Who makes the "perfect" biscuit?

[smokinhusker]

Here's a link for KFC Biscuits

http://www.kfc.com/tips/ky_biscuits.asp

 

[alblancher]

Not quite perfect yet but a vast improvement over when I started!!

Ready to go in the oven,  The trimmings are going to be dog treats

With some of the Canadian Bacon I smoked yesterday and fig preserves

 

[bama bbq]

They look close enough to perfect to me! 

 

[bassman]

This is the one I make almost every time.  I don't like the dry, crumbly biscuits that I used to make, so I came up with a recipe that holds together.

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Buttermilk Biscuits

2 Cups flour
1 tsp salt

1/2 tablespoon instant yeast
4 tsp baking powder
½ Cup butter
1 beaten egg
1 Cup buttermilk (approximately)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in butter with pastry blender. Add egg and buttermilk (you can add a little buttermilk if the dough seems too dry. Turn out on floured board and knead several times until flour is worked in to make a fairly soft dough. Pat out to about ¾ inch thick and cut into 3 to 3 ½ inch biscuits.   I let these set covered with a dishtowel for about 30 minutes. Bake for approximately 20 minutes (checking after 15 minutes) and the tops are golden brown.

PS: You may add 1 cup grated cheddar cheese at final mixing stage.

 

[big casino]

those look great Al!

wish I had some of those and some sawmill sausage gravy for on them

 

[daveomak]

Al, morning... you have 1 lucky dog.....   Dave

 

[moikel]

Looks like you got that one perfect.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Try these....they're excellent.....

Shirley Corriher’s Touch of Grace Biscuits

http://worththewhisk.com/2010/04/26/shirley-corrihers-touch-of-grace-biscuits/

http://www.food52.com/blog/2819_shirley_corrihers_touchofgrace_biscuits


~Martin

 

[mjstewart]

My all time Favorite

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 450°F.

In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes

 

[artisanbeard]

I do mine with White Lily flour, lard, buttermilk, and also with baking soda and powder. I found that a good aluminum pan is key to perfect biscuits...the dark pans tend to brown too quickly, and the insulated pans don't brown them enough. Don't work the biscuits too much and keep everything cold when mixing. I get pretty good results consistently.

 

[bdbob83]

Just made some gravy this morning but I as well used the frozen biscuits after the reading of these posts I have a new quest for myself ..lots of good info.. and a lot of good looking biscuits
I know this is a old thread but keep it up guys

 

[bluewhisper]

In my 1960 Dictionary of American Slang, "biscuit shooter" = waitress.

 

[noboundaries]

We get in the biscuit mood every once is a while.  This is our favorite recipe using a KitchenAid stand mixer.  I found the recipe online and put it in my cookbook software.

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits in a KitchenAid Mixer - Double Recipe

Ray's Comments:  AWESOME BISCUITS!!!!!!  Best we've ever made at home!  I can't remember eating biscuits this good anywhere else either and I used to live in the South.  This is an EASY recipe!

Ingredients
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board.
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbs baking powder (use one without aluminum)
2 tsp kosher salt
12 Tbs unsalted butter, very cold
2 cups buttermilk (we used 2% buttermilk)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 450°F.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in the bowl of the mixer, using the wire whip attachment.

3. Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour using the wire whip attachment until the flour resembles course meal.

4. Change to the flat beater attachment and add the buttermilk and mix JUST until combined.  If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk. It should be slightly sticky.  The bottom of the bowl may not get mixed but that isn't a problem.

5. Turn the dough out onto a floured board, cleaning the dough off the flat beater.

6. Fold the dough no more than 5 times to mix in any remaining dry ingredients, then gently press the dough down to a 3/4" thick.

7. Use a round cutter to cut into rounds.

8. Gently knead the scraps together, press to 3/4" thick and make a few more.

9. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet- if you like soft sides, put them touching each other.  If you like"crusty" sides, put them about 1 inch apart- these will not rise as high as the biscuits put close together.

10. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are a light golden brown on top and bottom.  Do not overbake.

11. Note: The key to real biscuits is not in the ingredients, but in the handling of the dough.  The dough must be handled as little as possible or you will have tough biscuits. We have made the biscuits with a food processor and with the KitchenAid mixer.  They were equally delicious; soft and tender center with a crispy bottom and top.

12. You also must pat the dough out with your hands, lightly.  Rolling with a rolling pin is a guaranteed way to overstimulate the gluten, resulting in a tougher biscuit.

 

[rotweiler2]

 
Al, How about making the dough with everyting but the butter... Then grate the butter on the dough, fold, roll, grate more butter, fold, roll, grate more butter etc.... add a sprinkle of flour as needed.... until the butter is gone....   ?????  My thoughts on this.... will that work ??

Am I over thinking the making of biscuits here ????   Dave

Dave, I think you are on to something here.  Puff pastry is made that way, just there you have to be REALLY exact so it rises equally.

Al, how about it? Will you be the tester of this idea? Or post your recipe and I may try it out :-)

Cheers,
Lars

 

[alblancher]

This is an older thread but I'll take a stab at answering the last post because I do love biscuits!!  Biscuit dough is basically self rising flour, butter or fat and a bit of water or milk   If you don't add the butter when first forming the dough there won't be enough "stickyness"  to hold the dough together.  It will be difficult to roll out.   A lot of the moisture needed for the dough to rise comes from the butter as it melts in the oven.  If you use all your butter to layer the dough I'm not sure what kind of rise you will get on the biscuits.

I'm sure the commercial guys make canned biscuits like they make puff pastry, laying very thin sheets on top of one another with a butter or fat layer between them but to do that at home sounds like a lot of work.  I notice that most chain store biscuits (Popeyes, Churches) and  Pillsbury type canned biscuits have a lot of fat in them and are greasy to the touch.  In my opinion good homemade biscuits shouldn't be greasy. 

 

[foamheart]

If you can write down a recipe, can't be perfect biscuits!

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• foamheart
• Apr 15, 2014

3C Flour (Every Mom, although any flour can be made into biscuits, has that one favorite)!

salt

Baking powder (To rise)

Baking soda (to stabilize)

Little bacon grease or butter

Buttermilk.

 

[eman]

Mrs B's

 

[dandl93]

 
If you can write down a recipe, can't be perfect biscuits!

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• foamheart
• Apr 15, 2014

3C Flour (Every Mom, although any flour can be made into biscuits, has that one favorite)!

salt

Baking powder (To rise)

Baking soda (to stabilize)

Little bacon grease or butter

Buttermilk.

Foam them are the type of biscuits I was raised on.Mom and Grandma both had their flour bowls strictly for making biscuits.I never seen either one measure any thing.Made a small scooped area in the middle of the flour add the other ingrediants and pulled the flour into the mix till it was correct.They could make 10 or 12 batches in that bowl before adding more flour.

Sorry to ramble remembering the good times with these biscuits

Dan

 

[foamheart]

My Dad made the biscuits, I asked Mom one time why she hadn't learned since it wasn't hard. She said if your Dad can make such good biscuits, I don't need to.  He always did the biscuits, course breakfast was always his meal anyway. Thanksgiving for the stuffing, Pop's biscuits. Mom made the cornbread!

I bet your Mom/Grandma put the bacon grease in the heated biscuit pan, then you drop in a biscuit and flip it over so some of the grease is on top?

 

[dandl93]

 
My Dad made the biscuits, I asked Mom one time why she hadn't learned since it wasn't hard. She said if your Dad can make such good biscuits, I don't need to.  He always did the biscuits, course breakfast was always his meal anyway. Thanksgiving for the stuffing, Pop's biscuits. Mom made the cornbread!

I bet your Mom/Grandma put the bacon grease in the heated biscuit pan, then you drop in a biscuit and flip it over so some of the grease is on top?

Black iron skillet with bacon grease or lard in the bottom of the pan never seen them flip them.The few times my Dad ever cooked supper it was fried eggs and bacon or popcorn sometimes both so we couldnt tell mom when she got home we was hungry.hahahaha

Dan