Sunday, April 12, 2020

Biscuits

It's been years since I've made biscuits from scratch.  They're not something I eat often because they're so full of fat and calories, but I grew up having them on a regular basis.  My momma would make big pans full for our family and I doubt if she ever really measured the ingredients.  She always baked them with the sides touching in a 13 x 9 pan so the tops and bottoms were nicely browned but the sides were soft.  Knowing her, she probably put melted bacon grease in the pan and dipped the biscuits in it, turning them over before she'd put the pan in the oven.

I don't remember her ever using buttermilk or butter for the fat in her dough.  Momma used a lot of Crisco in her cooking so I imagine she spooned that into the flour mixture.

These turned out pretty darned good.  I grated the butter into the flour mixture and used a pastry blender to mix it up so there weren't visible pieces of butter in the dough.  Three tablespoons of sugar made them taste sweeter than I like so next time I'll try using two.  My dough was a little dry, probably because of the moisture content in the flour I used so the dough wasn't as smooth as it should have been when I cut it.  

Using a 3" round cutter the recipe made nine big biscuits. I baked them  in a 7 x 11 pan sprayed with Pam, with the biscuits touching each other.  The biscuits rose enough in the oven while baking that the pan was completely full.

Commercial baking powder is a 4:1 ratio of cream of tartar to baking soda so I'm guessing that adding additional cream of tartar is what makes the biscuits lighter.  You can omit the cream of tartar and the recipe will still be fine.

You could even stir in grated cheddar cheese and some parsley and brush the biscuits with garlic butter before baking to make Red Lobster style biscuits.


BISCUITS

3 C. flour
3 T. sugar (try using 2, these were too sweet)
½ tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. cream of tartar
¾ c. cold butter
1 egg
1 c. milk (I used buttermilk)

Heat oven to 450°.
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in cold butter until you have pea sized pieces of butter.
Add milk and egg.  Mix until combined.
Turn onto floured surface and knead 10-15 times.
Pat out to ¾ - 1” thick.
Brush tops with melted butter.
Bake on greased baking sheet or use parchment paper 15-18 minutes.

No comments: