The Perfect Biscuit

[reehmeo]

Anyone have advice or comments on making the perfect biscuit. They need to be great as a vessel for sausage gravey and light and flakey enough to stand alone with only butter. I have steered away from buttermilk due to a sour taste and denser biscuit. Anyone tried self-rising flour? Any tricks on technique? Thanks in advance.

Reehmeo

[nightscotsman]

I don't have a biscuit recipe to offer you, but I would advise not to keep away from buttermilk if it's just for the taste. Usually baking recipes that call for it also include baking soda and or baking powder which neutralizes most of the acid, so things with buttermilk generally don't come out tasting sour. However, because it's so high in acid, butter milk works well to tenderize the gluten in flour, so you end up with lighter results.

[foodie52]

I once spent about a month making biscuits every morning until they quit ressembling hockey pucks. A light hand is key. Don't overwork the batter.

Shirley Corriher, in her cookbook Cookwise has a good biscuit recipe. I've been lucky enough to have sampled ones she's made. She starts with White Lily self rising flour. They are the lightest biscuit I've ever eaten. She barely works the dough.

[bleachboy]

I agree wholeheartedly with foodie52. I too took some time to learn to make biscuits. I use White Lily self-rising flour and just make the recipe on the back of the bag, with buttermilk. It's a delicious recipe. Just be sure to work the dough MUCH less than you think is prudent, and do gently fold the dough over on itself a few times to produce flaky layers. If you put the biscuits in the pan almost touching, you'll have a softer biscuit than if you space them apart. I prefer a "crunchier" biscuit, so I do space them apart.

[Mabelline]

One time on Natalie DuPree's Southern cooking show (anyone remember that?) Shirley Corriher was on and did cathead bisquits and fried chicken...ah, heaven!!!

[adoxograph]

My sister married a Nashville boy, and rather than deprive him, she set her Yankee scientist mind at making a decent biscuit for him. Her recipe is this:

2 c. self rising flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

3-4 T. shortning

2 T. butter

1 1/4 c. buttermilk.

I won't go into all of the details about how she put this together, but to sum up - the additional baking soda is there to balance the acid in the buttermilk. The shortning helps with tenderness, the butter is there for flavor. This makes a relatively wet dough, and she also stressed to me not to overwork it - she barely stirs hers to form a ball of dough, then presses it out with her hand to desired thickness. I like to let the dough sit for a few seconds before I cut it to help it stay together. The baking pan is wrapped in aluminum foil to help deter burnt bottoms, and the biscuits are placed touching on the pan to help them rise in the oven. They bake for about 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

I hope this helps a bit, and good luck!

[fifi]

Yeah... What foodie52 said. The other thing that is pretty important is to have a really sharp biscuit cutter. If the cutter isn't sharp, the layers get "mushed" together and don't rise as high.

[WHT]

My sister married a Nashville boy, and rather than deprive him, she set her Yankee scientist mind at making a decent biscuit for him. Her recipe is this:

I use a cousin of this recipe. It uses all-purpose flower and form the looks of it the equivalent amount of total leavening and milk rather than buttermilk. I belive the recipe can be found on foodnetwork.com, older boy scout handbooks and most of the Betty Crocker cookbooks.

It seems that the key to good biscuits is not to overwork the dough.

[faberpanis]

I've had very good luck with buttermilk. I fold the dough over itself several times, much like making croissants. Push the cutter straight down; no twisting allowed. Also let them touch each other so they rise higher during baking.

John

[marie-louise]

I love a good biscuit. Another good recipe is the Cream Biscuits in Marion Cunningham's Lost Recipes.

I'm not sure where I read this tip-I think it was in Cookwise -but it helped my biscuit-making a great deal. If you don't have access to that soft-wheat Southern / White Lily flour (and it is all but impossible to find out here in California), subsitute 2/3 cup all-purpose flour & 1/3 cup cake flour for every cup of flour. Try it-your biscuits will be much lighter!

[bleachboy]

You can, in fact, order White Lily online. Heck, I think nothing beats it. One of the few perks to living in the South. :)

They also sell it, I've noticed, at Williams-Sonoma. Which is funny because they also sell it at the Nashville Williams-Sonoma, for about five times the price at any grocery store!

But it's worth ordering a bag or two if you are learning, just so you can taste what I would consider "the benchmark" for a delicious Southern biscuit.

[andiesenji]

You can, in fact, order White Lily online. Heck, I think nothing beats it. One of the few perks to living in the South. :)

But it's worth ordering a bag or two if you are learning, just so you can taste what I would consider "the benchmark" for a delicious Southern biscuit.

I agree 100%. The "soft wheat" flour that is sold in the south is difficult to find but at least it is available on line. White Lily has long been a favorite of mine and prior to online ordering, one of my cousins in Kentucky used to send me a "care package" from time to time. A friend in North Carolina swears by Red Band but I think it is more difficult to find than White Lily.

The only domestic flour I have come to like as well, possibly better, and also have to order online, is Hudson Cream flour (Kansas). I order it in a 25 pound bag (I use a lot) for 7.00 and 9.00 shipping. I also order their self-rising in smaller amounts and their white cornmeal.

If you want to check them out. http://www.hudsoncream.com/

However, for the past couple of years I have also been ordering a flour from Ireland, Odlum's Cream flour. It is available at some specialty shops in NYC but since I am in Calif. that doesn't help me. I read an article about the flour in a Brit. food magazine (Waitrose), which said that for super tender cakes, extremely flaky pastry and scones, it was unparalleled.

I have used it to make puff pastry and croissants, as well as cakes, biscuits and scones, and in my opinion it is a superior product. There is a French pastry flour which is probably as good but costs four or five times as much.

I am a bit of a fanatic about baking and am ever on the lookout for an ingredient that will produce a better product.

[Suzanne F]

One time on Natalie DuPree's Southern cooking show (anyone remember that?) Shirley Corriher was on and did cathead bisquits and fried chicken...ah, heaven!!!

There's a DVD of the White Lily Baking School, with Shirley demonstrating her "Touch-of-Grace" Biscuits. They do indeed look heavenly -- and perfect for someone like me who tends to mess up making biscuits. The recipe is printed in Cookwise, but if you can get the DVD, do -- she's a hoot!

[Dana]

Another thing about Shirley's biscuits is that they are very wet. You'll almost think they're too wet, but that's part of the deal. You'll also keep from overworking it if it's wet - it's just too sticky to mess with.

I attended a class given by her several years ago - she is a hoot. I could listen to her talk all day long. She gets so excited about the science of food!!!

[aidensnd2]

Ditto what everyone else says. The key is to underwork the dough. You can also try turning the biscuits over after cutting them so the bottom becomes the top. This way if the layers have been compressed during cutting they will now be in the "right" direction for a better rise.

[phlawless]

If you want really good biscuits, substitute lard for some of the butter.

A good technique is to mix your dry ingredients, cut in your butter with a food processor, then freeze the mix till ready to bake (10 min)

This helps to avoid overworking your butter

Always use buttermilk: especially full fat!

White Lily rocks, but if you can't find it substitute a small amount of cake flour for all purpose and the results are nearly identical.

[Wendy DeBord]

I recieved this recipe from a club member years ago. It's the best recipe for biscuits I've ever come across. I can't give it proper credit because I recieved a photocopy of the page that doesn't inlude the author.

The recipe is called "American In Paris Biscuits".

3 c. unbleached ap. flour

1 3/4 tsp.salt

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/4 pound butter, cubed

1/2 c. whipping cream

3/4 c. milk

2 tbsp. lemon juice

additional flour, milk and butter

Briefly mix together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Cut in the butter (either by hand or in the cusinart).

Combine all the wet ingredients together. Pour the wet ingre. into the dry mixing until they come together in a sticky mass. DO NOT OVER MIX. I use a spatula and not my hands so I can't over mix or warm up the butter.

Roll or pat the dough together on a floured surface leaving it 1" thick. Cut out biscuits and gently press together scraps until you use all the dough.

Brush the top of the biscuits with milk, bake in a 425F oven just until they are lightly brown. As soon as I take them out of the oven I dip the whole biscuit in melted butter.

These are excellent, I hope you enjoy.

[chefette]

Shirley's biscuits are not actually worked - you mix up the batter and drop spoonfuls in flour then drop those into the pan and bake.

[mpav]

I'm partial to the Bakewell Cream biscuit recipe. If you have access to Bakewell Cream give them a try: simple, light, never-fail.

Edited May 30, 2004 by mpav (log)

[Mabelline]

Yep, and like already mentioned, they are almost squishy, they are so damp! Too bad I'm making pitas today, and a spice cake. Otherwise, it'd be cats hiding under the bed

[JAZ]

One thing that no one else has mentioned is to pat out the dough rather than roll it. It might not be quite as even, but rolling compresses the dough more, so they don't raise quite as much.

[fifi]

I never thought about it but I have always patted the dough. I kind of like the "bumpiness" of the biscuit top when it is done that way.

I remember now when my great-aunt wanted to make the softer "touchin' biscuits" she would melt some lard in the iron skillet, dip the biscuit in the melted lard, turn them over, arrange with their sides touching, and bake in the skillet. Kind of a different thing.

The Cream Biscuits in CI's The Best Recipe is becoming a favorite. It is basically your flour and leavening with heavy cream instead of other fat. I like the wedge approach to cutting them.

[andiesenji]

I never thought about it but I have always patted the dough. I kind of like the "bumpiness" of the biscuit top when it is done that way.

Sometimes I have to make very large batches of biscuits or scones and I found that rather than working the dough and cutting them, I get really good results with just mixing the dough until blended, then using a large ice cream scoop (3 1/4 in. diameter) to portion the dough onto a sheet pan, then when the pan is full I dip my fingers (wearing food-handler gloves) into melted butter and quickly press them a bit to flatten the dome shape.

They come out very tender and raise beautifully.

I do keep everything chilled and using the large holes on a grater, grate frozen butter into the dry ingredients. This allows for quick mixing and the moisture in the butter gives a lot of lift in the oven.

(I use this grated butter method when making croissants and it has been very successful.)

Edited May 30, 2004 by andiesenji (log)

[Mabelline]

How ingenious!! Brava, andie!

[DiH]

I'm partial to the Bakewell Cream biscuit recipe. If you have access to Bakewell Cream give them a try: simple, light, never-fail.

DITTO! My in-laws are all from Maine and put me onto 'em several years back. Shirley's Touch of Grace biscuits are good but personally I think these are better... and the dough is definitely not as messy to work with. (I hate getting all that goo under my nails.)

Di