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Sunday project: Make tender, flaky biscuits this afternoon!

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Ever have a craving for biscuits? Not the hockey pucks, but those tender, lighter-than-air biscuits. The ones so delicate they have to be homemade and eaten fresh, while they’re still warm. Maybe with a little tang from buttermilk, maybe a little zing from a touch of ginger. Maybe the ones so perfectly light they’re simply called “angel biscuits.”

A few years back, Paula Woods wrote a great story for Food on making great biscuits, exploring the secrets and tips to getting them right.

And Deputy Food Editor Betty Hallock did a great story just last year on Los Angeles’ biscuit scene, and she highlights some tips for making great biscuits:

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TIPS FOR BETTER BISCUITS

It’s an adage passed down by expert Nathalie Dupree in her cookbook “Southern Biscuits”: “No two cooks make the same biscuit.” Some swear by cream or a mix of baking powder and baking soda. Some drop their biscuits from a spoon instead of cutting them out. Some people use butter instead of lard, or shortening instead of butter. They cut them big or cut them small. They might dunk each one in melted butter before baking, the way James Beard did. But there are a few tips everyone can follow for better biscuits.

  • Make sure all of the ingredients, including the flour and baking powder, are cold.
  • Do not overwork the dough: Mix just until the liquid is incorporated, and knead just until the dough comes together.
  • Roll the dough so that it’s about an inch thick, and not much less, for high biscuits.
  • Cut the biscuits out without twisting the cutter to prevent the sides from getting pinched.
  • Eat biscuits as soon as possible; their lifespan is short.

Hungry yet? Check out the recipes in the photo gallery above. From classic buttermilk biscuits to maple bacon biscuits or biscuits with cheddar cheese and millet, we’ve got you covered! And if you’re looking for the right spread for your fluffy biscuits, you can’t go wrong with Govind Armstrong’s burnt orange honey butter. Yum!

KITCHEN TIPS: 36 simple tips to simplify life in the kitchen

If you have any gadgets, kitchen tips or questions you’d like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

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