 Baking biscuits--oh, boy! |  Baking biscuits--pure joy! |
What fun to see photos of our twin grandsons, Jake and Toby, baking biscuits with their dad! They used the recipe from the King Arthur website: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/baking-powder-biscuits-recipe. The result? Delicious!
Biscuits make one think of farmhouse kitchens, enormous country breakfasts, and hot soups and stews, fare for the working man and woman* [*"and woman" added by Amy Houts]. They're unbelievably easy to make, bake in minutes and, if we slow our lives down enough to enjoy them with a leisurely breakfast, savory supper, or cup of afternoon tea, we'll be carrying on a tradition worth keeping.
Biscuits make one think of farmhouse kitchens, enormous country breakfasts, and hot soups and stews, fare for the working man and woman* [*"and woman" added by Amy Houts]. They're unbelievably easy to make, bake in minutes and, if we slow our lives down enough to enjoy them with a leisurely breakfast, savory supper, or cup of afternoon tea, we'll be carrying on a tradition worth keeping.
- 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 to 4 tablespoons sugar, to taste*
- 4 to 6 tablespoons butter or shortening
- 1 cup milk, buttermilk, or water
- *See "tips" below
- Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Mix together the dry ingredients. With two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingertips, cut or rub the butter or shortening in until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.
- Add the liquid all at once, mixing quickly and gently for about 20 seconds until you have a soft dough.
- To make drop biscuits: Drop the dough by the spoonful onto a lightly floured baking sheet; or for tidier shapes, fill the cups of a greased muffin tin about two-thirds full.
- To make cut biscuits: Pat the dough into a rectangle about 3/4" thick. Fold it into thirds like a letter and roll gently with a floured rolling pin until the dough is 3/4" thick again.
- Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter for traditional round biscuits. Or, to avoid leftover dough scraps, cut the dough into squares or diamonds with a bench knife or bowl scraper.
- Bake the biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes, until they're lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and serve warm.
- Substitute 1 cup King Arthur Premium Whole Wheat Flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose, if you wish; or use our pastry flour, unbleached or whole wheat, ideal for biscuits. Biscuits made with pastry flour won't rise quite as high, but they'll be melt-in-your-mouth tender. Experiment with combinations of our pastry and all-purpose flours to work out your favorite combination of "tender and tall."
- Use more or less sugar, depending on taste; obviously, sweeter biscuits are more suitable for desserts, while those with less sugar lend themselves to additions like chives and cheese. Also, for richer biscuits, use the greater amount of butter or shortening; for plainer, lower-fat biscuits, use the lesser amount.
 What a treat! |  Time to eat! |
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