Southern Biscuits Recipe

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“United States of Bread,” by Adrienne Kane, offers a dinner rolls recipe as well as a Southern biscuits recipe and homemade crackers recipe, among many others.
“United States of Bread,” by Adrienne Kane, offers a dinner rolls recipe as well as a Southern biscuits recipe and homemade crackers recipe, among many others.
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Look no further than this Southern biscuits recipe, which shows anyone — Southern or otherwise — how to make fresh, steaming, homemade biscuits.
Look no further than this Southern biscuits recipe, which shows anyone — Southern or otherwise — how to make fresh, steaming, homemade biscuits.
9-12 servings SERVINGS

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons (1-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons (1-1/4 ounces) vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • In a medium-size bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together to blend. The mixture should be light and free of lumps.
  • Add the butter and the shortening, and toss gently to coat. With your fingertips, work the fats into the flour mixture, rubbing the larger pieces between your fingers until they are pea-size.
  • Add the buttermilk all at once. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, mix the ingre­dients until they’re just blended and coming together to form a dough. Do not overmix.
  • Empty the dough onto a clean, well-floured work surface. Gently pat the dough out into a rectangle approximately 12 x 8 inches. Lightly flour the surface. Fold the dough into thirds, as if you are folding a letter. Scrape the folded dough from the work surface; if nec­essary, flour the surface again. Once more, pat the dough into a rectangle, flour lightly, and fold into thirds. Finally, pat the dough out to a thickness of approximately 1 inch.
  • With a well-floured 2- or 2-1/2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut biscuits out, and place them on a baking sheet. You may reshape biscuits from the scraps, but they will not rise as high as the first cutting.
  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are a light, golden brown. If you would like, biscuits can be brushed with an additional coating of melted butter. Serve immedi­ately. Homemade biscuits are best eaten the same day that they are baked, but any leftovers can be eaten warm the next day. Simply reheat them in a low 300 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 5 minutes.More vintage bread recipes: Read United States of Bread for a dinner rolls recipe and a homemade crackers recipe.
    Reprinted with permission from United States of Bread © 2014 by Adrienne Kane, Running Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Buy this book from our store: United States of Bread: Our Nation's Homebaking Heritage: From Sandwich Loaves to Sourdough.
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United States of Bread (Running Press, 2014), by Adrienne Kane, contains 75 vintage American bread recipes — everything from yeast breads and quick breads, sweet rolls to bread puddings, and even what to do with dried bread. Included for the novice bread baker are helpful sidebars about fermentation, equipment and flours. For the more experienced baker and history enthusiast is intriguing information on classic American bread-making. The following excerpt from the chapter “Quickbreads” is a Southern biscuits recipe.

Purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: United States of Bread.

Long before there were refrigerated cylinders of mediocre biscuit dough at every supermarket waiting to be popped from their container and tossed into the oven, there were fresh, homemade biscuits. In the South, each woman has her own special recipe, her own process, and her own lore surrounding homemade biscuits. Do you use vegetable shortening or butter; do you roll out the dough or pat it gently with your hands? What about baking powder—how many tablespoons; do you knead it or hardly touch the dough? With so much mythologizing, it’s no wonder that Americans have settled on the mediocrity of a convenience food just to avoid treading on an adamant baker’s toes!

While I appreciate a tale as much as the next woman, I also believe in de-mystifying processes, showing every person (Southern or otherwise) that getting a plate full of steaming homemade biscuits on the table is an achievable goal. So here are a few helpful hints to guide you in making this Southern Biscuit Recipe:

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