Old Fashioned Scratch Biscuits

Homemade biscuits are one of my favorite breakfast items, next to bacon that is, and frozen and canned biscuits just don't cut the mustard, for me anyway. Biscuits are one of those things that are very easy to make, as well as, very easy to mess up. So I thought I'd begin the recipe with what not to do.

Here are the most common mistakes people make when preparing biscuits:

• If you don't add enough shortening or enough baking powder or if you use old baking powder, you'll notice that your biscuits take forever to brown and they will be hard or tough.

Note: Never use old baking power, as it looses it potency. You can freeze your baking powder to make it last longer. By old Baking Powder, I mean the container has been opened for more than 2 months.

• If you add too much shortening, your biscuits will be crumbly.

• If you knead the dough, your biscuits will not rise properly and will be hard or tough. 

Now that you know what not to do, you can begin the recipe with the confidence they will turn out great. 

Note: The reason some ingredients say Approximately is because making biscuits is as much an art as it is technique and exact measurements of some ingredients just can't be done, as environmental influences, like humidity, can effect the proportions.

Note: These biscuits reheat very well, either by cutting in half and using a toaster or in a toaster-oven. You could even use your big oven, but that seems like a lot of trouble to heat 1 biscuit.

Note: You can make the biscuit dough in large batches, cut your biscuits out, place them on a greased cookie sheet, and freeze them off. Once frozen, the biscuits will pop right off the cookie sheet, because we greased it, and put them in freezer bags. When your ready to cook them, you can go right from the freezer into the oven. Believe me, your homemade frozen biscuits are 1000 times better than any store bought biscuit. So, get the family together and have a biscuit making day, then enjoy fresh biscuits at breakfast or dinner for weeks.


Note: Remember, ingredients to this recipe are cheap so it is cheap to practice. Varying the proportions of the ingredients change the texture of the biscuits. So practice until you get a feel for how to make the type of biscuit you like. 

Note: As always  feel free to play with the recipe and make it your own. You can add shredded cheddar cheese or some goat cheese and bacon bits. You can add a cup of sugar and you'll get shortbread, then just add some strawberries and bam, the breakfast of champions. You get the idea, get creative.

Makes about 10 large biscuits

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time 10 minutes, or less.

Ingredients:

• Approximately 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
• 2 Level Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 Heaped Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• Approximately ½ Cup Shortening (Note: For some reason, the cheaper the shortening, the better the biscuits. You can also use Lard.)
• Approximately ½ Cup of Whole Milk or Buttermilk
• 1 Heaped Teaspoon Sugar (optional)
• ½ Stick of Melted Unsalted Butter

Tools needed:

• Large Cutting Board
• Chef's knife
• ½ Sheet Pan or Cookie Sheet
• Measuring Spoons
• Bench Scraper
• Brush

Pre-Heat Oven to 450 Degrees

Scoop out your baking powder.

Note: If you ever wondered why the opening to baking powder containers are not round, it is because you use the flat side to "Level" your spoons. Pretty ingenious if you ask me.





Add all the dry ingredients into a 1 gallon sealable bag and shake and manipulate until the contents are thoroughly mixed.

Note: You could also accomplish this in a bowl with a whisk, but I like to use a bag, because then I have a pre-floured freezer bag to freeze off the biscuits I'm not immediately going to use.

Pour the dry ingredients onto a cutting board and make a ring, with walls high enough to contain liquid.

Add the shortening and some of the milk.

Using one finger, begin circling around at the edge of the wall, dragging small amounts of flour into the milk.

Note: be carful not to damage the integrity of the wall by getting to enthusiastic or you'll release the liquid all over your counter.

Note: You do not want the shortening to become homogenized. You want small lumps to remain in the finished dough. This helps leaven the biscuits and makes them light and fluffy.

The process continues and as the milk is absorbed, you add more.

If your ring gets to spread out, you can use a bench scraper, or in my case a flat wooden spoon, to nudge your flour ring to a smaller diameter.

Note: Do note add too much milk. You want to add just enough to bring the dough together. It is better to leave flour on the cutting board and have a smaller ball of dough, than add to much liquid where more flour would have to be kneaded in.

Once all the milk has been added, use your bench scraper to gently crate a ball of dough.

Note: DO NOT KNEAD the dough as you want to leave shortening lumps throughout.

Note: Dough should be moist, but not sticky to the touch.

Once your dough is made, you can cut into even pieces with a chef's knife. You can spend time making your biscuits perfect and round, but I like to leave mine rustic and handmade looking.

Dip some shortening out on a paper towel.

Use to grease the sheet pan.

Place biscuits on the highest rack in your oven. This will help ensure the bottoms of the biscuits don't burn before the tops are golden brown.

Bake about 10-12 Minutes.

About 2 Minutes before the biscuits are done, I like to brush my biscuits with some melted, unsalted butter.

Enjoy.