How to Make Great Biscuits
There are keys to making those great biscuits that your mom, or aunt, or grandmother used to make.
Key #1
Use the right flour. Use a soft, low protein all-purpose flour meant for biscuits. Do not use bread flour.
Key #2
Keep your ingredients cold. Temperature is critical to buttery, flakey biscuits. Start with very cold butter, it should chip when you cut it into chunks, or cold shortening and your liquids should be ice cold. Work with the dough quickly to keep it cool. (I put the butter in the freezer for a few minutes before I cut it into chunks.)
Key #3
Don’t work your dough too much. Kneading converts the protein to gluten. Mix only until the ingredients come together into a combined mass
Key #4
For flakey, layered biscuits, use a folding technique. Roll the dough out to about 3/8-inch thick. Fold the dough in half and in half again and again. Roll the dough out to about 3/4-inch thick before cutting the biscuits.
Key #5
Don’t over-bake your biscuits. Over-baking for even a minute or two will dry your biscuits out. As soon as the edges begin to turn brown, remove them from the oven. Immediately, place the biscuits on a wire rack—the hot pan will continue to dry the biscuits
More Tips
1. How packed your flour is in your measure will affect the amount of liquid needed. If you spoon light flour into the measure, it should be about right for the liquid in the ingredients
2. A moister dough will rise easier. Don’t use any more flour than what you need to handle the dough. It’s okay to dust your hands and the counter with flour before rolling or patting the dough
3. Make the biscuits of uniform size and shape so that they will bake uniformly.
4. For tall biscuits, don’t roll or pat your dough thinner than 1/2-inch. Your biscuits should rise to twice their height before baking
5. Place your biscuits close together on the pan, touching each other. That way they will tend to rise rather than spread
6. Make certain that your oven is hot and bake your biscuits at 425 degrees F. The hot oven gives the dough a burst of steam that helps make the biscuits light and airy
7. Biscuits are best eaten immediately but they can be frozen for up to three months. Reheat them at 300 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
When you think of biscuits, you probably think of classic buttermilk biscuits, hot and slathered with butter and honey. But there is much more to biscuits. You can experiment with biscuits, make them sweet or savory, add fruit or nuts, or even a sweet glaze.
One of the attractions of biscuits is how quickly they can be made. Biscuits are most often rolled out and cut into rounds or squares.
They can also be made as drop biscuits. Drop biscuits, biscuits made with a soft batter and spooned onto the baking sheet, save the steps of rolling and cutting. Drop biscuits are “fast food” from scratch
Buttermilk Biscuits, a drop biscuit recipe, can be converted to cut biscuits by adding a little more flour.
Use these recipes as templates for your own creations. Use your favorite fresh or dried fruits, spices, and flavors. Drizzle the biscuits with a little glaze flavored with extract, cream cheese, or syrup. You’ll transform everyday biscuits into something fit for guests at the next brunch.
These are drop biscuits. You can convert them to cut biscuits by adding enough flour to make a malleable
Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons Watkins Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 pound (one stick) cold butter
1 cup plus one tablespoon buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Oil a baking sheet.
1. Measure the flour by scooping some into a bowl and then spooning the flour into the measuring cup. (If you measure packed flour, you will have too much.)
2. Add the baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt and stir these ingredients into the flour. Slice the cold butter into the flour mixture. Use a pastry knife or two kitchen knives to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Work the butter into the flour mixture until you have a coarse, grainy mixture
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the buttermilk into the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. The dough should be of a consistency like drop cookie dough or just a bit stiffer. If it is not moist enough, add another tablespoon of buttermilk.
4. Spoon the dough into twelve rounded mounds on the baking sheet leaving room for expansion.
5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the biscuits just begin to brown. Remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool. serve warm with honey and butter.
Classic Buttermilk Biscuits
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons Watkins Baking Powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup cold butter
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until the mixture forms coarse pieces.
- Add the buttermilk and stir the mixture with a fork until most of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Turn the ingredients onto the counter and knead and fold until the dough is formed. Do not knead longer than necessary.
- Roll or pat the dough to about 3/4-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet with the edges touching.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until the tops are just golden brown and biscuits sound hollow when gently tapped. Serve warm.
Yield: 15 large biscuits.
Cranberry Nut Biscuits
Use the basic buttermilk biscuit recipe for drop biscuits and add cranberries, nuts, spices, orange zest, and a little more sugar. It is not overly sweet, more like bread with fruit and nuts. You can convert them to cut biscuits by adding enough flour to make a malleable.
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons Watkins Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 pound (one stick) cold butter
3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup walnut or pecan pieces
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon Watkins Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Watkins Nutmeg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or enough to make a soft batter
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Oil a baking sheet.
1. Measure the flour by scooping some into a bowl and then spooning the flour into the measuring cup. (If you measure packed flour, you will have too much.)
2. Add the baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt and stir these ingredients into the flour. Slice the cold butter into the flour mixture. Use a pastry knife or two kitchen knives to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Work the butter into the flour mixture until you have a coarse, grainy mixture. Stir in the cranberries, walnuts, zest, and spices
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the buttermilk into the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. The dough should be of a consistency like drop cookie dough or just a bit stiffer. If it is not moist enough, add another tablespoon of buttermilk
4. Spoon the dough into twelve rounded mounds on the baking sheet leaving room for expansion
5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the biscuits just begin to brown. Remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool.
Country White Biscuits
Instead of shortening, this recipe uses sour cream which adds a nice tang to the biscuit and moistness.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon watkins Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup cold sour cream
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt
2. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the sour cream until the mixture forms coarse pieces.
3. Add the sour cream and stir the mixture with a fork until most of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Turn the ingredients onto the bread board and knead and fold until the dough is formed. Do not knead longer than necessary
4. Roll or pat the dough to about 3/4-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet with the edges touching
5. Bake for about 14 minutes or until the tops are just golden brown and biscuits sound hollow when gently tapped. Serve warm
Country Wheat Biscuits
The butter and whole wheat flour combine for a nice, nutty flavored biscuit.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon Watkins Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
1. In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until the mixture forms coarse pieces.
3. Add the buttermilk and stir the mixture with a fork until most of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Turn the ingredients onto the counter and knead and fold until the dough is formed. Do not knead longer than necessary.
4. Roll or pat the dough to about 3/4-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. Press straight down to cut; do not twist cutter. The edges will seal and the biscuit will not rise as much. Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet with the edges touching
5. Bake for about 14 minutes or until the tops are just golden brown and biscuits sound hollow when gently tapped. Serve warm.
Enjoy these delicious biscuit recipes.
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