Posted here, but rather versatile. Cribbed heavily from The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook by Christopher Kimball, published by America's Test Kitchen. These are not drop biscuits, these are formed.
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter, unsalted (so that you can control just how much salt you want)
3 tbsp solid vegetable shortening (okay, TBH, I use lard)
2/3-3/4 cup buttermilk (I prefer the full fat buttermilk
Basic biscuit method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Combine or sift all dry ingredients, be sure to mix well
Cut the fats into smaller pieces, and cut in with a pastry blender or pulse in a food processor to get the fats cut down into small pea sized pieces
Add buttermilk and gently stir to get a barely combined dough.
Dump onto a floured counter and pat out to a 1/2" thickness. Optionally, I'll pat it down, fold it over, and do this 3 or 4 times for lamination.
Cut with a biscuit cutter, or a bench scraper, and place on a baking sheet (I always line with a sheet of parchment paper, purely optional.)
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Baking time will depend on dough hydration and your oven. They're done when the top crust begins to brown, and the bottom crust should be a nice golden color.
Here's the secret to making good biscuits. If you're working at it, you're doing it wrong, and will probably end up with biscuits that will be on the tough side. I usually get nearly a 2x rise in the oven.
As an observation, I can walk into the kitchen, start the oven, gather tools and ingredients, make the dough, get the biscuits in the oven and everything washed up (with the obvious exception of the baking sheet,) with an elapsed time of 35 minutes.
Variations
Lemon blueberry biscuits
After cutting in the fats, zest half a lemon to the mix and add 1/2 cup of dried blueberries. Stir to combine and distribute evenly through the dry ingredients. Add the juice of half a lemon with the buttermilk.
Ginger lemon biscuits
Add 2 teaspons of ground ginger to the dry ingredients before combining or sifting. After cutting in the fats, zest half a lemon to the mix and add 1/4-1/2 cup of crystallized ginger, stir to combine well. Add the juice of half a lemon with the buttermilk.
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter, unsalted (so that you can control just how much salt you want)
3 tbsp solid vegetable shortening (okay, TBH, I use lard)
2/3-3/4 cup buttermilk (I prefer the full fat buttermilk
Basic biscuit method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Combine or sift all dry ingredients, be sure to mix well
Cut the fats into smaller pieces, and cut in with a pastry blender or pulse in a food processor to get the fats cut down into small pea sized pieces
Add buttermilk and gently stir to get a barely combined dough.
Dump onto a floured counter and pat out to a 1/2" thickness. Optionally, I'll pat it down, fold it over, and do this 3 or 4 times for lamination.
Cut with a biscuit cutter, or a bench scraper, and place on a baking sheet (I always line with a sheet of parchment paper, purely optional.)
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Baking time will depend on dough hydration and your oven. They're done when the top crust begins to brown, and the bottom crust should be a nice golden color.
Here's the secret to making good biscuits. If you're working at it, you're doing it wrong, and will probably end up with biscuits that will be on the tough side. I usually get nearly a 2x rise in the oven.
As an observation, I can walk into the kitchen, start the oven, gather tools and ingredients, make the dough, get the biscuits in the oven and everything washed up (with the obvious exception of the baking sheet,) with an elapsed time of 35 minutes.
Variations
Lemon blueberry biscuits
After cutting in the fats, zest half a lemon to the mix and add 1/2 cup of dried blueberries. Stir to combine and distribute evenly through the dry ingredients. Add the juice of half a lemon with the buttermilk.
Ginger lemon biscuits
Add 2 teaspons of ground ginger to the dry ingredients before combining or sifting. After cutting in the fats, zest half a lemon to the mix and add 1/4-1/2 cup of crystallized ginger, stir to combine well. Add the juice of half a lemon with the buttermilk.
