Angel Biscuits

[Don Cuevas]

Light, fluffy and tangy.



From Bernard Clayton's “The New Complete Book of Breads”

Ingredients:
4 1/2 -5 cups all purpose white flour
1 pkg dry yeast
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
(I suggest cutting the sugar back to less than 3 Tbs; say, 1 1/2-2, and INCREASING the salt to 2 tsps)
3/4 cup solid white shortening, lard, butter or a combination. I use 1/2 cup shortening and 1/4 cup butter)
2 cups buttermilk. (We can't get buttermilk here, so I subst. SACO powdered buttermilk and the necessary water. That powder has to be pre-dissolved in hot water, then cooled, OR mixed in thoroughly with the dry ingreds and then moistened with the required tepid water.)

1 baking sheet or two, or biscuit pans, lightly greased, or Teflon.

Mixing:
By hand or in a mixer, combine the dry ingreds and then cut in the shortening very finely.
Add the liquid and mix by hand or mixer paddle just long enough to moisten all the dries. The dough will be wet; or should be.
Place in a greased bowl (I use a 1 gallon Zip-loc bag, sprayed with cooking release spray {PAM, for example}, and seal it, leaving some expansion space.) Refrigerate, preferably at least 12 to 48 hours.

On baking day, preheat oven to 400º 20 minutes before baking.

On a well-floured work surface, dump out the fermented and risen dough. Use only what you need and refigerate rest if you like.

Pat or roll out into a rough rectangle, fold in thirds, turn, roll and and fold in 3rds again. Roll out about 1/2 " thick. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

With a floured biscuit cutter, cut straight down and place biscuits on greased baking sheet, either close together for "homey" biscuits or apart for individual biscuits. Check the inside of of one from the middle of the baking pan to be sure it's done.

Optional: brush tops lightly with melted butter. Bake at 400º for 15-17 minutes, or until tops are browned nicely.

[bixaorellana]

I hadn't given any thought to biscuits in some time, and now, thanks to that scrumptious picture, they're occupying the center of my brain.

Also, I'm thinking seriously of changing my handle from Bixa Orellana to Angel Biskits ~~ it definitely has a ring to it.

[Don Cuevas]

My most recent batch came out too light, IMO. I think I'll reduce the amount of yeast.

For the shortening/fats. I uses a misture of lard (from the carnicereia, not packaged stuff) and butter.

Split and toasted, they come out very nicely.

[bixaorellana]

Thanks for that clarification. To be honest, I was turned off by the mention of "solid white shortening" & had trouble imagining you using Crisco.

I'm intrigued that you're thinking of reducing the yeast rather than the baking powder. Would that be for flavor or for texture?

Could yogurt or milk soured with lemon or vinegar be used instead of buttermilk?

[tod2]

Don, thanks so much for the recipe! I have a pint of buttermilk in the refrigerator waiting to be used. I have ATORA vegetable shortening which I use for dumplings and pie crusts so will use that.
I hope my first attempt will be worthy of a photo!

[Deleted]

It's probably my mother's fault that I never liked biscuits, even though I grew up in Biscuit Land. She could not abide by such things compared to French bread. It's true that they are practically the antithesis of each other.

In later years, I have learned that they have their uses, such as sopping up gravy, but that's about all, as far as I am concerned.

It is interesting to note that KFC in France has eliminated biscuits from all of its meal offerings.

[Don Cuevas]

Aug 14, 2012 16:29:43 GMT bixaorellana said:

Thanks for that clarification. To be honest, I was turned off by the mention of "solid white shortening" & had trouble imagining you using Crisco.

I'm intrigued that you're thinking of reducing the yeast rather than the baking powder. Would that be for flavor or for texture?

Could yogurt or milk soured with lemon or vinegar be used instead of buttermilk?

I think that the amount of yeast in the original recipe is possibly excessive, considering that the wettish dough slowly ferments under refrigeration, 12 to 36 hours. Possibly we who live at high altitudes could reduce the chemical leaveners a bit also. THe slow cold fermentation, especially at more than 12 hours will give the biscuits enough flavor.

I have used "solid white shortening", a Mexican brand called "Cristal", which is sold in plastic jars. This isn't supposed to be health food, you know. ;D If I could get Crisco, I would use it in this context. But I would definitely use part butter for the fat. (Try to avoid the weirdly scented Mexican butter. I use Kirkland butter, from Costco, almost exclusively. I could write a blog post on butter in Mexico. Or on "productos lacteos")

I am confident that you could use natural, unsweetened, unflavored yogurt, thinned a little with milk, as a substitute for buttermilk. I imagine that vinegar soured milk would work also, but perhaps not so flavorsome.

I haven't emphasized the folding and layering of the wettish dough after it comes out of refrigeration. It needs at least two "turns", preferably three, then a rest period before you proceed to cut out the biscuits. Another important item is that the dough be wet and gooey both going into the fridge and coming out, That allows you to do those turns, by which the dough will firm up, without causing it to become tough and resistent.

This made me hungry. I must split and toast a biscuit.

EDIT: Use a small diameter biscuit cutter, too. Otherwise you may end up with biscuits the size of softballs. And yes, on reflection, it's better to separate the cut biscuits on the baking pan, or the insides will not get cooked evenly.