The Biscuit Clinic

We spent a year in “Biscuit Clinic,” beginning in the winter of 2016. Cold weather, long walks and nostalgia led us there.

We tried a variety of recipes, methods, and flavors, surfing through a global collective no one’s grandmother imagined. Our social media friends responded with strong opinions about the best flour, baking pan, and other “secrets.” They sent us photos and their own treasured recipes, one even arriving via an appropriately old-fashioned way: in the mail!

This collective adventure rendered many discoveries. (See our Best Biscuit Tips) Mainly, we learned that while recipes, preferences and results vary, what you can count on is a high level of interest when you’re in the kitchen because everyone loves biscuits!

Here are a few of our favorites from our year-long project.

Pastor Jay’s Never Fail Biscuts

Pastor Jay Notes

• With practice, you’ll learn how “wet” or “dry” the dough should be. 
• When you cut the dough you will be determining how large and how fluffy the biscuits will be. If you leave the dough thick they will rise pretty high and be fluffy on the inside. If you leave the dough thin, they will not rise as high, but then will still be tender on the inside.
• Be sure to use fresh flour and baking powder to insure your biscuits will rise.
• With practice, you’ll learn how “wet” or “dry” the dough should be. 
• When you cut the dough you will be dtermining how large and how fluffy the biscuits will be. If you leave the dough thick they will rise pretty high and be fluffy on the inside. If you leave the dough thin, they will not rise as high, but then will still be tender on the inside.
• Be sure to use fresh flour and baking powder to insure your biscuits will rise.

Carla Waters sent us this recipe, which she says were a favorite of the women of Fairburn UMC. Carla describes Fairburn’s former pastor Jay Hodges as a “good Southern man.” We all love a man who cooks, right?

• 2 cups White Lily self-rising flour
• ½ stick margarine
• (or ½ cup Crisco Butter Flavor)
• ½ tsp. Baking powder
• 1 cup milk or 1 ¼ cup buttermilk

1. Measure out 2 cups of flour, mix in the baking power and cut in the margarine unitl coarse, like little BBs of butter.
2. Take some time to do this well.
3. Add milk and stir until a dough has been formed that follows itself around the bowl.
4. If the dough is too dry, add milk a tablespoon at a time.
5. If it is too wet, sprinkle a little flour on top stir it in.
6. With floured hands, work the dough on a floured surface.
7. Do not knead the dough, but fold it over on itself a couple of times.
8. If the dough is sticky, roll in flour until workable.
9. Press dough flat with hands to about ½-inch thick.
10. Cut with a biscuit cutter or drinking glass with a thin rim.
11. Flour the cutter and press through the dough, but to not twist the cutter to release it. Rather, shake the dough loose from the cutter.
12. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet.
13. Bake between 475 and 500 for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
14. This recipes makes 12-15 biscuits.

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

The method is not your great grandmother’s method but the ingredients certainly are the same. We’re employing a tool Grandma didn’t have — a food processor. This recipe is adpated from Food.com and includes tips we learned in Biscuit Clinic.

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board (White Lily flour really does make your biscuits better)
• 1?4 tsp. baking soda
• 1Tbsp. baking powder (use one without aluminum)
• 1tsp. kosher salt or 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, very cold
• 1 cup buttermilk (approximate)

1. Preheat your oven to 450°F.
2. Combine dry ingredients in food processor bowl.
3. Cut butter into chunks and pulse a few times until consistence resembles coarse meal.
4. Pour coarse mixture into a mixing bowl.
5. Add buttermilk and mix JUST until combined.
6. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk. It should be quite wet.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured board.
8. Very gently pat (do NOT roll with a rolling pin) the dough out until it’s about 1/2” thick.
9. Fold the dough about five times, the gently press to 1-inch thick.
10. Use a round cutter to cut into rounds. (You can gently knead the scraps together and make a few more, but they won’t be nearly as good as the first ones.)
11. Place biscuits on a cookie sheet. If you like soft sides, place them touching. For “crusty” sides, place about 1 inch apart. These will not rise as high as the biscuits placed close together.
12. Bake about 8-11 minutes, until beautifully light golden brown on top and bottom.
13. Do not over bake.

Cream Cheese Biscuits

We discovered this recipe from Chez CateyLou at chezcateylou.com. Frozen ingredients and using the food processor are key. We even put the buttermilk in the freezer for a while before preparing. This would make a good “dinner” biscuit.

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups cake flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• ¾ tsp. Baking soda
• 4 oz. cream cheese, cut into ½ -inch pieces and frozen for half an hour
• 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. buttermilk

1. Heat oven to 450.
2. Mix dry ingredients well.
3. Pour into food processor and add cream cheese and butter, pulsing until mixture is coarse. Pour into a mixing bowl and gradually stir in buttermilk.
4. Turn dough onto a floured surface and fold gently onto itself a few times then pat into a ¾ -inch sheet.
5. Use desired size cookie cutter.
6. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown.

Best Biscuit Tips

• The key to really great biscuits is not in the ingredients, but in making the dough, which should be handled as little as possible. Overworking your dough will produce tough biscuits. Ligthly pat the dough out with your hands. Rolling with a rolling pin is a guaranteed way to over stimulate the gluten, resulting in a tougher biscuit.
• The colder the ingredients, the better your biscuit, which is another reason to handle the dough as little as possible. Freezing your key fats — butter, shortening, cream cheese — in small chunks works well. It’s even a good idea to freeze your bowls and utensils. A food processor produces superior biscuits because the ingredients stay colder and there’s less chance of over mixing the dough.
• When using a biscuit cutter, cut straight down and pull it straight up from the dough. Twisting causes the sides to seal and inhibits flaky layers.
• For softer, fluffier biscuits, place dough so that each biscuit touches all the biscuits around it.
• For crispier edges on your biscuits, place apart, leaving air to breathe around each disc of dough.
• Flour matters. White Lily is the fiercely-defended favorite. Southerners will go to war with you about this. A cast iron skillet makes the best baking pan.
• Lard is not illegal and it makes a great biscuit!
• “Serve warm.” We see this at the end of  many biscuit recipes. Does anyone really need to be told this? 🙂

Biscuit Bread Pudding

Biscuits are great when they are fresh!  Not so much when they begin to be stale.  This delicious bread pudding makes sure no biscuit is left behind, and it’s great for breakfast or dessert! Freeze your day-old biscuits until you have enough for this recipe. (Or make a batch and hide them!

• 12 full sized stale biscuits, or 20 mini biscuits 
• 2 cups 1% low fat milk or plain almond milk
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup real maple syrup
• ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1 apple, coarsely grated (peeled or unpeeled, as you prefer)
• 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
• TOPPING:
• 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. real maple syrup
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

1. In a large bowl, crumble biscuits.
2. Add remaining cake ingredients. (Mixture will be pretty soupy.)
3. Let it set for at least an hour or overnight to allow the biscuits mixture to absorb the liquids.
4. Preheat the oven to 350.
5. Pour mixture into a greased baking dish (2 quarts) and bake for 20 minutes.
6. While baking, combine the topping ingredients until crumbly.
7. Remove cake from oven and top with crumble topping.
8. Return to the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Sabrina’s Camper Biscuit

Lack of room for equipment or special ingredients sends our friend Sabrina Cooper “back to basics” in her sweet little camper. She pats these three-ingredient delicacies out by hand, adding the traditional  2-knuckle indention in the top. “I’m not sure why you do that,” Sabrina says, “but given how many good southern cooks do it, it must be important so I’m not messing with it!”

• 2 cups White Lily self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup lard, chilled
• 2/3-3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Cut lard into flour until mixture resembles pea-sized lumps.
2. Make a well in the center, pour in buttermilk; stir gently with fork until combined.
3. Turn out onto well-floured surface & knead 4 or 5 times.
4. Pinch off small egg-sized ball & gently pat to 1/2-3/4” thick.
5. Place in a round pan with sides gently touching.
6. Press the top lightly with two knuckles.
7. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light brown.

Judy Suitor’s Angel Biscuits

These things are divine!

• 5 cups of Sifted Self-Rising Flour
• 2 Tbs. of Sugar
• 1 C. of Shortening
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 Pkg. of Dry Yeast dissolved in 
• 5 Tbs. of lukewarm water
• 2 C Buttermilk

1. Sift flour and sugar together; cut in shortening to resemble coarse cornmeal.
2. Add baking soda and dissolved yeast to the buttermilk.
3. Then add the flour mixture.
4. Beat until smooth.
5. Store in the refrigerator or use immediately.
6. Can be stored in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 weeks.
7. Roll and cut like Parkerhouse rolls or biscuits and put melted butter in the fold and on top.
8. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
9. Makes 5 dozen biscuits.

Bacon, Cheddar, and Chive Biscuits

• 7 slices bacon
• 3 cups flour (we used all purpose)
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 

  Cheddar Biscuits

  1 tsp. baking soda

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces or grated (keep very cold or frozen until you use the small pieces)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese 
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp and brown.
3. Transfer to paper towels and drain. Chop and set aside.
4. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
5. Using a food processor, pastry cutter, or fingertips, incorporate the chilled butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
6. Add cheddar cheese, fresh chives, and cooked bacon.
7. Mix to distribute the ingredients evenly.
8. Add buttermilk and stir just until moistened.
9. Using 1/2 cup dough for each biscuit,  drop from measuring cup or ice cream scoop biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing mounds about 2-inches apart. (For cocktail biscuits, turn dough onto floured surface, shape gently, adding flour gradually as needed to reach a firmer dough consistency, and cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter.)
10. Bake until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

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