Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Fluffy Homemade Biscuits

Just out of the oven

Biscuits are a staple of Southern hospitality. I like them soft and fluffy with butter.

I have The Joy of Cooking to thank for this simple biscuit recipe, and I have only tweaked it the slightest bit.

The biscuit I'm going for here is not the all-wheat healthy version. This is the melt-in-your-mouth-delicious edition that is perfect for fattening up your dinner guests.

Fluffy Homemade Biscuits
(Makes about 12 large biscuits)

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (I typically add this in for a little depth of flavor).
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP baking powder
5 TBSP butter (cold!)
5 TBSP shortening
Approximately 1 1/4 cups milk

biscuitmaking

1. Mix together the dry ingredients.
2. Add the butter and shortening.
3. "Cut" the butter and shortening into the flour mixture. I use a pastry cutter, but you can also hold two knives close together and use them to cut in the fat.
4. The final mixture should resemble coarse crumbles.

biscuitmaking2

5. Next comes the milk. Since we are going to roll out the biscuit dough, you don't want to add too much milk. Add enough so that the dough forms a ball and you don't have a lot of excess flour in the bowl. But don't add so much milk that the dough is super sticky. I've found 1 1/4 cups of milk to be about right. When you add the milk, don't overstir. For biscuits to be soft and fluffy you don't want to over-handle them.

Pre-kneading

6. Dump the dough onto a floured surface.

Post-kneading

7. Then knead the dough gently, folding it over on itself about 8 times. Don't put all your energy into this part or your biscuits will turn out heavy and tough. Trust me, they don't require copious amounts of kneading.

Roll it

8. Next, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out. I like my dough abut 1/2 inch thick. That way they still get large and fluffy without browning too much on the top.

Throw it in the oven

9. I use a glass with a floured rim (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter) to cut out the biscuits. Then place them on an ungreased pan and bake at 450 degrees for 10-13 minutes. I check for done-ness by opening one biscuit up and making sure it's not gooey in the middle.

Warm for eating

Oh yes.

Buttery goodness

10. Eat with Butter. And honey. Or jam. Mmmmm.

Dippin'

These are also lovely along with soup, such as the homemade cream of mushroom soup pictured.




Linked to Top Ten Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays At The Table, and Delicious Dishes.
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12 comments:

  1. They look so good! Biscuits always make me think of my Granny. She made the best buttermilk biscuits with gravy. YUM!

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  2. Oh, yummy! We are having ham and biscuits for dinner tomorrow, so I will have to make these biscuit! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I hope I can make this work -- you've given me the courage to try again! ;)

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  4. I love homemade biscuits, these look delicious!

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  5. Love homemade biscuits. I almost bought a biscuit cutter the other day,but decided the glass trick is working well enough and one less thing I have to find a place for!

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  6. Oh man, I am DROOLING!!!!! These look AMAZING!!!!!

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  7. so I made these the other night...let me start by saying that I have been looking for a good biscuit recipe for 2 years. I make as much from scratch as I possibly can, and I have tried a dozens of recipes for biscuits....they are ALWAYS too dense, very floury, and dry. It seems people post recipes on the internet and say they are great, even though they are horrible, just to get their name out there. Well....I made these biscuits. And these are my new biscuits. They were as close to perfect as I have had, without pulling them out of a can!! I am telling you all, make these. They really look like the pictures and they are awesome!! I can't thank you enough for posting this recipe!!!

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    Replies
    1. AWESOME! I'm so glad! Thanks for coming back and telling me. :)

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  8. Alicia,
    This look amazing and so easy. I will definitely be trying these. I wanted to ask you though, I've never cooked or baked with shortening. What kind do you use? When I think of shortening I think of crisco, is that right?

    Thanks,
    Lindsey

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Lindsey, that's right! Just the regular crisco at the grocery store (but the publix/generic brand will probably be cheaper).

      Lately I'm actually trying to get away from using shortening in my cooking (I think butter is healthier). Last time I made these biscuits I used 8 tbsp of butter (1/2 cup) and 2 tbsp of shortening and it turned out great. Next time I'm going to try all butter, so you could try that, if you want.

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  9. I just made a batch........WOW!!!

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