Old-Fashioned Biscuits
This started in an old Joy of Cooking and has not looked like it in years.
These biscuits are my family’s favorite, and I make them with my daughter’s favorite beef stew; it’s the one thing she asks for time and time again.
The biscuits are quick and easy to make, and I often adapt the recipe to make shortcake biscuits by adding just a bit of sugar. I’ve added the recipe below if you want a delicious shortcake.
How to make old-fashioned biscuits
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. If you have a convection oven, I would reduce it to 400 degrees.
Sift both ingredients in a bowl:
1 ¾ cups of sifted all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
Add a pinch of salt if you are not using salted butter. I use salted butter; omit this completely.
To this add
8 tablespoons chilled salted butter, cut into small chunks. I
Work the chilled butter into the dry ingredients until the flour looks sandy and the butter has broken into pieces ranging from pea-sized to bits you can barely see. I always use my hands rather than a pastry blender. It gives me the feel of the dough as it comes together, and I get the right texture every time. What you are after is butter distributed evenly through the flour, with pieces still visible. A few larger ones are fine, better than none. That butter is what gives you the flake.
Once incorporated into the bowl, form a small well in the center.
Add the ¾ cups of milk (whole milk is best, but I often use reduced-fat or even skim, which works fine; it depends on how rich you like them).
Mix the dough until it is free from the sides of the bowl…then:
Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface. I often will turn the mix onto just my granite countertop. It works perfectly.
Knead the dough very gently but quickly, about 8-10 times.
A word about handling, because it matters more here than anything else. This dough does not want to be worked. The more you touch it, the tougher the biscuit. Mix until it just holds, knead only a few times, and stop while it still looks a little rough. Restraint is the whole technique.
Roll the dough out with a floured rolling pin to the desired thickness. (These biscuits will rise very nicely, so I would suggest rolling them to about ¼ inch thick, and I often roll them thicker if I want a very big, hearty biscuit.) It’s up to you.
Form the dough using a lightly floured biscuit cutter.
Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Brush with melted butter, then sprinkle with sugar if you want them a bit sweet. That’s the way my family likes them.
Bake until lightly browned – about 15-18 minutes. I would keep an eye on them in the oven. The cooking time will depend on your oven type. Look for a nice golden brown on top.
Here is one thing I learned only after years of making these. Press the cutter straight down and lift it straight up. One motion. Do not twist it, and do not rock it back and forth trying to free the dough or make a tidier circle. Twisting seals the edges you have just cut, and a sealed edge cannot rise. You end up with a shorter, misshapen biscuit and no idea why.
Additional ingredients for making different types of biscuits
Shortcake biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar - I love to use Turbinado Cane Sugar (Sugar in the Raw). It adds a little molasses taste to the shortcake
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1/4 cup cold salted butter. Cut the butter into cubes.
1 cup cold whipping cream
Mix together as instructed in my biscuit recipe above.
I gently brush each biscuit with melted butter, sprinkle sugar on top, and bake them.
Once they are about halfway through the baking cycle…maybe 7 minutes, I will brush with more butter and sprinkle more sugar on the biscuit. I then pop them back into the oven. The biscuit comes out looking golden brown. Oh, my goodness…talk about good! A delicious shortcake biscuit.
Savory biscuits
Three cooked slices of crumbled bacon (more if you want more bacon flavor) and ¼ cup of grated cheddar cheese; or
Two tablespoons of chives or sage and 1/3 cup of Roquefort French Cheese
You may also add:
Lemon Zest
Rosemary and Thyme (Add about three parts chopped rosemary and one part thyme)
All Rosemary
Equal parts basil, chives, and parsley
Tarragon
Drop Biscuit
Honestly, this is the method I use when I just want to make a quick biscuit and don't have time to roll it out.
For drop biscuits, use a full cup of milk instead of three-quarters. The dough will be looser and wetter than the rolled version. Stir just until it comes together, drop it by 2 or 3 tablespoons (depending on how big you want them) onto an ungreased pan, and bake at the same temperature for about 15 minutes, until golden.
Plate biscuits for presentation. As you can see, I like to bake my biscuits very brown and crisp. With the butter brushed on top, it gives the biscuits a very lovely color.
I do hope that you love this recipe as much as my family does. It has been a staple for many years and will continue to be for many more.
Design with the Heart™
À bientôt,
Mary
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