my friend deb says:

subject: Something to post on your blog?
I was telling my father in law about your really good (and easy) biscuts and I got a craving for them. I went to see if I even had your recipe to make them, but I don’t have it…

not only am i happy to honor this request, but i already have the recipe in easily findable digital form, thanks to the fact that it has been requested by others since i began using gmail.

so no excuses.
biscuits anyone?

recipe makes 10-12 biscuits, depending on how big you cut them

preheat oven to 450.

combine in a good-sized mixing bowl:
scant 2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder (4 tsp. if you’re at a high altitude)
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (it makes them fluffier)
1/2 tsp. salt

cut in, with pastry blender, knives, fork, whatever’s your pleasure, until uniformly crumbly with butter the size of small peas or thereabouts:
1/2 c. butter, cold

make a well in the center and add:
about 2/3 c. cold milk (better less than more)

mix just until it starts to stick together, then use your hands to form a ball and turn it onto a floured surface, kneading a very few times so as to help with the butter distribution but not encourage it in melting.

roll (or pat, i usually just pat) out to about 3/4″ thick, and cut with a biscuit cutter or top of a glass.

place on ungreased baking sheet and bake in your preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.

you may have to add more flour or milk in the balling/kneading phase, depending on how scant your original 2 c. were and such, so adapt as needed.
the keys to a perfect batch (which even i do not always attain), are first to not let the butter get too warm, and then to get the right balance of flour and
milk and not overknead.

the original recipe, which i haven’t had in years, called for a full 2 c. of flour but i often found myself thinking that was too much, so i would add more milk or whatever, but then they would be moist but not flaky, so i started cutting the flour at the beginning and then only adding more if i needed it, and trying
to keep the milk level low enough that i didn’t need to add flour other than to dust the counter and pat it out…it’s kinda just something i feel as i go, which is the main principle of my cooking, so i hope this isn’t all very unhelpful… :)

the final dough should be neither sticky nor stiff, and the best thing i can say is, even though they are not always perfect, they Are always good, so… my best advice is to make them often and enjoy them well.
:)

happy baking.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2007 at 7:24 am and is filed under food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.