Baking Biscuits...

ginnie6

ginnie6

Veteran Member
I've always made "good" biscuits but lately they're over the top if I do say so. And its not just me saying it. Bojangles has nothing on the biscuits I've been making lately. I can't make them often though cause whew they love adding pounds to my hips.
The ONLY difference I can find is I've been keeping my flour in the fridge. It tends to go stale no more than I use now so I put it in the fridge to keep from wasting it. I remember the days I could go through a 25lb bag from Sam's in no time! But now its a 5lb bag at a time. I need to get my grinder out and use some of this wheat I have stored.

Here's my recipe
about 2c flour (I don't sift it or scoop it lightly into a cup measure I just get it out)
tbs of baking powder (doesn't have to be a measuring spoon either)
tsp of salt (palm of hand measure)
5 tbs grated butter
and about a cup of soured milk (lemon juice added in)
mix it all up and pat out however many biscuits you want.

I've NEVER gotten 12 out of this and don't know where i had the idea you should get 12. Usually about 7 or 8 if they're smaller.
I don't roll them out and cut them I just pinch off some dough and pat it out. A rolling pin takes more time and is messier lol. I used to and then my Grannie said that my great grandmother always just patted hers out and they were perfect. So I tried it and walla! Perfect biscuits and no mess.
 
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Slydersan

Veteran Member
I am a northerner that fell in love with biscuits and gravy the 1st time I had it. So I have pretty much mastered the gravy part... but my biscuits are simply 'passable'. I've tried all kinds of recipes and at this point, I just buy the (as the TV chef Johnny Nix calls them) whompum biscuits (cuz you whomp the tube on the side of the counter to open them up. :lkick:

But I'm willing to give your recipe a go.
 
Babs

Babs

Veteran Member
I have found that a good butter makes all the difference in my biscuits, and pie crust for that matter. Some of the butter brands have a high moisture content and makes for chewy biscuits and pie crust. You can tell when you melt the butter, which brands are good. I started noticing it about 10 years ago.
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Slydersan said:
I am a northerner that fell in love with biscuits and gravy the 1st time I had it. So I have pretty much mastered the gravy part... but my biscuits are simply 'passable'. I've tried all kinds of recipes and at this point, I just buy the (as the TV chef Johnny Nix calls them) whompum biscuits (cuz you whomp the tube on the side of the counter to open them up. :lkick:

But I'm willing to give your recipe a go.
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James Beard, one of the best chefs in the 20th century, wrote a wonderful cookbook called "American cookery". It was my second most-used cookbook, after my Farm Journal Country Cookbook, and for the same reason...it used ingredients I was able to produce on our farm.

Beard's cookbook is wonderful, because he delves into the history behind the recipes and techniques. It's worth reading for the commentary!

Anyway, on biscuits... before he tells you how to make perfect biscuits, he says, "today's mixes and 'ready to bake' products are so good, it really doesn't pay to make your own from scratch"!!

Then again, that was written in the 1980s, and while Bisquick, etc makes acceptable biscuits, I much prefer butter (or lard in a pinch), and I don't like all the "extra" ingredients in them.

Sadly, low carb eating and biscuits don't work together. :-(

Summerthyme
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
summerthyme said:
James Beard, one of the best chefs in the 20th century, wrote a wonderful cookbook called "American cookery". It was my second most-used cookbook, after my Farm Journal Country Cookbook, and for the same reason...it used ingredients I was able to produce on our farm.

Beard's cookbook is wonderful, because he delves into the history behind the recipes and techniques. It's worth reading for the commentary!

Anyway, on biscuits... before he tells you how to make perfect biscuits, he says, "today's mixes and 'ready to bake' products are so good, it really doesn't pay to make your own from scratch"!!

Then again, that was written in the 1980s, and while Bisquick, etc makes acceptable biscuits, I much prefer butter (or lard in a pinch), and I don't like all the "extra" ingredients in them.

Sadly, low carb eating and biscuits don't work together. :-(

Summerthyme
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Also the increased cost of those ready made biscuits takes them out of a lot of budgets. If someone came out with a mix that would perfectly duplicate the Hardee's biscuits of the 80's, I'd be the first one in line to buy a year's supply lol.
 
Marthanoir

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
Biscuits :whistle:

:D

COLOURBOX69792318.jpg
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
ginnie6 said:
I've always made "good" biscuits but lately they're over the top if I do say so. And its not just me saying it. Bojangles has nothing on the biscuits I've been making lately. I can't make them often though cause whew they love adding pounds to my hips.
The ONLY difference I can find is I've been keeping my flour in the fridge. It tends to go stale no more than I use now so I put it in the fridge to keep from wasting it. I remember the days I could go through a 25lb bag from Sam's in no time! But now its a 5lb bag at a time. I need to get my grinder out and use some of this wheat I have stored.

Here's my recipe
about 2c flour (I don't sift it or scoop it lightly into a cup measure I just get it out)
tbs of baking powder (doesn't have to be a measuring spoon either)
tsp of salt (palm of hand measure)
5 tbs grated butter
and about a cup of soured milk (lemon juice added in)
mix it all up and pat out however many biscuits you want.

I've NEVER gotten 12 out of this and don't know where i had the idea you should get 12. Usually about 7 or 8 if they're smaller.
I don't roll them out and cut them I just pinch off some dough and pat it out. A rolling pin takes more time and is messier lol. I used to and then my Grannie said that my great grandmother always just patted hers out and they were perfect. So I tried it and walla! Perfect biscuits and no mess.
Click to expand...
I made the biscuits tonight and they are good...very, very good! I've been on a quest to make the perfect biscuit for a few years and that has included at least twenty or thirty recipes and so many techniques. These are different and the major difference in your recipe is souring the milk with lemon juice. I've only ever done it with vinegar or just used buttermilk.

I heated my oven to 500 but at the last minute decided to turn it down to 450 when I put the biscuits in...I should have left it at 500 because this recipe takes a little longer to brown so I ended up slightly overcooking them but that was my fault. The flavor and the crumb were so good.

I needed more biscuits so increased my ingredients to two rounded cups of flour, a rounded TBS of baking powder, a rounded tsp of salt and six TBS of butter. I got twelve regular sized biscuits with those amounts. I was cooking and everything was hectic so I ended up using a biscuit cutter but they turned out fine. I took a couple pictures if I could figure out how to post them.
 
ginnie6

ginnie6

Veteran Member
I forgot to say oven temp lol! I just turn mine on to 425 as I’m putting them in the oven and usually by the time the temp thing dings they’re about ready. Did I mention I’m a lazy cook? And I don’t like my biscuits too brown so there’s that. Glad it worked for you!
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
ginnie6 said:
I forgot to say oven temp lol! I just turn mine on to 425 as I’m putting them in the oven and usually by the time the temp thing dings they’re about ready. Did I mention I’m a lazy cook? And I don’t like my biscuits too brown so there’s that. Glad it worked for you!
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My oven only has one element on the bottom and it's a challenge to bake anything in it. It's one of those reproduction iron stoves that looks like it's a hundred years old. I'd never get one again but it's what I have to work with.

DH took a biscuit to work with him for breakfast with a piece of the chicken I cooked last night inside and just called me to tell me how good it was heated up just a little. This is a man who gets homemade biscuits at least once a week so that ought to tell you something. I'm glad you shared your recipe.

Edited to add...I cooked them in an iron skillet. Next time I make them, I'm using a glass pan just to see how that goes. That iron gets hot.
 
Sterling_025

Sterling_025

Contributing Member
Coming from a southern boy make sure it’s cold butter! Makes a world of difference. Also I use cake flour for a nice puffy biscuit. If your going after a nice crunch as well brush the top with a little egg yolk before you bake it for a nice golden crunch!
 
ginnie6

ginnie6

Veteran Member
feralferret said:
The secret to those biscuits from Hardee's back then was that they used Mayonnaise in them. A friend of my wife used to work there and make the biscuits every morning.
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I can see that. We put mayo in cornbread sometimes at church. and I used to make some rolls that weren‘t much more than mayo and flour. You plopped the dough in a muffin pan.
supposedly the secret to bojangles biscuits is powdered sugar.
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
Sterling_025 said:
Coming from a southern boy make sure it’s cold butter! Makes a world of difference. Also I use cake flour for a nice puffy biscuit. If your going after a nice crunch as well brush the top with a little egg yolk before you bake it for a nice golden crunch!
Click to expand...
Great minds think alike! The only plain flour I had here was organic unbleached...the very opposite of the finely ground, over processed flours that do typically make the best biscuits and they still turned out good. I'd already decided to get something bleached and really fine so I'll look for cake flour. My only option here is a smaller WM super center so I'm not optimistic. When I grate butter for biscuits, my goal is as cold as possible and I touch as little as I can get by with so it will stay cold until it hits the oven.

The recipe is perfect but I agree, I can tweak the quality of my ingredients.

Edited to add...southern girl here...I understand. Biscuits are important.
 
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Wildwood

Veteran Member
ginnie6 said:
One tablespoon....and my tablespoon may be an actual measuring one or just a. regular tablespoon. I usually just eyeball it..same for the salt...about a teaspoon in the palm of my hand.
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I made the biscuits again tonight and decided at the last minute to use lard instead of the butter...it ruined the magic. I think the liquid in the butter that releases when they are cooking makes them moist and fluffy. I won't do that again. They were decent biscuits by most people's standards, I guess, but not what I'm use to lol.

I also tried some of that over processed flour we mentioned up thread...it was a double whammy. My rule, usually, is only change one thing at a time. I knew better and we got fed. Also, it was that rare occasion where I just didn't feel like cooking but when you are the only person in your family that cooks, you have to carry on.
 
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