Foodie Friday!

I must be making up for those two weeks I didn't blog!


I've been suspecting something for a while now... Butter makes everything better!
And it's true (at least until we discuss a different fat next week).


I was that little kid who would sneak packets of butter and eat them plain.  Not a whole stick mind you (though I know people who did), but a pat of butter?  Oh yum.


Despite my love of butter, I also heavily relied on solid vegetable shortening for two things: cookies and biscuits. Since I have yet to find measuring spoons or cups here, I haven't ventured much into the baking realm, but since biscuits are about ratios, I figured I could handle that.  

Go-to biscuit recipe in Winston-Salem: see the back of the White Lily Self-Rising Flour bag (would you believe they don't have the basic recipe on their website? only fancy ones).  Once, when I was out of self rising flour and Jason wanted biscuits, I ran to Alton Brown for help.  Jason loved the biscuits, even more than the White Lily recipe, but since my grandmothers used White Lily flour, I generally stuck to that one.  Low and behold, we move to Germany... no White Lily Self-Rising Flour in site.  No self-rising flour in site for that matter!  Okay, so that's not exactly true, but the self-rising flours here have yeast in them, not baking powder or baking soda.  So I looked at Alton Brown's recipe again: 
All Purpose flour: Check
Baking Powder:   Check
Baking Soda:       Um, here's some sodium carbonate, but it's says "Cleaning Soda" and has got a big X on it, so maybe I shouldn't use it for food purposes, and isn't baking soda sodium BIcarbonate?
Salt:                    Check
Butter:                 Check
Shortening:          Um, zwiebelsmaltz? No, ingredients indicate pig.  I've got nothing.
Buttermilk:           Check!  (This stuff is everywhere!)


No baking soda?  Well, no Southern Biscuits for me.  So I let me fingers do the walking and I stumbled across a recipe from Paula Deen, the Butter Queen.  
AP Flour: Check
Salt:         Check
Sugar:      Check
Baking P: Check
Milk:        Check
Butter:      Check


Woohoo!  Biscuits I can make!  Though there was no way I was going to use regular milk when buttermilk was so easily available (seriously, people drink the stuff here... there's a larger selection of buttermilk than regular milk in one of the grocers... flavored and everything!).  


Viola!  Yummy biscuits... I did let them rest for 20 minutes before baking like others on the comments had suggested.  And I also burnt them, so no pictures of the first batch.  And the next batch, brown on top, gooey in the middle.  Okay, so this wasn't a recipe problem, this was a trying to figure out my oven problem.  By the next batch, I had read more on biscuits on Homesick Texan.  Lisa used a recipe very similar to Paula's, however, she had a different technique, and boy did it look fun!  

All you biscuit makers be surprised!  I got to beat the dough!  Literally, I took out the rolling pin (well, glass jar in my case) and gave it a whack!  And they were fluffy and rose higher than any biscuits I've ever made. :)
So here's my recipe, a combo from Paula and Lisa:


2 c all purpose flour
1 t sugar
1 t salt
1 T baking powder
8 T butter, cubed, VERY COLD
3/4 c buttermilk, COLD


In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal.  


Make a well in the flour mixture and slowly add buttermilk, incorporating gently with hands or a wooden spoon.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for one minute (dough should be smooth and not too sticky, add more flour to surface if needed).  


From here, I'm quoting Lisa of Homesick Texan because she describes the beating so well:
Take dough into a ball, and hit it with a rolling pin, turning it and folding it in half every few whacks. Do this for a couple of minutes.
Roll out dough until it’s 1/4 of an inch thick, and then fold it in half.
Using a round cutter (can use a glass or a cup if don’t have a biscuit cutter) cut out your biscuits from folded dough.
Place on a greased baking sheet close together (so they rise up not out), and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Makes 10-12 biscuits.


Back to me:  I don't cut my biscuits, I just form them into balls and place them on the baking pan.  I also use a nonstick pan and do not grease it.  I then let them sit on the pan for 20 minutes (while I prepare the chicken for frying) before sticking them in the oven.  I don't have a clock or timer in the kitchen so when I start smelling them, I check them every couple minutes.  Yummy biscuits.

Lisa suggests serving these with butter and honey.  My personal preference is just honey, but one of these days I'll get around to making sausage gravy to to with them and then have a new personal preference.  

Have you tried beating your biscuits?  What's your favorite way to eat them?


And the butter verdict?  I'll never make biscuits with shortening again (though that doesn't mean I won't eat them if someone makes them for me).


EDIT: For a description of the origins beating the dough, check out Lisa @ Homesick Texan's blog Everything's better with biscuits.