Sunday, November 9, 2008

No Rise Biscuits

Sweet, sweet biscuits how I love you. Dripping in butter and honey, slathered in apple butter, covered in jam, I'll take ya just about anyway I can. My husbands favorite way to eat ya is with sausage gravy. It's his absolute favorite breakfast (which he had this morning, lucky dog) and if you throw a few pound of bacon along with that he'd be one very happy man.

Not being a Southern girl, I don't feel confident about my biscuit making abilities. Oh how I wish I was an expert biscuit maker, but the plain truth is, I am not. I have to work on my biscuits. Since I wanted homemade biscuits to be on my Thanksgiving menu and not wanting to subject my guests to a first time recipe flop, I decided I better get my buns into the kitchen and sharpen up on my biscuit making skills.


After several days searching the food blogs I happened upon this recipe from The Homesick Texan. Texans - biscuits right? Southern girls know how to cook biscuits right? Well I can tell you, yes, yes they do. This recipe was quick and easy and produced a mouth watering biscuit just screaming to be doused in butter and jam (or sausage and gravy if you are like my husband).

I always wondered how people got the biscuits to come part into two flaky pieces so nice and easy, well I had an epiphany re-reading the recipe while I was rolling them out. The dough is folded over before your cut out the biscuits. Well duh...I told you I was no Southern girl.

See the two layers?

Biscuits - recipe from The Homesick Texan
Printable recipe
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of sugar (can add more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of butter, cold (8 tablespoons)
3/4 cup of buttermilk, cream or half-and-half

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Cut the stick of butter into pieces, and work into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs.

Add the liquid, mixing until a bit loose and sticky. Pour dough out on a floured surface, and knead for a minute. Dough should be smooth and no longer wet. You can sprinkle more flour on the surface if you find it’s sticking. Take dough into a ball, and hit it with a rolling pin, turning it and folding it in half every few whacks. Do this for a couple of minutes.

Roll out dough until it’s 1/4 of an inch thick, and then fold it in half. Using a round cutter (can use a glass or a cup if don’t have a biscuit cutter) cut out your biscuits from folded dough. Place on a greased baking sheet close together (so they rise up not out), and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Makes 10-12 biscuits. If you don’t want to roll and cut them out, after kneading and beating the dough you can drop the dough onto the baking sheet with a spoon. They’re not as symmetrical (dropped biscuits are also known as cat head biscuits) but they’re no less delicious.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bread and butter are just my weakness. I feel woozy just looking at these...they are beautiful and it should raise your confidence!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you did a way better job on those than me! yours look beautiful and tall, reminds me I need to keep trying!

Anonymous said...

Lisa, email me for a detailed recipe for The Best Damned Biscuits Evar...

Dana @ Cooking At Cafe D said...

I've never seen the folding-over thing. Cool. Your biscuits look beautiful.

Brooke said...

These look amazing! I've bookmarked this for later and will definitely be trying them.

Anonymous said...

I know this is an old post and I am a southern girl (born and raised in Alabama)and yet I,too,have always wondered how to make my biscuits come apart in two pieces.WHY have I never thought about the dough being folded over??? Now I know,and thank you!:)

Crafty Lady said...

Oh my gosh! I found this recipe on Saturday and made it both Saturday and Sunday. My first batch I turned out when it was still a little too wet. They still came out great, it just took a little longer to work them together. Sunday's batch was PERFECT!

I've always tried to make my Granny's biscuits, flour sifted in the bowl, make a well, add your shortening and then your milk and work flour in a little at a time from the sides of your well. Your dough ball is formed in the well and then you pinch out your dough, pat it into shape and put it in the pan. Despite the fact that this is a little more clean up, I really prefer these biscuits!