THE BEST BUTTERMILK BISCUITS EVER

 I shared my original recipe for Buttermilk Biscuits a long time ago in a post of several recipes. I had created this blog less than a year so was just getting the hang of creating informative post. When I made some biscuits Saturday morning, I decided to take some pictures so I could share the recipe again with you with pictures.

It took me several years to finally come up with a recipe we really liked. I often see biscuit recipes and look to see if they are the same. (After all there's just amounts that would be different in biscuits.) They will be similar but not the exact same. Over the years I have made changes in the flour I use and sometimes don't worry if the shortening is just a tad bit more. 

Since I use my hands for working in the shortening, I like to get everything out from the beginning so I don't have to keep washing my hands. I have a red plastic cup that fits perfectly in the circles of the pan as the biscuit cutter. I pour a little bit of oil on a saucer to dip the cut biscuit's top and bottom in before placing in the pan. I don't measure the shortening until after I sift the dry ingredients twice and then I press each tablespoon against the side of the bowl and work in each one individually. It's also okay if the shortening isn't in tiny pea-size pieces.

Wayne likes for me to use whole wheat flour. It depends on what brand of whole wheat flour you use as to the outcome of the biscuits. I recently started using Hungarian milled whole wheat flour milled in Denver, CO and I love it. It is finer and not as "sharp" tasting.

I bake my biscuits in a special iron biscuit pan that holds 7 biscuits. It is only used for baking biscuits. If you do not have one (I got mine at Cracker Barrel), you can use a cookie sheet or other biscuit pans. If you like a crusty edge all the way around, space biscuits so they will not touch as they cook. If they touch each other, they will look more like a roll with no edges.

My original recipe made more biscuits so as the boys left home I reduced the ingredients so that the recipe only makes eight 3" biscuits. I will include the larger recipe at the bottom in case you have a bigger family.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

2       cups flour

3       teaspoons baking powder

1/2    teaspoon salt

1/4    teaspoon baking soda

spoonful of sugar

5       tablespoons shortening

1       cup buttermilk

a little oil for dipping

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Sift the dry ingredients two times.

At this point, I get the rest of the ingredients/materials out. (I discuss this above the recipe.) Measure the shortening and work in each tablespoon of shortening individually.

Make a well in the mixture and

pour the buttermilk in and work it in just until dry ingredients are wet. (I tried to take a picture with one clean hand but wasn't successful.)

Dump out on lightly floured work surface and knead just 4 or 5 times. Might need to sprinkle just a little bit of flour on dough if too sticky.

Flatten with fingers to desired thickness. I like thinner biscuits so I flatten to about a half inch, no more. If you like thicker biscuits, you won't get 8 biscuits, but probably 6.

Cut as close as you can so you have less dough to rework. The more you work the dough, the tougher the biscuit will be.

Pat top and then

bottom of the biscuit in the oil and then

place in pan top side up.

The 8th biscuit...

Bake 15 minutes in oven.

Remove and serve. We like to cut in half horizontally and smother them with some butter and homemade jam.

LARGER RECIPE FOR BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

3       cups flour

4-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4    teaspoon salt

3/8    teaspoon baking soda

7-1/2 tablespoons shortening

2       pinches (spoonfuls) sugar