Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
2 1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
Directions
Place shortening in small plastic food bag. Flatten shortening between
plastic sheets so it is thin and return to freezer. This allows
shortening to become hard enough to break, into tiny pieces when
added to dry ingredients. Tear 2 pieces wax paper about 15 inches
long and place on counter, Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda,
sugar and salt onto wax paper. Place empty sifter on top of bare
sheet of wax paper, lift sheet of wax paper holding sifted dry
ingredients by sides and pour through sifter, sifting onto bare wax
paper. Sift back and forth 3 times, then sift once more into large
mixing bowl. Remove shortening from freezer. Cut into small bits,
about 1/4-inch square. Drop shortening bits into bowl of dry
ingredients and, using fingertips, lightly rub shortening and flour
together, occasionally tossing flour mixture so you touch all
particles of shortening with flour. When mixture has bits of
flour-covered shortening throughout, begin adding buttermilk. Using
fork, add buttermilk, lightly stirring to mix with dry ingredients.
Cover board or surface with dusting of flour. Gather sticky mass of
dough and place on floured surface. Dust hands with flour and gently
knead dough, adding enough flour only to make dough manageable. Pat
dough with hands or roll with floured rolling pin into round 1/2-inch
thick. Using 2-inch cutter, cut out biscuits and place touching each
other in 3 rows, in center of greased baking sheet. Place on middle
rack of 425-degree oven and bake 12 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Remove from oven and serve hot or warm. Makes 19 (2-inch round)
biscuits. ***NOTE::By Marion Cunningham Thanks to Eula Mae Dore, a
great Southern cook from Avery Plantation, La., I've learned to make
the best Buttermilk Biscuits I've ever had. Eula Mae says a good
biscuit is one of the best things to have on hand for quick meals.
She uses them in emergencies to make simple sandwiches filled with
scraps of ham or cheese and serves them with pickles and a small
salad. For dessert, she warms a biscuit or two and makes a shortcake
with fresh fruits or berries. She has convinced me that you can't
have too many biscuits on hand. Eula Mae learned to cook and bake
from her grandmother, not from cookbooks, and the artfulness of her
preparation was a joy to watch. Here are some of her biscuit-making
tips: + First go out and replace your baking powder, unless you
bought it within the last four months. More baking flops occur from
old, tired baking powder than from any other cause. And don't rely on
the old test of checking the freshness of baking powder by putting a
spoonful in a glass of water to see if it fizzes. Baking powder, like
a carbonated drink, can fizz a little and still be almost flat.
Buying new baking powder costs very little when you consider the cost
of baking failures. + Next, Eula Mae insists that sifting the dry
ingredients four times is the reason her biscuits are perfect. I
tested the recipe sifting and not sifting and, indeed, sifting does
make a slightly higher, more tender biscuit. + After you cut the
biscuit dough, put the pieces on a baking sheet upside down. This
ensures a taller, lighter biscuit by making sure any edges crimped by
the pressure of the cutting don't interfere with the rise. (The
French use the same trick when making puff pastry.) + The tip that
helped me the most was using less flour than usual. Eula Mae's dough
was soft and sticky. She handled it gently, dusting her hands and the
dough with only enough flour to make the dough manageable. The result
was a lighter biscuit.
Servings: 12 servings
Perfect Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beverages; Bread; Breads
The History of Recipes
Recipes as an idea can be observed back into the distant past, in truth as far back into history as ancient Egypt, and potentially, even further back. However, these, early recipes were just simple hieroglyphic recipes for meal preparation.
In an interesting twist, the most ancient recipe found, according to experts in ancient history are a few ancient tablets in Sumerian which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel blissful. As we move into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius assembled some documents which described recipes enjoyed by wealthy roman citizens. In his works, Apicius tells us how the meals were separated into hors d`oeuvres, main course and dessert, something that is very familiar to us today. This early Roman chef informs us how the cooks of his times were skilled in the use of many different spices and herbs, including a few you will know such as thyme, fennel and asafoetida. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, there are a couple of interesting cookery books which appeared in the fourteenth century ; a book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these books are unconnected to the curry that appears on menues today, but rather accounts of the types of food cooked for the rich and powerful of those days. In the 15th century, the Crusaders brought back many new foods and herbs from the East, including spices like rosemary and coriander. The introduction of these new foods and spices created a torrent in publications on food, some of which still exist in private cookery archives. Over the next few hundred years, the powerful families of Europe tried to serve the most exotic meals, and as a result the best chefs and their recipe collections increased in prestige. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that fine cookery and recipe publications really came of age. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collating, testing, and publishing recipes for their fellow cooks to enjoy. When we get to the 1900s, recipe publications were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of increased literacy, people having increased leisure time and a general increase in wealth. |
We hope you enjoy this Perfect Buttermilk Biscuit recipe.
