As any right-thinking person knows, biscuits are a cakey, fluffy, fatty concoction that is either eaten with butter and honey or jam, or smothered with sausage gravy. None of that “biscuits are cookies” nonsense from the Englishers.
Now I’ve been determined to master this ancient Southern art, so I bought this book. Written by two acknowledged masters of the biscuit, Southern Biscuits has just about every way of creating the subject imaginable (although I managed to come up with one more).
So I first tried biscuits made with yogurt. The only fat involved was in the yogurt, and the result was a tangy product, but it was very dense and heavy. Next up, I tried buttermilk biscuits with half lard and half salted OTC butter. Result: better, but still not very high and light. Third try, buttermilk and lard only: left an unpleasant aftertaste.
This most recent attempt was a variation on a recipe that called for goat butter. I couldn’t find goat butter, but I did find goat milk. So I also picked up some Kerry unsalted Irish butter and the goat milk. The result: beautiful, fluffy biscuits with a beautiful crumb and a sweet flavor.
In all of these, I used half bread flour and half all-purpose flour. Can’t find the winter wheat flour of the South in these parts, so this has to do. I also found baking powder that has no aluminum in it, which can impart a metallic taste. Most baking powders such as Calumet and Clabber Girl have aluminum in them.
So bring on your recipes if you have them, but you’ll have to go some to beat mine.
So I’m lazy, and I go for drop biscuits. Instead of kneading the dough 8-10 times, you increase the liquid by about a third and drop the much runnier batter in big blotches on the cookie sheet. I can get these from start to oven in about ten minutes, and on nights when we’re having soup (especially leftover soup from the freezer), they turn an otherwise plain meal into a small luxury.
I should have posted my own recipe, which takes about the same amount of time as the one above:
1 cup bread flour, 1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder (aluminum free, if possible)
2 tsp salt
1 cup goat milk
1/2 cup chilled unsalted Irish butter, cut into 1/4" pieces
Preheat oven to 425. Whisk the flours, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Add half the butter and quickly work into the flour, using a finger-snapping motion (or use a pastry cutter). Add the remaining butter and incorporate until the mixture is a mealy texture, with no chunks larger than a pea. If this takes longer than five minutes, refrigerate the mix until the butter becomes chilled again. Make a depression in the middle of the mix and pour in the cup of milk. With a bowl spatula, stir the flour into the milk.
When the dough pulls away from the bowl and looks ‘shaggy’, turn it out onto a lightly floured board. If it’s too wet, add a bit more flour. Pat the dough until about 1" thick, then fold in half and repeat until the dough is desired thickness: 1/2" for flatter biscuits, thicker for thicker biscuits. Do not overdo this part of things. Cut out biscuits with a floured 2" or 3" cutter, without twisting the cutter. Place next to each other on a baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes. Brush with melted butter to finish. Remove to a plate to cool.
The last time I made biscuits (actually, possibly the only time I’ve made biscuits as an adult), I used this recipe from the New York Times(accompanying article).
For someone who isn’t on the quest for the perfect biscuit, but can go with pretty good, it works.
I think scones are a different thing, I’ve had scones and they are good, but a lot more dry. Biscuits are light and fluffy with a golden top and really good with butter or sausage gravy.
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour(9 ounces)(255 grams)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons cold butter(2.5 ounces)(70 grams)
3/4 cup buttermilk(175 mls)
Mix together the dry ingredients and then quickly cut in the butter, until mix looks flaky. Pour in the buttermilk and mix with fingers just until all is moistened, as little as possible. Plop it onto a well floured surface and pat out to thickness desired, and cut with a floured cutter, remixing as little as possible the dough from around the first cut biscuits. Bake on ungreased pan at 350 degrees Fahrenheit(about 175 degrees Celsius) I get seven biscuits out of above recipe. It’s the recipe I make at work several times a week, for biscuits and gravy.
I’ve found that the best ones are the ones sold at Popeye’s Chicken. Nobody can explain why, but they are horribly addictive.
Otherwise, I have experimented from time to time with biscuits and gravy, though my results typically vary. In any case, I use store-brought mix for both biscuits and gravy.
But I need a little help here. I am in the middle of buttfuck nowhere in east Asia. I have access to baking soda, one kind of (strong) flour, butter. No buttermilk though - I can get yogurt, sour cream and regular milk.
I only have a toaster oven which is not thermostatically controlled: it’s either on or off.
Weirdly enough though I can get American sausagemeat from the local butcher. No idea why. But if I can make biscuits I can make biscuits and gravy.
My aunts taught me how to make cathead biscuits years ago, and I suppose I could remember how if I set my mind to it. (It’s just flour, baking powder, salt, and buttermilk.) The thing is, my aunts now all use the frozen Pillsbury ones because they’ve gotten so much better.
I’ve found that doing the fold over, pat out and fold over thing more times helps make a nice rising flaky biscuit. Almost philo in the way layers can peel apart.
Also, I like to make a butter/garlic powder wash to brush on right as they come out of the oven.
You really need baking powder, but a substitute can be made as follows (per teaspoon of baking powder):
1/4 teaspoon (1.25 grams) baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch or
1/4 teaspoon (1.25 grams) baking soda plus 1/2 cup (120 ml) of an acidic ingredient (buttermilk, sour milk or yogurt).
As far as baking them in unregulated heat, all I can do is wish you well. If you could rig up a barbecue with a lid, you’d probably be better off, although it would take some experimentation.
The type of flour can make a difference in how a particular biscuit turns out for a specific recipe. Traditionally in the south low gluten flours were used with baking soda or powder to rise. Northern recipes may be based on high gluten flours that are better for yeast rising. Either should work, but a recipe may need adjustment for the type of flour being used to obtain the desired rise and density.
I’ve never tried bread flour in biscuits. It seems to me that it would have too much gluten for something raised by baking powder and/or soda. Wouldn’t the biscuits turn out tough and chewy? If I were going to try anything but straight all-purpose flour, I would use part cake flour.
Have you tried angel biscuits? They’re a southern tradition made with yeast, buttermilk, baking soda, and baking powder. The recipe I use is similar to this one.
Oh hell, I meant to say ‘cake flour’ instead of ‘bread flour’. No coffee yet this morning. :smack: My mother used to make angel biscuits exclusively, and they were excellent. My sister still uses that recipe for hers.
