and pulse 8 to 10 times, until it looks like coarse sand with no pea-sized lumps. Add the cold buttermilk (240 ml1 cup) and vanilla bean paste (1½ tsp) and pulse 3 or 4 times only, until the dough just clumps. It should look shaggy but cohesive.
Shape and chill. On a floured surface, press the dough into a disk 1¼ inches thick and about 8½ inches across. Cut it into 9 wedges and space them 1½ inches apart on parchment. Chill or freeze 20 to 30 minutes before baking. This is what prevents spreading, so don't skip it.
Sugar-crust and bake. Heat a conventional oven, not convection, to 375°F. Right before baking, brush the tops with the buttermilk (45 g3 tbsp) and dip them in the granulated sugar (75 g6 tbsp). Bake 18 to 22 minutes, until light golden, firm and dry. With two sheets, swap their positions halfway through. Cool completely on the pan.
Whip the cream. Whip the cream (540 ml2¼ cups) with the powdered sugar (40 g⅓ cup) and vanilla extract (2¼ tsp) to soft peaks.
Assemble just before serving. Split each shortcake horizontally. Layer on berries with their juice, then cream, then the sugar-crusted top.
Notes
- Texture. The aim is dense, crumbly and shortbread-like, not a tall fluffy biscuit. Over-pulsing once the buttermilk is in, or warm butter, makes the dough sloppy and prone to spreading. If that happens, chill the dough 30 to 60 minutes, shape it with floured hands and as little handling as possible, and don't work in extra flour.
- By hand. Rub the butter in with your fingertips, then stir in the buttermilk and vanilla paste with a fork.
- Tuning. If they spread, drop the dough sugar to 100 g and chill the wedges longer. For more sweetness without more spread, double-dip the tops in sugar. If the dough is too dry to hold together, add buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time, up to 260 ml. If they are too cakey, reduce the baking powder to 2¼ tsp.
- Equipment. A food processor smaller than about 11 cups may overflow; work in two batches, or rub the butter in by hand. Nine wedges may need two half-sheet pans.
- Vanilla. Paste goes in the dough because it bakes in without evaporating. Extract is for the berries and the cream.
- Use peak-season strawberries, and don't skip the maceration.
- Dough ahead. The cut wedges keep up to 24 hours in the fridge; overnight is the sweet spot. Or freeze them firm on the sheet, bag them for up to a month, and bake from frozen, adding 5 to 8 minutes. Either way, brush and sugar the tops right before baking; sugared earlier, the crust turns syrupy.
- Baked ahead. The shortcakes hold 6 to 8 hours at room temperature, uncovered or loosely tented. An airtight container makes the crust tacky, and the fridge stales them. The cream can be whipped 2 hours ahead and refrigerated; whisk it briefly before serving. Assemble at the last minute, because juice and cream turn the base soggy within 15 to 20 minutes.
- If they spread anyway, break them into chunks and layer them trifle-style with the berries and cream.
- For 6 shortcakes. 265 g flour, 35 g cornstarch, 80 g sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, ¾ tsp salt, 145 g butter, 160 ml buttermilk and 1 tsp vanilla paste, pressed into a disk 7 inches across; 2 tbsp buttermilk and 50 g sugar for the tops; 1000 g strawberries with 75 g sugar and 1 tsp vanilla; 360 ml cream with 25 g powdered sugar and 1½ tsp vanilla.