Biscuits!

[Malawry]

"I could really get into a biscuit" is a running joke between me and my dad. It's usually meant in jest, and we say it after a huge meal or during Passover when any sort of bread sounds delectable. Of course, he and I both enjoy biscuits, as does my partner and just about everybody else I know.

Despite being a native of North Carolina and despite their utility as a conveyance vehicle for butter and jam, I have never made biscuits. (When I lived in NC, there was no reason to make them...everybody sold them. DC is of course a different matter.) I'd love to hear recipes, techniques, and testimonials about biscuit-making.

Just so you know, the biscuit I am talking about is tender and buttery-flaky. Its top is crisp, as is the bottom rim, and it easily splits into two pieces (top and bottom). It's the sort that's really good when hot, that's acceptable later in the day reheated, and that's stale the next morning. It probably contains buttermilk. It's about 2.5" in diameter and round, but it is also squared up a little from being baked right next to its fellow biscuits.

[Varmint]

Gee, Rochelle, thanks for throwing me a huge softball. There are several keys to good biscuits, but the most important thing is the flour. General all purpose flour just doesn't work, as it has too much gluten. You'll get decent biscuits, but not great ones. I use good old fashioned southern self rising flour, which is really quite similar to cake flour with baking powder and a touch of salt added. To the flour, I add a small amount of baking soda to help with the leavening. A dash of salt is good, too. I use butter as my fat. No shortening, just butter. To me, the flavor is imperative, and butter accomplishes the job (lard is also good, but Mrs. Varmint wouldn't eat the biscuits then!). For each cup of flour, I generally use about 3 Tbsp of butter, cutting it in thoroughly. Now this is the tricky part, as I can't tell you the appropriate volume of liquids: I generally use about 1/3 buttermilk, 1/3 whole milk, and 1/3 heavy cream. This makes for a very unhealthy, but luxurious biscuit. You'll want to add all the liquid in at once. Stir until the dough just comes together. Plop it onto the counter/board, and knead it 5 or 6 times at the most, making sure you get good folds with each knead. It's the kneading that creats the layers you desire (that, and all the fat). DON'T over-knead the dough, or you'll get tough biscuits. Roll the dough out to about 3/4" thickness, cut with a sharp biscuit cutter (if you're sloppy with the cutting, the biscuits won't rise uniformly), and put on a sheet with parchment or a Silpat. Pop into a hot oven (425-450) and bake until they just start to brown. Quickly take them out, brush with melted butter, and finish baking until golden brown.

That should do it for you. These don't have a great shelf life at all, but then, we rarely have any left over.

[Varmint]

Oh, there's variations of this biscuit that you can make. If you're doing a cobbler, I'll do the same recipe, but add a bit of sugar to the mix. This is also what I use for shortcake (I often make one mongo biscuit for the shortcake).

Another option that I often make for the L'il Varmints is to add sugar and cinnamon to the dough, and then add a bit more before each fold during the kneading process. This gets the cinnamon and sugar to incorporate between the "layers" of the biscuit. I then make a simple icing to drizzle on the top. The kids love it -- although it's by no means a classic biscuit.

[Sandra Levine]

Biscuits were the first thing I ever cooked. In the dark ages, when I was in 7th grade, girls took cooking and boys took wood shop. Think of what you are doing now at the junior high level. I don't remember the recipe we were taught, buy I do remember the technique, which I use to the present day. I love biscuits, and rarely make them the same way twice. Very basically, I put a cup of AP flour into a bowl, stir in a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons or so of baking powder, or 1 teaspoon of baking power and one teaspoon of baking soda if I know that I will be using buttermilk. I fluff this in the bowl until I feel the salt and baking powder are well distributed. Then I cut in 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter, using two knives, holding one in each hand, about an inch apart, blades parallel, and cut in opposite directions until the butter is the size of small peas. I add milk or buttermilk, a little at a time and stir with a fork until the dough comes together. I knead the dough lightly until it forms a ball, then press or roll it out to about 3/4" on a very lightly floured board. I cut the biscuits with a 2" round cutter, and bake on an ungreased cookie pan at 400-450 degrees F. for about 12 minutes.

I have made these with White Lily flour, and I prefer unbleached all-purpose flour, King Arthur or Hecker's, but I'm a northerner, so what do I know.

Sometimes I make cream biscuits. Omit the butter, and whip some heavy cream (1/2 cup for 1 cup of flour) until it's in soft peaks. Mix the cream into the flour, salt and baking powder mixture. These may be even better.

[stellabella]

sometimes my biscuits come out really good. when they don't i attribute their toughness to too much handling--gotta get everything mixed and rolled out and cut really quickly, as with any type of pastry.

[Toby]

I love biscuits. They were the first things I ever cooked also. Rather than kneading them, I pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick circle with my fingertips, then fold into thirds like an envelope, and repeat 2 more times before cutting the biscuits to get them flaky and splittable. Also sometimes make angel biscuits, adding a little yeast and using a rather liquidy creme fraiche instead of buttermilk. A woman from Mississippi once showed me how to just dump the stirred dough into a cakepan and bake it at about 400 degrees for about 25 minutes till browned on top for a big biscuit cake.

[Suvir Saran]

I love biscuits.  They were the first things I ever cooked also.  Rather than kneading them, I pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick circle with my fingertips, then fold into thirds like an envelope, and repeat 2 more times before cutting the biscuits to get them flaky and splittable.  Also sometimes make angel biscuits, adding a little yeast and using a rather liquidy creme fraiche instead of buttermilk.  A woman from Mississippi once showed me how to just dump the stirred dough into a cakepan and bake it at about 400 degrees for about 25 minutes till browned on top for a big biscuit cake.

I was in Social Circle Georgia last year, at the home of Nathalie Dupree. Her long time assistant made biscuits for our meal. They were the best several NYC chefs and I had ever eaten. In fact the kind lady also gave us a demo and allowed each of us to practice with her.

She made them in a large wooden trough. Lots of flour (White Lily) was what they used, and in the trough she made a large mound of flour, made a hole in the center and filled it with buttermilk and I think it was crisco.. will call and ask Nathalie if it was not so... and then with very little handling, she made a wet but not sticky dough ball. She folded this a few times like it was an envelope. And from this she then tore pieces and placed in a baking sheet.

Only her bare hands were used for the recipe. No tools at all. She was telling us how she makes 70 plus biscuits twice a day for her large family.

[Wilfrid]

You mean scones, right?

[Suvir Saran]

You mean scones, right?

If you are directing this towards me... Yes I meant Biscuits.

[Suvir Saran]

And how could I forget these were biscuits made with "grace".

The recipe to make these in a wooden trough called "biscuit bowl", was handed down the generations by Nathalies assistants grandmother.

And again, the biscuits we ate, several of us "Yankees" as we were being called in jest, were amazing. Light, delicate and just the right moistness to them.

[Varmint]

The free form biscuits you describe are not all that unusual in a southern kitchen. The only problem with them (if you consider this a problem), is that they don't rise in a totally vertical fashion. That is, by not cutting them, they won't form that cylinder that Malawry was seeking. I often do these types of free form biscuits when I want a more rustic look. However, I still want butter in the dough!

[Suvir Saran]

The free form biscuits you describe are not all that unusual in a southern kitchen.  The only problem with them (if you consider this a problem), is that they don't rise in a totally vertical fashion.  That is, by not cutting them, they won't form that cylinder that Malawry was seeking.  I often do these types of free form biscuits when I want  a more rustic look.  However, I still want butter in the dough!

They are free form. Well not really, for the lady who taught us these, keeps the biscuits very close together in the tray, and so as they bake they come together. And separate very easily once ready.

The texture of the biscuits was amazing. The grits with parmesan that was also served that afternoon were the best grits recipe I have ever tasted... but I can imagine the biscuits being even better if they had butter. I prefer butter so much more.

They were rustic biscuits and perfect served in that amazing home in Social Circle, Georgia.

[Suvir Saran]

And what I found most curious was the large... amazingly huge amount of flour that Nathalies assistant placed onto the large "biscuit bowl". I was worried as to why they were making so many biscuits, but once done, I realized that it was only the base for the mountain, the hole in which gets the shortening and buttermilk.

When done making the dough, the kind lady demonstrating this, put away into the flour container most of the flour. I would never think of doing something like that.

Also she handled the wet flour very little, and used the excess flour to put her wet hands in so as to make them easier to use in folding the dough. It was actually a very sensuous way of making a dough.

The lady teaching us was my grandmothers age, and had learned this recipe from her grandmother. She did it with no effort and with a big proud smile.

As Nathali mentioned, these were biscuits made with "grace". I think that was to mean gracefully.

[Shiva]

Alton Brown and his Grandmother collaborate here. There's a link to his scone recipe on that page too.

Show Transcript

White Lily's recipe

[Toby]

A recipe for the technique Suvir described is given in Shirley Corriher's CookWise (Touch-of-Grace Biscuits) and also in Natalie Dupree's Southern Memories. It makes a nice biscuit.

[Dana]

I agree that Shirley Corriher's recipe is the best and the only flour to use is White Lily (You can get it at William-Sonoma if you local store doesn't carry it). I attended a demo she gave in Houston a few years age - what a fun person!!

[Jaymes]

Also she handled the wet flour very little, and used the excess flour to put her wet hands in so as to make them easier to use in folding the dough.

My grandmother made amazing biscuits. She made several different types, one of which was called, "Angel Biscuits." She kept that dough in the fridge and when you wanted some, you just pinched off a bit of the dough and baked it.

My grandmother showed me how to make her biscuits but they were never as good. I asked my Great Aunt Melcina (grandmother's sister) why my grandmother's biscuits were so much better, even though I had copied every step to the letter.

Aunt Melcina said, "Oh, you might as well give up. No one can make biscuits as good as your grandmother. It's because she has cold hands. Everyone says that's silly but I know better. Her hands are colder."

And she DID have 'cold hands.'

Although at the time, we didn't know why. But many years later it was discovered that she had Raynaud's Syndrome, which affects blood circulation to your hands.

[Ron Johnson]

Malawry, here is the recipe my mom uses handed down from her mom.

2 cups self rising flour

1/3 cup crisco

1 cup buttermilk

Put flour in the bowl - drop crisco into the center. Add about 1/2 of the buttermilk and mix with fork adding the remainder right away - DON'T MESS WITH IT anymore than absolutely necessary.

(the emphasis is my mother's, its how she yells at me in email)

[Malawry]

Experiment number one:

I tried to follow Varmint's method as best I could. I used Washington self-rising flour (the only kind they sell at my local Giant), salt, baking soda, Plugra butter, and a mixture of 1/3 buttermilk, 1/3 cream and 1/3 milk. I think I placed my biscuits too far apart because they did not grow together, and the edges were crisp all the way around. Also, I think I needed a little more liquid than I used. The resulting biscuit was not as fluffy as I hoped for, but they did rise, and the edges and top were crisped. They are light years better than canned biscuits (the only kind I remember eating at home) but they are not yet the right biscuits...but this is surely more a matter of my technique than a fault with Varmint's recipe. I did like the rich mouthfeel of the biscuit quite a lot.

I can't believe somebody's mother is yelling at me via email. I'm terribly amused!

[Varmint]

Keep experimenting, Malawry. Everyone has their "ideal" form of a particular food, so adjust the liquids; use more buttermilk and less cream; use cake flour and add the baking powder; use other types of fat. At least you know you're heading down the right path. Now, it's just a matter of fine-tuning it.

[LaurieA-B]

In The Pie and Pastry Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum gives a recipe for Butter Biscuits made with sieved hard-boiled egg yolk. Has anyone tried an egg-yolk recipe? I was quite surprised when I read this.

Ron, how does your mother shape her biscuits?

I often make drop biscuits, though of course the result is not what Malawry is looking for. My mom always made drop biscuits, because it's quicker than rolling and cutting, and I love the crunchy bits on top.

[southern girl]

Rochelle, are you familiar with the Hardees (chain restaurant...don't know if they exist outside the South) biscuits? If you are and would like their recipe pm me since I presume the recipe is copyrighted.

[Toby]

In The Pie and Pastry Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum gives a recipe for Butter Biscuits made with sieved hard-boiled egg yolk.  Has anyone tried an egg-yolk recipe?  I was quite surprised when I read this.

Larry Forgione in An American Place has a recipe for strawberry shortcake in which the biscuit shortcake is made with 2 mashed hard-cooked egg yolks for 2 cups flour (he also uses heavy cream and butter). He says this is an idea suggested by James Beard and that the eggs add moisture to the biscuits but not taste. I made this once and found it made the biscuits very yellow and kind of heavy. I love egg yolks so I'm going to try this again, maybe with less butter. Does Beranbaum use both butter and cream?

[Suvir Saran]

I love egg yolks so I'm going to try this again, maybe with less butter.  Does Beranbaum use both butter and cream?

Rose uses butter and heavy cream both for her recipe for Butter biscuits. She does say you could use buttermilk instead of heavy cream or use a combination of both buttermilk and heavy cream.

In fact, Rose also uses the boiled egg yolks in her recipe for Butter Biscuits.

She begins her chapter on Biscuits and Scones with the famous "Touch-of-Grace- Biscuits". This is the Corriher recipe that I believe Nathalie also had used and is famed to be one of the best Biscuit recipes from the South.

[Suvir Saran]

What is most interesting to me is to see Rose ask for the use of White Lily flour for all her biscuit recipes. I always thought it was only the Southern chefs that made a big deal about it.