Monday, July 7, 2014

6 Secrets to Baking Tall, Flaky, Delicious Biscuits

Growing up with a Father who comes from the South often means you have biscuits every Sunday for breakfast. It was no different in our household. While my Mom was known for cooking from scratch, she liked to use Bisquick Baking Mix to make her biscuits. It's a short cut I often used as well when I first started cooking for my family, until I got turned on to homemade biscuits. From that point on, there was no turning back. Sorry Bisquick fans, homemade biscuits are beyond comparison to anything that comes from a box.
 
For years I struggled to make the perfect from-scratch biscuit. I tried recipe after recipe...some using buttermilk, some using regular milk, some with lots of  baking powder others with less, some using all purpose flour others using self-rising....but I was never satisfied. How could I get the tall, flaky, delicious looking biscuits that I've always seen in photos? How could I become a biscuit baking master instead of a biscuit making disaster?
 
Well, I always thought the secret was in the recipe, when actually the secret is in the technique! That's when I unlocked the secrets to making the ultimate homemade biscuits.
 
And voila!! Tall, flaky, beautiful....



1. Always, always, always use cold ingredients. Your butter and milk must be cold. Keep them in the fridge until ready to use.

2. Use a Food Processor. Yep, you heard me. I know a lot of people swear that making them by hand is best, but I've had the best results using a Food Processor.

3. Use the fold technique. That means folding your dough over on each other a few times kind of like a letter. This creates the layers!! But be careful not to overwork or you will heat up the butter in the dough. If, at any point you feel like you've overworked your dough, put it in the fridge for a little while.

4. Use a sharp biscuit cutter! This is an absolute must. A dull biscuit cutter will seal the edges of the dough and prevent rising. For a long time I cut my biscuits using a glass that had a wide rim which I later realized was a no-no.

5. Don't twist when cutting your biscuits! Just press down and lift straight up. If you twist, you're basically sealing the edges which will prevent your biscuits from rising.

6. Don't place your biscuits touching each other. Again, placing the biscuits touching each other may look nice, but you are preventing the biscuits from rising as high as possible.


And there you have it, the secrets I've learned through lots of trial and error. Now go out there and bake some amazing biscuits!! If I can do it, you can too!
 
 
Here's the biscuit recipe I use. It makes 5-6 large biscuits.
 
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk (buttermilk will add a tangy flavor to your biscuits) *you might not use all of the milk
6 tablespoons very cold, unsalted butter cut into tablespoon size pieces
Extra butter & jam or honey for serving with the warm biscuits
 
Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 450
 
Cut the butter into tablespoon size pieces and place back in the fridge
 
Measure the milk or buttermilk and place back in the fridge
 
Place the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the bowl of your food processor and pulse to combine.
 
Sprinkle the butter over the flour and pulse a few times until you have a course meal.
 
Place the flour mixture in a bowl. Pour about 3/4 cup of the milk over the flour and use a rubber spatula to gently combine. A soft dough should form. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more milk around the edges and fold again to combine.
 
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently flatten into a small rectangle then starting at the small end, fold one end over onto the other end and gently flatten.  Repeat this process 3 more times. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
 
After folding, gently flatten the dough to about 1 1/2" thick and cut with a sharp biscuit or cookie cutter. Gently reshape the dough and cut again until you have about 5-6 biscuits.
** the biscuits that are made with the reshaped dough won't be as pretty, but they'll taste just as good
 
Place biscuits about 1" apart into a buttered skillet or onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
 
Bake until golden brown. Remove from the oven and top with butter. Serve immediately with extra butter, honey and/or jam if desired.
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Enjoy!!
 
 
 


53 comments:

  1. No time on the baking? Like to have a general idea

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  2. My recipe (very similar) calls for 10 minutes at 450.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Replies
    1. You shouldn't remove negative comments, makes you look like a fraud

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    2. How can that make her look like a fraud? I don’t think that at all …

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  6. I have struggled with trying to make layered fluffy biscuits for more than 45 years. This was spectacular. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  7. I found the no touch tip interesting as I've always heard place them touching....they can only go one way then. Up. They can not spread out flat then. I can make tall, layered, light and fluffy biscuits with tips that I've figured out over time, but I am definately keeping your tips to try out. Thank you!

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  8. Now that’s what I call mile high biscuits. AND they are beautiful…gotta taste delish!!!! I’m going to try these.

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  9. WHAT TEMPERATURE AND HOW LONG COOKING??

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  10. Wonderful recipe. I don’t have a food processor and they still turned out beautifully

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  11. Got try this technique!

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  12. I guess with this recipe I can use the cook time for the other biscuit recipes I've tried. Thank you for sharing.

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  13. I just stumbled upon this fantastic blog post on baking secrets, and I must say, it's a treasure trove of information! Baking has always been a passion of mine, and I'm constantly on the lookout for tips to improve my skills.
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  14. The "6 Secrets to Baking Tall, Flaky Goodies" you've shared here are invaluable. I've tried a few of these techniques in the past, but I'm excited to experiment with all six secrets to see how they enhance my baked goods.
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  18. I made these for two of my granddaughters and they said it was ‘Like love in a biscuit’! Very good, will use this recipe from now on!

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  19. Great recipe. I used frozen butter, and weighed it. It was flakey and so easy to incorporate. I baked for 12 minutes at 445 convection. They turned out beautifully.

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  21. I just happen to come across this blog on baking tips for biscuits, found it very interesting & never thought about the biscuit cutter, thank you. My recipe that I like the best uses White Lilly Self Rising Flour

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