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Anybody else tried this recipe with any degree of success? I did this morning and ended up with a big sticky mess. Even though the egg + milk = 3/4 of a cup, does the size of the egg matter? I made biscuits yesterday with a recipe that called for 1/2 the fats and 1/4 more milk, no egg and the same amount of dry ingredients. I'm not understanding why the dough turned out fine (they cooked a little more crumbly than I preferred but not real sticky out of the bowl) and this one ended up so sloppy.
I learned to make wonderful flaky biscuits years ago while working in a restaurant - this is what I was told, and it has always worked for me...........Only mix until everything is moistened, do NOT overmix. Also, keep the dough very sticky, put flour down on the counter where you are rolling them out, and that additional flour will add to the dough. I never use a rolling pin, just dump it out on the counter, level to the thickness desired with your hand, and cut.
Overmixing is most often the reason biscuits are dry and crumbly.
"Live your life in such a way, that, when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders, and says.... "Oh no, she's awake.........."
My biscuit recipe makes about 14 biscuits and calls for 2 cups flour like your's does. However, your method must be different than the traditional biscuit method that looks like this: Step 1: Mix together the dry ingredients. Step 2: Cut in the cold butter until crumbly and mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Step 3: Stir in the liquid (milk) until moistened. I think you should try omitting the shortening and cutting in at least 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup cold butter. You do this by cutting the butter in pats and breaking apart the butter with your hands. At the end, the mixture should look crumbly. I also add 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter to my biscuit recipe, not sure what it does though. I bake my biscuits at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Hope I helped!
Cooks Illustrated has an fantastic buttermilk drop biscuit recipe that I always use. It uses a ton of melted butter plus the buttermilk. It posted on Serious Eats at http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/cooks-illustrated-best-drop-biscuits-recipe.html
Kristin Williams
www.kristinsfoodisart.com
Touch of Grace Biscuits
The secret to these soft biscuits is a very wet dough, dropped into flour for ease of handling, then packed into a cake pan.
Nonstick cooking spray2 cups self-rising, low-protein flour, such as White Lily, Martha White or Red Band1/4 cup sugar1/2 teaspoon salt4 tablespoons shortening or lard2/3 cup cream1 cup buttermilk (approximate; see directions)1 cup all-purpose low-protein flour, for shaping2 tablespoons butter, meltedMakes 12 to 14 biscuits.Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and arrange one shelf slightly below the center of the oven. Spray an 8- or 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.In a large mixing bowl, stir together the self-rising flour, sugar and salt. Work the shortening or lard in with your fingertips until there are no large lumps. Gently stir in the cream, then the buttermilk. (It may take less than 1 cup of buttermilk, or if you are using a higher protein flour, It may take more.) The dough should not be soupy, but should be wet and resemble cottage cheese.Spread the all-purpose flour on a plate or pie pan. With a medium-size ice cream scoop or spoon, place three scoops of dough well apart in the flour.Sprinkle flour gently over each scoop. Flour your hands, then pick up a dough ball, gently shape it into a round, shaking off excess flour, and place it in the prepared cake pan. Continue shaping biscuits the same way, placing each biscuit up tight against its neighbor in the pan, until the dough is used. Place pan in the oven and bake until lightly browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Brush with melted butter, invert pan onto one plate, then back onto another to turn biscuits right side up.With a knife or spatula, cut quickly between the biscuits to make them easy to remove. Serve immediately.(Leftover biscuits can be reheated by wrapping in aluminum foil and placing in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.)Recipe from "CookWise" by Shirley Corriher (Morrow, 1997). Reprinted in the Free Lance Star newspaper, Feb 21, 2001.
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Shirley Corriher is the food scientist that appeared on some episodes of Alton Brown's show, Good Eats on the Food Network.Shirley Corriher Making Biscuits on YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7baqgejDqfU
To make a lighter flour (similar to White Lily), for each cup of regular all-purpose flour, replace 2 Tablespoons of flour with cornstarch. (1 cup lightened all-purpose flour = 14 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp cornstarch.)To make self-rising flour, add 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp table salt to each cup of flour.
Old cooking measurements: drop, pinch, dash, dessert-spoonful, salt-spoonful, size of a walnut, size of an egg, teacupful, coffee-cupful, wine-glassful, tumblerful, Handful.