Just made these this morning - from Alton Brown. Southern Biscuits Recipe : Alton Brown : Recipes : Food Network Delicious!! It was my first attempt at making biscuits, and they came out nice and fluffy with great texture. Whipped up some honey butter to go with it, and had some Bacon Jam on hand as well. Does anyone have any go to biscuit recipes?
Fresh baked biscuits are about as good as it gets. I've tried AB's recipe, and some others (difference is mainly the use of butter, lard or shortening) and for some reason they just don't seem to rise very much. Instead of tall and fluffy they're more dense. Still very good - my specialty is serving them with country gravy, sometimes with crab meat instead of sausage - just not as good as I imagine they could be. Maybe I'm overmixing? Might have to try a batch tomorrow morning...
Kurt - try making popover biscuits. You'll get a rise out of the airy taste of heaven. As it happens - this basic recipe is also from Alton Brown Basic Popover Recipe : : Recipes : Food Network
Make sure your baking powder/soda is fresh. They have a shelf like of like a month! Make sure the butter/lard is very cold. Alton says to fold the the dough a few times to flatten out the fat and create layers, while others swear by barely bringing the dough together. I used Alton's method but made sure the dough stayed cold and popped it back in the fridge a couple times. Also, I used a 9" round - greased, where all of the biscuits touched. Best of luck! I had about 5 of them
Alton Brown's Beer Bread is great too! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO2uXwSfbVQ]Beer Bread-Food Network - YouTube[/ame]
I used to make beer bread & take to work just to make my director squirm over everyone drinking on the job. Good stuff esp w/ honey.
Dropped Biscuits from Joy of Cooking 2 cups flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons butter 3/4 cup milk Butter or milk to brush on the biscuits before baking (optional) Preheat the oven to 450F. 1. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. 2. Cut the butter into approximately tablespoon size pieces, and add it to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender cut the butter into the flour until the largest pieces of butter are approximately the size of peas. As with pie dough, it is critical that the butter not melt during this step (or later). 3. Add the milk and stir to mix. 4. Once the milk is mixed in, knead the dough in the bowl approximately 5-10 times. This can be very quick and simple kneading. 5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll (or just pat) the dough until it is approximately 3/4" thick (or the thickness you prefer; I like thick biscuits). 6. Cut the dough into whatever size biscuits you want. 7. Arrange the biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes (or until the tops and bottoms are nicely browned). Brush the biscuits with butter or milk before baking to enhance browning. 8. Serve hot, preferably with lots of butter and honey. Notes: If you don't want to bother with the kneading and rolling, you can make drop biscuits instead. To do this, increase the volume of milk to 1 cup, which makes the dough softer. Spoon this dough straight onto the baking sheet (~1-2 tablespoons of volume per biscuit) and bake for ~12 minutes. The biscuits are smaller and don't have as much flaky internal surface area to spread with butter, but they are faster and easier to make.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLo6r65pNss]How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits - Easy Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe - YouTube[/ame]
