Posted on 02/13/2020 4:27:29 PM PST by RoosterRedux
For 25 years in Georgia, I watched my mom make the same batch of six light, fluffy biscuits for breakfast almost every Sunday. Then I moved to New York, never to see a light, fluffy biscuit again. I arrived in the city in 2011, just in time for southern food to get trendy outside its region, and for three years, I bit into a series of artisanal hockey pucks, all advertised on menus as authentic southern buttermilk biscuits.
With every dense, dry, flat, scone-adjacent clump of carbohydrates, I became more distressed. I didnt even realize biscuits could be bad, given how abundant good ones were in the South. Even my mom, a reluctant-at-best cook, made them every week without batting an eyelash. The recipe she used had been on my dads side of the family for at least three generations.
The more bad biscuits I ordered in New York, the clearer it became that there was only one way out of this problem if I ever wanted to have a decent Sunday breakfast again: I had to make the biscuits for myself. I did not anticipate the hurdles of chemistry and the American food-distribution system that stood in my way.
I asked my mom to email me the recipe, and it was three ingredients (self-rising flour, shortening, and buttermilk), mashed together with a fork. Im not an accomplished baker, but I cook frequently, and this was the kind of recipe that had long been used by people without a lot of money, advanced kitchen tools, or fancy ingredients. Confident that I could pull it off, I marched right out and bought the ingredients. The result: biscuits that were just as terrible as all the other ones in New York. Not to be dramatic, but my failure destabilized my identity a little bit. What kind of southerner cant make biscuits?
In subsequent attempts, I tried everything I could think of to get it right. I worried about buttermilk quality, so I bought an expensive bottle at the farmers market, which did nothing. I tried different fat sources, including butter and lard, which made small differences in flavor and texture but still resulted in a shape and density better suited for a hockey rink than a plate. I made sure all of my ingredients were ice-cold when I started mixing, which is a good tip in general, but did not fix my problem. I kneaded the dough more or less, made it wetter or drier. The only thing left was the flour, but I figured it couldnt be thatwasnt self-rising flour the same everywhere? We had just used regular grocery-store flour back home.
Out of ideas, I did what any self-respecting Millennial would do: I Googled it, and then I called my mom, and then I placed an Amazon order.
The one ingredient I took for granted had indeed been the key all along, says Robert Dixon Phillips, a retired professor of food science at the University of Georgia.
(Excerpt) Read more at getpocket.com ...
Thank you. I actually find this very helpful.
https://www.southernkitchen.com/articles/eat/why-southerners-are-obsessed-with-white-lily-flour
Whats so special about this revered Southern flour? Essentially, it all comes down to protein, or lack thereof. White Lily flour is derived from soft winter wheat, which is low in protein and gluten. When a liquid is introduced to flour, the proteins in the flourglutenin and gliadinswell and develop an elasticity that becomes enhanced when worked by hand or machine. Gluten development provides flour-based foods with structure and a toothsome quality, beneficial for foods like French baguettes or homemade pasta that need to hold together. Conversely, biscuits fall under the quick bread category, which are much more soft and tender than their well-kneaded cousins. Even if the amount of kneading or physical work to the dough is minimized, biscuits made from all-purpose flour can still emerge tough and dense.
Works for me. I’m not asking for trouble so I take the easy way out. My mother and one sister made great “baking powder biscuits” without blinking and I was smart enough not to try it!
My late wife was a very good cook but she couldn’t do biscuits. Neither can my Daughter. Now my Grandchildren are excellent on biscuits and any other bread.
“Bojangles makes a pretty decent biscuit.”
We can no longer be friends.
You have a good source down there in Sweetwater.
Dont overmix, break up the shortening in small chunks
Yur welcome.;-)
White Lily is the only flour I use. My Nannie made the best biscuits and pound cake, and she only used White Lily, so I followed her tradition.
I tend to hate city type ham. However things like prosciutto are great. I am from Wisconsin and it is true country ham is impossible to find.
My wife grew up on a farm in Appalachia and has a Masters in Home Economics. She can make some biscuits.
I use Martha White. I can’t make good homemade biscuits like my Mammaw did however. I’ve tried. Mammaw would make and roll them with one hand. Always amazed me. Only found one restaurant (in Memphis) that made them like hers. Hardees is close, but not quite as good. I DO make GREAT cornbread! It’s all in having a properly seasoned cast iron pan
Exactly the same as my mom except she was born in a farmhouse south of Dothan.(almost to Florida)
Her biscuits are legend and are always talked about at family reunions.
Martha White.
It isn’t that difficult.
It also never hurts to experiment with ingredients.
And always smother your biscuits with real butter.
The real answer is that overworked dough = hard biscuits. Kind of like the hots cakes that Lisa made on Green Acres.
“They looked at me and after listening to me talk, one guy said You arent from around here, are you? “
It’s like looking for Scrapple in Texas.
“”Now my Grandchildren are excellent on biscuits and any other bread.””
That’s amazing. My daughter doesn’t even cook - her husband does it all. I guess some men do. A neighbor does it all also as he said his wife cooked for him all his working years so it’s time for him to repay her. I wasn’t so lucky. We’re both retired but I’m the only one who still gets to do the work I always did - cook, clean, bake, shop, laundry etc. I think there should be a movement for wives to be treated better after retiring - can’t think what we’d call it but we definitely have something to complain about!
Been to Bentons quite a bit...Drive down from Greenback...
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