Best Biscuit Recipes

[m brown]

Greg brought up a great thought on the Arts and Crafts Post, There aren't enough great biscuits in the world at least not in MN.
(Paraphrased)

So, does anyone have THE best recipe?

Here's one I like to use, very well rounded flavor and light texture

1# 12 oz AP Flour
2 oz Baking powder
3 oz Powder Sugar
4 oz Corn Starch
2 tsp Kosher Salt
12 oz Cold cubed Unsalted Butter

Place in 12 Qt Mixer with Paddle and work on 1st speed until it looks like sand. Then pour in

16 oz Cold Milk
4 each Whole Extra Large Eggs

Let the mixer run for about 3 or 4 min on low speed, scrape if needed.
Work on a well floured surface by folding the dough over itsself 6 times until
the dough feels like a soft roll dough. Pat down to desired thickness and cut, bake at 400 F for 10 - 15 min.
Serve hot.



------------------
bake first, ask questions later

[cookM]

I like the biscuit recipe in The Breakfast book by Marion Cunningham. Before baking, I like to brush the tops with cream.

[momoreg]

9# ap flour
1# gran. sugar
8 oz. baking powder
2 oz. salt

4# butter
half gal + 1c milk

Use a typical biscuit technique. This recipe makes about 175 biscuits.

They're slightly sweet, and freeze beautifully.

[m brown]

What about Self Rising Flour?

[Katherine]

I always use self-rising flour when I'm making biscuits at home in small batches, substituting butter for the shortening called for on the label. They don't sell it around here (Maine), so I buy a couple of bags in Florida when I go to visit my parents every year.

When I'm doing a larger batch at home, I make raised biscuits. You can make them the night before and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight. Just brush the tops and pop them in the oven at 400 in the morning.

Raised biscuits
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1/3 cup butter
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 T. sugar
Put dry ingredients in a food processor and process until like flour. Dump into a bowl.

1 cup milk or half-and-half
1 T. yeast
Heat milk to barely warm. Add yeast and allow to rest until yeast is fully bloomed. Stir, then add to dry ingredients, stirring lightly, until they are just moistened and no loose flour remains. Be careful here, you may not need all the milk, or you need to add a little extra. Scrape onto a floured board, form into balls, or roll out and cut. If you roll it out quite large, you can spread the dough with butter, and fold so the finished biscuit comes apart in layers.
Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet with baking parchment, let rise until doubled. Brush with milk, egg/milk, or egg yolk/cream before baking. Bake until golden.

[Bayou]

Has anyone else tried the bisquit recipe from "Cook's Illustrated," June 2000, labeled "Quick Cream Bisquits"? The fat used is heavy cream. I've had mixed results so far. Anyone else try these?

2 cups AP flour
2 tspn sugar
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

425 deg. F
rollout to 3/4 in. thickness

[Katherine]

Bayou--
What didn't you like about the recipe results? I haven't tried this recipe, but in the past when I made cream biscuits from 100% heavy cream, I thought they tasted too greasy, and ended up substituting milk for part of the cream. I like biscuits less rich than some do, so I often cut down on butter, too.

[Bayou]

Katherine --

Like you, I found this recipe produced rather high-fat tasting bisquits. They were creamy tasting, without the usual buttery taste I actually prefer. And, the thing I liked least about this recipe was that the rise was so inconsistent. I used the same ingredients, same mixing bowl, and the same oven and baking sheet - one time I got very nice rise, next time - flat (like teacakes, lol)

I'm going to try some of the recipees listed above this fall at a hunting camp I've been invited to cook at. "Bisquits for 45-50 hungry hunters!!" I'll let y'all know which recipe they liked best.

[Katherine]

Oooh, a bicuit tasting! Sounds wonderful.
I can't wait to hear how that turns out.

[Bayou]

If you never hear back from me .... then, they probably didn't like the bisquits ...

[m brown]

Once made angel biscuits, they were like nasty rocks BUT they went wonderfuly with Country Ham on top. Go figure!

[shroomgirl]

I made angel biscuits in HS home ec...supposedly you can make them and leave the batter in the fridge for 5-7 days....I don't remember being too impressed with our end product....
Don't people in the east beat their biscuits, or at least the dough

[Katherine]

I'm an Easterner and a Northerner, and I would NEVER! beat biscuits if I wanted them tender. Of course, I'm the only one I know around here who even makes biscuits, so maybe I'm atypical anyway...
If you aren't sure about what your results will be with different untried biscuit recipes, make extra, so if any don't work they can just disappear. Also, a good sausage gravy will hide many faults.

[Bayou]

OK Katherine - now, how about a good recipe for thet "good sausage gravy."

[Katherine]

Sausage gravy

For my sausage gravy, I make a white sauce, using sausage drippings instead of butter. Nowadays, sausage is so lean that sometimes I end up adding butter anyway.
2 tablespoons of sausage drippings
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of milk, warm
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fry flour in sausage drippings for a couple of minutes. Add milk, whisking until smooth and thickened. Season with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Most of the flavor comes from the pepper, so make it spicy. (ok to put it in the blender if the lumps get the best of you)
Split freshly baked biscuits, pour gravy over, and serve with sausage, if it hasn't all been eaten yet. Serves 1-2.

Maybe Shroomgirl was referring to "beaten biscuits" when she talked about beating them. They're something like a thick cracker, I've heard.