I’m am looking for a recipe for a light airy biscuit, along the line of the ones that come in the tube…can anyone help?
c/o
Making my Tender and Flaky Sweet Biscuit Recipe will help you perfect your biscuit- making skills. Successful biscuit making has as much to do with technique as with the recipe. It’s easy to follow the recipe to the letter but not have the technique needed to master making a flaky, tender biscuit. When done improperly, a hard, dry hockey puck of a biscuit is the result. Biscuit making takes practice and time. Don’t be upset if your first trials are lopsided, they don’t rise as high as you hoped or are dry and not flaky. But, once you have mastered the steps, you will be able to make consistent, flaky and tender biscuits.
Biscuits are usually leavened with baking powder making them part of the quick-bread category. This is the opposite of yeast bread recipes that require kneading to develop the gluten. Biscuits can be made in many ways, but generally are prepared in a certain way so the gluten protein in flour is not developed and the result is a tender and flavorful recipe. The most popular way to prepare biscuits is much like making pie pastry where the solid fat, such as stick butter or shortening, also known as shorteners, is “cut into†the flour and dry ingredients. The purpose of cutting fat into the flour is to break up the fat and expose more surface area so it can be in contact with a greater amount of flour particles to prevent an excess of gluten from forming.
After the fat is worked in, cold heavy cream is added and the recipe is mixed just enough to blend the dry and moist ingredients until the biscuit dough holds together. The dough is quickly kneaded, rolled out and biscuits are cut from the dough with a sharp knife, biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. The dough is baked in a hot, thoroughly preheated oven so it rises quickly and lightly browns. Biscuits do not store well and need to be eaten or served right away.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted cold butter or vegetable shortening
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling tops of the biscuits4 teaspoons Clabber Girl Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup (or more if needed) cold heavy or regular cream, half and half or whole milk, plus extra for brushing the tops of the biscuits
INSTRUCTIONS:
Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425° F. Use a clean, ungreased baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
Prepare the ingredients: Cut cold stick butter into small, evenly sized pieces and refrigerate it for 30 minutes or freeze until cold, about 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
I’ve found that Bisquick works great. The trick
is to not over mix.