Skillet Biscuits?

[Stone]

Can someone give me a recipe to make moist, yummy biscuits in my 12" Lodge?

[sherribabee]

Can someone give me a recipe to make moist, yummy biscuits in my 12" Lodge?

I just got my 12" Lodge from Amazon 2 days ago. I'm anxious to try some bisciuts too (and top them with some sausage gravy).

I'm gonna go email my friend and see if she can give me her recipe.

Ah'll be bahck...

[Dave the Cook]

This is a very good, almost foolproof recipe: White Lily Biscuits.

Chances are, though, poor deprived Californian that you are, you can't get White Lily Self-Rising Flour.

For this recipe only, not as a general subsititution:

for each cup of WL Self-Rising flour:

1/2 C cake flour

1/2 C all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. (table) salt

If you can't find cake flour, use a full cup of a/p, but the biscuits won't be as light.

[sherribabee]

Can someone give me a recipe to make moist, yummy biscuits in my 12" Lodge?

I just got my 12" Lodge from Amazon 2 days ago. I'm anxious to try some bisciuts too (and top them with some sausage gravy).

I'm gonna go email my friend and see if she can give me her recipe.

Ah'll be bahck...

OK, my friend is gone for the weekend.

I did a search on the net and found this recipe, which looks heavenly. This recipe calls for an 8-9" pan, so I would imagine you would just make one and a half recipes to fill a 12" pan.

I think I'm going to try these.

[maggiethecat]

If you can't find cake flour, use a full cup of a/p, but the biscuits won't be as light.

Or, remove 2 T. of AP from the cup, and substitute 2 T. cornstarch.

[Dave the Cook]

If you can't find cake flour, use a full cup of a/p, but the biscuits won't be as light.

Or, remove 2 T. of AP from the cup, and substitute 2 T. cornstarch.

Yes, that works. I'd forgotten. Thanks, um, Lily.

(Note to self: just go ahead and duplicate cookbook collection at work. Remember to update "How Many..." thread.)

Sherribabee: I've made that recipe. It's excellent, if a bit fussy. Note that she calls for White Lily flour, too. (I do wonder, though, why Gale Gand can't find her own ziplock bags!)

[fifi]

When my Great Aunt Minnie made skillet biscuits, she would heat the skillet in the oven with 3 or 4 tablespoons of fat (usually bacon, sometimes lard, Crisco in a pinch). The skillet wasn't allowed to get scorching hot like for corn bread but fairly hot. (Boy, is that precise. It would burn you if you touched it but the grease wasn't hot enough to fry the biscuits. Does that make sense?) Then the cut biscuits were turned in the melted fat to coat the topsides and nestled into the skillet with the sides just touching. This technique of hers made for MY definition of skillet biscuits as opposed to those cooked on a baking sheet or in a cake pan. The tops and bottoms were crunchy crisp and the insides like a cloud. I think what happened is that the hot pan, and the residual heat of the cast iron, caused the biscuits to rise like a rocket. That is my theory, anyway.

After that gravy thread, I am going to the store for sausage, White Lily flour and a fresh can of baking powder.

[Toliver]

Never have made them myself but I have heard that when making biscuits, the less you work the dough, the better they will turn out. If you work the dough too much the gluten toughens up the dough and then you might as well use them for doorstops.

[fifi]

Never have made them myself but I have heard that when making biscuits, the less you work the dough, the better they will turn out.  If you work the dough too much the gluten toughens up the dough and then you might as well use them for doorstops.

You are absolutely right. As a little kid, I would watch Aunt Minnie. She would apply a few wisks with a fork to blend the liquid (buttermilk in her case) into the dry ingredients. As soon as it came together it was out onto the floured board. Then there wasn't really what I would call kneading but some quick folds to bring the dough together. Now, you don't dawdle. The biscuits were quickly cut with a sharp cutter and immediately put in the pan. I think the timing is everything. I am not much of a baker but I can make pretty decent biscuits. I particularly like the Cook's Illustrated recipe for cream biscuits. Also, fresh baking powder is critical. If it has been open more than a couple of months, throw it out and get new.

edit to add: The gluten content is an issue. That is why the White Lily flour or addition of cake flour. Also, I fogot to say that Aunt Minnie gently patted the dough into the thickness that she wanted before cutting. Her thickness was about an inch. This made for wonderfully high biscuits that rose well above the rim of the skillet. I think you would have to have the skillet heat to make this work.

Edited September 19, 2003 by fifi (log)

[Suzanne F]

Gee, fifi, your Aunt Minnie sure sounds like a better cook than MY Aunt Minnie!

And the instructions made perfect sense.