Country Biscuits

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100% would make this recipe for Country Biscuits again.

This is the way I saw biscuits being made by my maternal grandma. She didnt mind getting her hands messy to make biscuits properly. And of course, she wouldn't be caught using any old cake pan. To make biscuits, you have to use a biscuit pan. Her biscuit pan was a special square cast iron skillet that was used for nothing else except biscuits. These are some great biscuits for breakfast or supper. They are best eaten warm, and their mild flavor tastes even better when spread with butter, jam or honey.

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Country Biscuits Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (preferably White Lily), sifted	3 ounces unsalted butter (3/4-stick), very cold, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon baking powder (preferably Rumford)	1 cup low-fat yogurt, cold
1 tablespoon baking soda	1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions for Country Biscuits

In large bowl, sift together 1 3/4 cups flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt.. Using your fingertips, gently rub butter into sifted dry ingredients until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (Don't let your fingertips touch, and the faster the better, so the fats don't melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in cold yogurt. Mix with hands just until dough comes together. the dough should be very wet and sticky.

Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup flour on a board or counter. Dip your hands into the flour, then turn dough onto floured counter and work in only enough flour to make it manageable. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Cut out 2-inch rounds with a floured cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough, no twisting. Place on unlined non-stick baking pan about an inch apart. Dough trimmings should be reformed to 1-inch thick, working it as little as possible and continue cutting biscuits until dough is used. (Biscuits from second pass will not be quite as light as those from first.) Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 425 degrees F.

Brush tops of biscuits with heavy cream and bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden on top.

Makes about 12 biscuits.

Main Ingredient: GrainsCuisine: American-South

Ingredient Insight - look inside this recipe

All-Purpose Flour

Baking Powder

Baking soda

Butter

Cream

Salt

Yogurt

Bake Flour Butter Yogurt Cream Quick Bread Biscuits Baking powdr Baking soda Brunch Breakfast Bread American-South Grains

for flavor and categorization

[I made edits to this recipe.]

sgrishka
on May 11 2007 5:29PM

[I made edits to this recipe.]

sgrishka
on May 11 2007 4:50PM

The secret to these and most other biscuits is starting with a very wet dough, then dipping your hands in flour and, working very quickly, adding just enough flour for the biscuits to hold together. Sifting the flour makes the biscuits even lighter. Butter tastes much better than vegetable shortening in this recipe, and nowadays they say its better for you. Resist the urge to add more flour to the dough-the wetter the dough, and the less handling, the more tender the biscuit. Grandma always used what she called, "soft flour". I never knew what that was...I learned later, she was using White Lily flour. White Lily flour is milled only from soft red winter wheat and is less dense and lower in gluten than flours milled from hard summer wheat. My grandma never made round biscuits. For less work, less waste and less handling of the dough, she would pat the dough into a square, then cut into square shaped biscuits with a thin sharp knife dipped in flour. They fit quite nicely in her square biscuit pan. [I posted this recipe.]

sgrishka
on May 11 2007 4:46PM