Biscuits

[Isaac]

Ok...

I thought I would ask you fine gentleman for some help making buttermilk or regular biscuits. Im a HUGE fan of the biscuits you can buy at Crackerbarrel Restaurants. I have tried Alton Brown's Grandmothers recipe even going as far as to buy White Lily Flour over the net. They didnt turn out well at all and were rather dense and hard. ( I made sure not to overwork the dough)

DOes anyone have a sure fire recipe for a warm moist biscuit?

 

[bamafan64]

I couldn't top Alton Brown's recipe, but I will say that nothing goes better with biscuits than Mayhaw jelly or some good old cane syrup!

 

[ratcheer]

See if you can find Paul Prudhomme's recipe, Boathouse Biscuits. They are a bit of a pain to make, but they are wonderful.

Tim

 

[Austin]

Bisquick Isaac.

 

[Phog Allen]

Okay, at the risk of some ridicule I will offer up my version. Now what I make is more akin to a scone from the British Isles. Scones, not the sugared up, over heavy, stuff from bakeries masquerading as scones. This is also not a Southern styled biscuit. "Biscuit" to our English friends is what we call a cookie. Southern biscuits tend to be a bit less airy than scones, a bit more crisp on the outside, and a bit thinner in depth. Usually. There are always individual variations on this.

The type of fat you use will HEAVILY influence the outcome of your biscuits. Lard was the classic fat of choice in Southern biscuits in the U.S. It gives the outside of the biscuit a crisper texture. I have quit using it. Getting good, clean flavoured lard is getting harder and harder. I have gone over to all butter with great results though others prefer a mix of butter and meat shortening. Others prefer the all veg shortening. They ALL act a bit differently in the final product. Butter makes a soft, more delicate crumb and that is exactly what I like. All meat shortening acts a bit more like lard and would be my choice for a lard substitute. All veg shortening is bland to me and I don't use but others like it just fine. There is no right and wrong, just preferences.

As for your problems with density, this is almost always due to over working. Possibly old ingredients or an improper mix. I am sticking with just a bit of improper mixing as the prime suspect. Sometimes you just get a bad batch. I have looked at Alton's recipe and while it is okay for something you may add sugar to, I don't like it as an everyday scone. Scones take a back seat to nothing when made properly. They really only need three or four ingredients. The rest is in the making.

Here is my recipe and it is simple. Just pay attention to the mixing and laying out of the dough. It works for me but you may not like them. That is alright. You may find something completely different you like better.

3 cups flour(all purpose is fine)

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 Tablespoons of UNSALTED butter

1-1/4 cup buttermilk

First, MEASURE three cups of flour and put it in you mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, and the salt and mix them well. I use a whisk.

Add the butter. Here is where many times you will go wrong. I use quarter pound sticks of butter. It should be cold. Not frozen but COLD. Not an hour out on the counter, savvy? I slice the butter sticks lengthwise, turn them over and cut them lengthwise on the other side. If you look at the stick from the end, it should be quartered the length of the sticks. Now take the sticks and cut across them every 1/4" -1/2" or so. You will wind up with a bunch of little 3/8" to 1/2" cubes of butter. Toss them in the four mixture and start incorporating them with the TIPS of your fingers. Do not grab up the mix and squeeze it in your palm to mix it. You will heat a lot of the butter and possibly make it nearly liquid. It is alright if you have little chunks of butter here and there. You don't need or want it all to look like meal.

Now add the buttermilk to the flour butter mixture and use a coarse fork or wide knife and fold or "cut" through the mixture till you get a lumpy, shaggy dough. Do not try to get all the flour incorporated in the bowl. I guarantee you the biscuits/scones will come out flat and dense. After it is roughly mixed, scrape the dough out on a flour dusted surface and use you hands to LIGHTLY knead the dough together. Turn it over a few times and just incorporate the flour. If it is real sticky, dust and add more flour. Sorry but this is not an exact science and only trial and error will give you the experience to know when it "looks right". Okay, after the dough is incorporated, spread it out by hand. Personally I will not get a rolling pin anywhere near my scone dough. Just use your fingertips to spread it out into an oblong or circle about 5/8-3/4" thick. I use a 3" diameter cookie/biscuit cutter to make the scones. Do NOT twist as you cut through. Just push it straight through and lift. If it sticks, just knock it out the bottom and go on. Dust the cutter from time to time. I then put them on a cold baking stone with no grease or flour.

Now for the baking. I bake at 450F. That sounds excessive but it just works. Bake for about 10 minutes and check. You should have seen about a doubling from "oven spring". They should be starting to turn golden. If they are not at least browned/crisped a little, check them minute by minute but I would not go over three minutes more. Most of mine do okay at about 12 minutes. Remove and place on cooling rack so as not to build up steam condensate on the pan or stone. Enjoy. BTW, one thing to remember, the dry mix is fine till you add liquid. Once you add the liquid, the baking soda and powder start their reaction and cannot be stopped. Trudge on, even if you think you forgot something. Better a below average biscuit than none at all, eh? Take all this as my opinion only. I am sure others will offer thoroughly useful advice.

Regards, Todd

 

[_JP_]

I have tried Alton Brown's Grandmothers recipe even going as far as to buy White Lily Flour over the net. They didnt turn out well at all and were rather dense and hard. ( I made sure not to overwork the dough)

Well, you just might have overworked the dough it you worked it at all. And that's the secret with quick breads that don't have yeast in them. For that crumbly tenderness, the dough should be worked as little as possible. Mix until you just get all of the ingredients wet and stop. It's best that you don't use a machine to mix with. (Same is true with pancakes, another quick bread.)

When you roll out the dough, you want it about a half inch thick or slightly thicker, and then place the cut biscuits on the pan so that the sides are touching. That will cause them rise up tall. Then comes the second secret, which is to put into a hot preheated oven.

I used to make biscuits by the dozens for a brunch buffet using those tricks. They came out taller and more tender than what you find in most places.

 

[renoles]

+1 to AB's recipe - I use it in a slightly modified version all the time.

 

[The Knize]

Great thread. Biscuits are not easy. My Grandmother, whose made a darn good one, would say that one can be good at making biscuits or good at making beard, but no one person is ever good at both, which probably tell one something about making darn sure not to overwork that dough.

 

[stripec30]

Wow. Nice recipe!

 

[homebrewer]

I use AB's recipe all the time, and usually have excellent results. The problem with your biscuits lies in the mixing. Many, many times, Alton hos shown himself counting to ten while stirring, and saying "Walk away!, Just walk away!". The problem is, 10 of those stirring motions are far too many for biscuits.

I'd recommend sweeping the bowl about three times to barely mix the wet and dry. Turn it out onto your counter and dust with flour. Pat it flat and cut. It does not need to be, and should not be a homogenous mixture. When I say mix as little as possible, I mean to the point that you think your buttermilk will run all over the counter if you turn it out. That has alway been my secret to soft, delicious biscuits.

BTW... brushing the top of the biscuits with buttermilk; after they've been cut, just before they go to the oven, is never a bad idea....

 

[ouch]

Made a dozen for breakfast this morning. They'll be gone by noon.

Whenever I buy buttermilk, I get it primarily for pancakes, so biscuits are a great way to use up the rest of the bottle.

 

[tsmba]

Check out the Cooks' Illustrated recipe for cream biscuits....they're easy to make (no cutting in fat and wonderfully-tender. Let me know if you don't have access and I'll copy the recipe and email it to you.
A low-protein flour helps, but isn't critical by a long shot. Btw, you can easily make biscuits at home that will put Cracker Barrel's to shame!

 

[pal]

Well, you just might have overworked the dough it you worked it at all. And that's the secret with quick breads that don't have yeast in them. For that crumbly tenderness, the dough should be worked as little as possible. Mix until you just get all of the ingredients wet and stop. It's best that you don't use a machine to mix with. (Same is true with pancakes, another quick bread.)

When you roll out the dough, you want it about a half inch thick or slightly thicker, and then place the cut biscuits on the pan so that the sides are touching. That will cause them rise up tall. Then comes the second secret, which is to put into a hot preheated oven.

I used to make biscuits by the dozens for a brunch buffet using those tricks. They came out taller and more tender than what you find in most places.

+++1 Now here is someone who knows how to make biscuits. I learned very early that if you overwork the dough you are going to get a hard tough biscuit.

 

[cthip]

i don't think the recipe is the most critical component of a good biscuit. but here's a basic one i that i like

http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Breakfast-Biscuits

i usually cut the recipe in half or in thirds--six cups makes A LOT of biscuits

here are my modifications:

every biscuit recipe i've ever tried has been better when made with lard rather than butter or shortening. not popular these days--but less cholesterol and saturated fat than butter, and shortening is all trans fat, so there's really no reason not to give lard a try. the texture of the biscuit is much lighter and flakier when i make use lard. sometimes difficult to find, but any mexican/latino market should carry it, and some asian markets will too.

whatever fat i use in the biscuits--it's always chilled when i work it into the flour. i also don't evenly distribute it into the flour. i cut it in for maybe 2 minutes until it's well-distributed but there's some variation in the size of the lumps and the fat should still be a little cold/cool to the touch.

i've also read that bacon grease (chilled solid, not melted!) works great if you're making a savory biscuit. haven't tried it yet but i'd imagine you'd need to reduce the salt in the recipe to compensate.

work/stir the dough the minimum amount of time possible in the bowl. just enough to wet everything, don't worry about lumps (my guess is the OP may have overworked the dough at this step?) i don't really knead or roll my biscuits. i just sort of turn the dough out onto a floured board and just press it flat with my (floured) fingers. this gives a sort of "dimpled" top that browns nicely in the oven. the theory is that they'll be less tough this way.

i've found that the strainer top to a bar shaker makes a pretty good biscuit cutter. the strainer holes make nice vents that allow the biscuit to release from the mold after it's cut. however the shape may be a little larger in diameter than you're used to for biscuits.

i bake mine in an iron skillet that was pre-heated in the oven. this makes the bottom EXTRA-crispy. maybe too crispy for some, but my wife and i like it. i think that the rapid transfer of heat cooks the fat faster to create flaky layers rather than melting slowly and combining with the flour (which could make the biscuit dense and gluey).

 

[ouch]

More on chilling-

I put the flour in the freezer at least a half hour before I start, and frezze the buttermilk, shortening, and butter (I use a 50/50 mix) for fifteen minutes, to. Everything should be nice and cold- don't wash your hands in hot water before you start mixing. A good marble board (small ones are pretty inexpensive) is indispensible.

And make sure your leavening agents are fresh!!!

 

[tsmba]

I know lard is supposed to make a great pie dough. I've read a lot of references to "leaf lard" being the best, another ingredient that is almost impossible to find unless you have access to a butcher.

 

[ouch]

So who is going to post the first recipe for sausage gravy (or any other gravy) to go with the biscuits?

 

[_JP_]

So who is going to post the first recipe for sausage gravy (or any other gravy) to go with the biscuits?

Aw man! I used to make sausage gravy by the 5 gallon batch. You want that recipe?

 

[bamafan64]

Tomato Gravy is good on biscuits. Mix up some flour and oil in a frying pan, and also fry up some ground sausage in another pan. Pour in two cans of diced tomatos and one can of Rotella into the flour and oil, then pour in the sausage and some of the grease. Hit it hard with fresh ground black pepper, then you're ready to eat!

 

[Phog Allen]

I know lard is supposed to make a great pie dough. I've read a lot of references to "leaf lard" being the best, another ingredient that is almost impossible to find unless you have access to a butcher.

Agreed Tom. Good lard is hard to find. I have tried Armour and other brands and to be honest, they were all rank smelling. Not spoiled mind you but just poorly rendered. They didn't have the piggy smell that home rendered lard does. Just an old, dirty, rank smell that I detested. This transferred to the flavour as well. This went across several brands and differing years. I stick to butter but may try some more lard since it was the classic fat for Southern biscuits. I suspect beef suet or all meat shortening would be more traditional for scones than lard.

Regards, Todd