I've always used bisquik and this needs to stop. lol What is the secret to good biscuits?

Largish flakes of fat. Now I'm a lard loving lady, but there are shortening people here I'm sure. It's like the pastry wars. Lard vs Shortening.

OK, so anyways, I make my own bisquick mix with lard but leave the fat in pea size lumps. I keep my mix in the fridge or freezer for 2 reasons

1--prevents rancidity

2--keeps that fat freezy cold which is a GOOD THING!!! You want it to stay cold, then melt all of a sudden in the baking leaving tender flakes of biscuit.

Liquid-- can I say here that real buttermilk is best but if you must, use a tsp of vinegar to the cup of milk to curdle it a bit. Real live buttermilk from the store (the cultured stuff) does something wonderful for the taste adn texture. (add reg milk to replace, and the buttermilk will make more of it'self overnight in the fridge to reduce costs)

Then don't over mix. You add enough liquid just till it forms a ball but with some powderyness around the bowl.

Knead gently a few times just till it holds together. 4 or 5 shoves and squishes should do it.

Now you can either pat it out on the counter and cut biscuits (not around here, I'm in a hurry) --I usually pat out, then cut in squares so I don't have to re pat the leftovers from the round biscuits-- which makes them tough.

Or scoop spoonfulls out and

put onto a greased pan (or my top fave-- a terra cotta baking tile for pizza)

bake in a hot oven and pull out when golden and a toothpick inserted doesn't have clingies sticking to it.

Oh those biscuits sound good - pass the butter and jelly.

I used the recipe from:

www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadebiscuits.htm

and I found they were great with sausage and gravy. They are a variation of a scone with more salt, more shortening and less liquids. I used the buttermilk you buy in a carton.

Since they are a scone, it doesn't matter if the butter is cold or not I don't think. It has to be soft enough to rub into the flour. I am glad they are not like a scone in texture as that would be too soft.

Scones like a hotter oven than most things. I used a knife to mix the dough, if you can't get all the flour mixed, make a well in the dough on the table and put the flour in there and turn some dough onto the well to seal it and knead a little bit until it incorporates.

I felt afterwards the instructions on this site would be useful:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/biscuitsandgravyr.html

:kokkie:

"don't over mix" is the best tip I could offer. My secret is home rendered lard!!!