I can’t wait to hear the results. You’ve gotten some excellent advice in this thread. Imagine my grandmother’s biscuits, made with lard and baked in a wood stove. For us kids, she made what she called “chocolate gravy”. It was basically a pudding with plenty of cocoa that we poured over her light, fluffy, steaming biscuits. Oh my gosh, that was some good eatin’.
Why? I don’t have a biscuit cutter, so I just use a water glass, because my round cookie cutters are too shallow. But why does that make a difference?
Nothing like fresh baked biscuits. I’ve made my share over the years but will admit that now that we are empty nesters it rarely makes sense to bake an entire batch. It may be heresy, but I have found that the Pillsbury frozen are an adequate alternative especially given that if I can bake only what we need (usually 2 or 4).
Wow, I remember chocolate gravy, as well. I’ve got to figure out how to make it. Thanks for reminding me!
A proper flakey biscuit is free to rise at the edges. If you smoosh the edges while cutting by twisting the fresh cut dough so it sticks to itself, then it’s not free to rise as high and free in the oven. Cut straight down to the countertop and then give a tiny twist to free it and you’ll be fine. Cut with a twisting motion all the way, and your biscuits are likely to come out with a rounded bump in the middle and dense edges.
WhyNot,
another AB disciple
I’ve been using a pizza cutter; just rolling out the dough and running the cutter both ways to make squares. I saw a biscuit lady doing it on *Feasting on Asphalt *and thought it was a good idea. I wonder if the rolling cut squishes the edges more than a circular cut. I’ve got to run out and pick up some buttermilk, and sausage for the gravy, but I’ll try both cuts and let you know what happens.
Dry ingredients + shortening and butter, pastry blender at the ready! Note the Kitchenaid sitting off to the side, all clean and lonely and unused.
Ready for the oven, four rounds, five pizza cutter squares, and one lump of leftover dough.
T-ten minutes on the timer and I’ve gotta get the gravy going, will report back with results!
Hot out of the oven.
Mmm… gravy…
About this time NajaHusband shows up, wondering what’s going on downstairs…
I meant to wait until everything was ready, I really did! I couldn’t wait.
Final verdict…
These biscuits are magnificent.
You got yourself some fine lookin’ biscuits, lady!
Yum!