Perfect buttermilk biscuit

12 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
½ cup shortening
2¼ cup flour
2½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cup buttermilk

Directions

Place shortening in small plastic food bag. Flatten shortening between plastic sheets so it is thin and return to freezer. This allows shortening to become hard enough to break, into tiny pieces when added to dry ingredients.

Tear 2 pieces wax paper about 15 inches long and place on counter, Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt onto wax paper. Place empty sifter on top of bare sheet of wax paper, lift sheet of wax paper holding sifted dry ingredients by sides and pour through sifter, sifting onto bare wax paper. Sift back and forth 3 times, then sift once more into large mixing bowl.

Remove shortening from freezer. Cut into small bits, about ¼-inch square. Drop shortening bits into bowl of dry ingredients and, using fingertips, lightly rub shortening and flour together, occasionally tossing flour mixture so you touch all particles of shortening with flour. When mixture has bits of flour-covered shortening throughout, begin adding buttermilk. Using fork, add buttermilk, lightly stirring to mix with dry ingredients.

Cover board or surface with dusting of flour. Gather sticky mass of dough and place on floured surface. Dust hands with flour and gently knead dough, adding enough flour only to make dough manageable. Pat dough with hands or roll with floured rolling pin into round ½-inch thick. Using 2-inch cutter, cut out biscuits and place touching each other in 3 rows, in center of greased baking sheet. Place on middle rack of 425-degree oven and bake 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and serve hot or warm.

Makes 19 (2-inch round) biscuits.

***NOTE::By Marion Cunningham

Thanks to Eula Mae Dore, a great Southern cook from Avery Plantation, La., I've learned to make the best Buttermilk Biscuits I've ever had.

Eula Mae says a good biscuit is one of the best things to have on hand for quick meals. She uses them in emergencies to make simple sandwiches filled with scraps of ham or cheese and serves them with pickles and a small salad. For dessert, she warms a biscuit or two and makes a shortcake with fresh fruits or berries. She has convinced me that you can't have too many biscuits on hand.

Eula Mae learned to cook and bake from her grandmother, not from cookbooks, and the artfulness of her preparation was a joy to watch.

Here are some of her biscuit-making tips: + First go out and replace your baking powder, unless you bought it within the last four months. More baking flops occur from old, tired baking powder than from any other cause. And don't rely on the old test of checking the freshness of baking powder by putting a spoonful in a glass of water to see if it fizzes. Baking powder, like a carbonated drink, can fizz a little and still be almost flat.

Buying new baking powder costs very little when you consider the cost of baking failures.

+ Next, Eula Mae insists that sifting the dry ingredients four times is the reason her biscuits are perfect. I tested the recipe sifting and not sifting and, indeed, sifting does make a slightly higher, more tender biscuit.

+ After you cut the biscuit dough, put the pieces on a baking sheet upside down. This ensures a taller, lighter biscuit by making sure any edges crimped by the pressure of the cutting don't interfere with the rise. (The French use the same trick when making puff pastry.)

+ The tip that helped me the most was using less flour than usual.

Eula Mae's dough was soft and sticky. She handled it gently, dusting her hands and the dough with only enough flour to make the dough manageable. The result was a lighter biscuit.

Related recipes