Biscuits Supreme (tutorial)

 

 

Well Christmas is all over again for another year and I have to say I had a fabulous one! My son and his family were here. We surely enjoyed each other, ate a lot of good food and just basked in the blessing of being together as a family.

They left to go home today and my sister has invite me over for supper to enjoy a few leftovers from the last few nights.  She is so good to me. I love her so much. I have a really great family.

 

We had Christmas dinner at her house the other day and enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings. All cooked in my mother's 68 year old wearever aluminum roasting pan. Every turkey from my childhood was cooked in that pan! It holds a lot of memories.

There was turkey and stuffing and potatoes, vegetables and the sweets.  She had quite a few lovely homemade Christmas bakes to enjoy for dessert.

Last night everyone came here, and we all dined on Roast Beef Tenderloin and all those trimmings. Oh my but it was so delicious. My son gave me a Meater for Christmas.  What an amazing piece of kit that is!

We will never have an overcooked piece of meat in my house ever again.

Today my son left to travel back to his home, and tonight, its leftover turkey at my sister's. I thought I would bake some tasty biscuits to take over for us to enjoy.

 

 

The Recipe was adapted from one I found in this cookbook, Southern Biscuits by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart.  Every recipe I have ever cooked from this book has been exceptional and this one is no exception.

By biscuits here I mean North American Biscuits. They are not cookies as in British Biscuits, but rather a buttery flaky, quick bread, very similar to scones. 

What follows is a complete tutorial on how to make the best biscuits ever.  They will always turn out if you follow these instructions! 

 

 

 

  

Preheat the oven to 450*F/232*C/gas mark3.5. Butter a cookie sheet. (Alternately you can use a 9-inch pie or cake dish if you want softer sides.) 

Measure 2 cups/249g of the flour, the baking powder, sugar, salt and cream of tartar into a bowl and whisk well together. Drop in the cold butter. Set aside the remaining flour for a bit later.

 

Cut the cold butter into the flour using a pastry blender, two forks, or two round bladed knives until the mixture resembles well-crumbled feta cheese with no pieces being larger than a small pea.

Make a deep well in the center of the flour mixture.

 

Pour 3/4 cup (180ml) of the milk into the well, reserving the remainder of the milk. Stir with a rubber spatula, fork or spoon, using broad circular strokes to quickly pull the flour together into a dough. 

Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the sticky dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

If there is some flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl add some of the remaining milk by the TBS, using just enough to incorporate the remaining flour into the dough. If your dough is too wet, use more flour when shaping.

 

Scatter some of the reserved flour onto a flat surface. Tip the dough onto it and scatter a bit more of the reserved flour on top. Pat the dough out to 1/3-inch/1/2-inch thickness.

 

Pat the dough out to 1/3-inch/1/2-inch thickness.

Fold dough in half, folding half of it back over itself.

 

Repeat twice, leaving the dough to 1 inch thickness for cutting. Brush off any visible flour. 

 

Using a sharp and floured round 2 1/2-inch cutter, stamp out rounds using a sharp up and down tapping motion. Do not twist the cutter. Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet/baking dish. 

The scraps can be gathered together and recut, although to bear in mind these biscuits will be a bit tougher. Do try to get as many cuts as possible from the first stamping.

 

Bake in the preheated oven for 6 minutes, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and bake for a further 4 to 8 minutes until the biscuits are light golden brown.

(Before rotating the pan, check to see if the bottoms are browning too quickly. If they are, slide another baking pan underneath to add insulation and slow down browning.)

 

Remove from the oven and brush the tops with softened butter. (This isn't totally necessary, but it is very nice, and gives them a lovely buttery finish!)

Serve hot with your favorite accompaniments.  Butter, jam, honey, etc.

 

If you like you can substitute some white vegetable shortening for half of the butter when putting these together.  I just used all butter!

I was very pleased with the end results. Even the re-pat-cuts were tender and delicious! 

 

And just look at the lovely rise I got!  I think the secret to a good rise is handling the dough very carefully. Try not to overhandle it or you will get tougher results.

Also don't twist the cutter when you are cutting them out.  That can result in a lopsided biscuit.

The best biscuits are made with a delicate white winter wheat/soft wheat flour, not a bread flour, but an all-purpose flour. They are a close cousin to the English Scone, but do differ in some ways.

Having said that however, both are delicious, and I would never turn down either one!

These are feathery and light with a nice golden-brown crust and crisp bottom, and tender flaky texture. In short, a little bite of heaven on earth!!

If you are wanting to try out some other biscuits, you can't go wrong with these:

MILE HIGH GREEK YOGURT BISCUITS - When it comes to flaky, biscuits don't get flakier than these Mile High Greek Yogurt Biscuits! The acid from the yogurt reacts in a positive way with the baking powder. The end result is a biscuit that is light as a cloud and filled with lots of flaky pockets.  

CHEDDAR BACON & CHIVE BISCUITS - Cheddar, Bacon & Chive Biscuits are fabulously tasty, light, flakey, peppery, stuffed with rich strong cheddar and are beautiful served as an accompaniment to savory things like soups, stews, salads, etc. They are also very nice spread with butter and honey. Don't knock it til you try it! 

If you would like to see a video of me making these delicious biscuits, you can find it on my Video Channel, Marie Cooks Up A New Life, here.

Yield: 12

Author: Marie Rayner

Biscuits Supreme

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 14 MinTotal time: 29 Min

An old recipe adapted from a very old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Rich, buttery and flaky biscuits. Delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (281g) plain all-purpose flour, unsifted and divided
• 1/2 TBS (5.618g) baking powder
• 2 tsp granulate sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup (115g) cold butter diced
• 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
• softened butter for finishing

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450*F/232*C/gas mark3.5. Butter a cookie sheet. (Alternately you can use a 9-inch pie or cake dish if you want softer sides.)
2. Measure 2 cups/249g of the flour, the baking powder, sugar, salt and cream of tartar into a bowl and whisk well together. Drop in the cold butter. Set aside the remaining flour for a bit later.
3. Cut the cold butter into the flour using a pastry blender, two forks, or two round bladed knives until the mixture resembles well-crumbled feta cheese with no pieces being larger than a small pea.
4. Make a deep well in the center of the flour mixture.
5. Pour 3/4 cup (180ml) of the milk into the well, reserving the remainder of the milk. Stir with a rubber spatula, fork or spoon, using broad circular strokes to quickly pull the flour together into a dough. Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the sticky dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
6. If there is some flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl add some of the remaining milk by the TBS, using just enough to incorporate the remaining flour into the dough. If your dough is too wet, use more flour when shaping.
7. Scatter some of the reserved flour onto a flat surface. Tip the dough onto it and scatter a bit more of the reserved flour on top. Pat the dough out to 1/3-inch/1/2-inch thickness. Fold dough in half. Repeat twice, leaving the dough to 1 inch thickness for cutting. Brush off any visible flour.
8. Using a sharp and floured round 2 1/2-inch cutter, stamp out rounds using a sharp up and down tapping motion. Do not twist the cutter. Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet/baking dish. The scraps can be gathered together and recut, although to bear in mind these biscuits will be a bit tougher. Do try to get as many cuts as possible from the first stamping.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 6 minutes, rotate the pan 180* and bake for a further 4 to 8 minutes until the biscuits are light golden brown.
10. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with softened butter.
11. Serve hot with your favorite accompaniments.

Did you make this recipe?

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