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!!

 

 

 



"Best of Summer" Pie and My Favorite Pie Crust Recipe

Since Summer seems to be far from over here in San Diego, I was inspired this weekend to take some of my favorite Summer fruit (peaches, nectarines and blueberries) and bake them into a pie. For me, pie is the ultimate Summer dessert. It's relatively easy to make, portable (take it to a party, barbecue or potluck) and you just feel good eating it!

This also gives me the perfect opportunity to share my favorite pie crust recipe with you. I've tested several pie crust recipes - all butter, all shortening, a combination of butter and shortening, but to me the all butter recipe wins hands down. You just can't beat the taste of butter. Butter really is better. While some may believe you need shortening to achieve the flaky texture that everyone loves, you really don't as long as you remember the 3 important rules for good pie crust - keep your ingredients cold, don't overwork your dough and use proper techniques. After a lot of testing, this recipe and method from Inspired Taste (via Cooks Illustrated) worked best for me. I love that it's made in the Food Processor which gives you consistent results. When it comes to research, you really can't beat Cooks Illustrated. They really get behind the science of why certain recipes and techniques work and they do all the research for you!

Click here for my favorite pie crust recipe.

 

Check out all the marbling in the dough...when the heat from the oven hits the moisture from the butter, it creates steam which results in a flaky c.rust

 

 

Now on to this delicious pie. The combination of peaches, nectarines and blueberries really is a winner, but feel free to use your favorite Summer fruit. The crust, as promised, is golden, buttery and flaky. I hope you'll give this "Best of Summer" Pie recipe a try!

 

 

"Best of Summer" Peach Nectarine Blueberry Pie
3 large peaches, peeled and sliced into 1/4" slices
2 large nectaries, peeled and sliced into 1/4" slices
3/4 cup fresh blueberries, washed and dried
1/4 cup brown sugar*
2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Zest and juice from half of a fresh lemon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 double crust pie crust
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water)
Sugar in the Raw for sprinkling on crust
* increase amount of brown sugar if your fruit isn't very sweet

Directions:

Place all of the fruit into a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss with a rubber spatula to coat. Add the lemon zest and juice and toss again. Set aside. Tip: Don't use fruit that is overly ripe or it will get too mushy during baking. Adding fresh lemon zest and juice to fruit fillings brightens the flavor of the fruit

Crack the egg into a small bowl or ramekin. Add 1 tablespoon cold water and whisk with a fork to combine. Set aside.

Roll out one disk of pie dough on a well floured surface. Carefully place into pie pan. Arrange the fruit mixture on top. Make sure the fruit is distributed as evenly as possible. Tuck the small chunks of butter into the filling.

Roll out the top crust and place on top of the fruit filling. Trim if needed, then fold under the edges of the bottom crust and crimp to seal and create a decorative border.

Place the pie in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Tip: This gives the dough time to chill and relax.

While the pie is chilling, preheat oven to 400f and place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to preheat it. Tip:  Preheating the baking sheet helps to bake the bottom crust. No soggy bottoms here!

After 15 minutes, remove the pie from the refrigerator and brush lightly and evenly with egg wash. Sprinkle crust with sugar and cut a few vent holes in the top. Tip: Brushing with egg wash and sprinking with sugar helps to create a golden crust and add sweetness and texture.

Place the pie on the preheated baking sheet in the oven. Bake at 400f for 15 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350. Bake for another 45-50 minutes or until filling is hot and bubbly. Cover the edges of the pie crust with stripes of foil or a baking shield if the edges start to get too brown before it's ready to remove from the oven.

Remove from oven and allow to cool at least an hour and a half before slicing. This gives the filling time to thicken.

Store at room temperature for 1 day or lightly covered in the refrigerator for 2 days.