How do you make homemade country biscuits?

Answer 1

This is a great recipe for homemade biscuits. Follow the instructions and you'll be happy with the final results. Mouth-wateringly delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening

2/3 cups milk

Procedure:

• Before you begin, grease or spray and lightly flour your baking pan and set it aside.
• Preheat your oven to 450° F.
• Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk or sift together.
• Add the shortening. Your biscuits will be better if the fat you use is cold. Cut the shortening into the flour using a fork, pastry blender or two knives, or you can use your hands - just keep cutting in the shortening and mixing until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
• Add milk all at once and mix until everything just sticks together. The less you mix, the lighter and fluffier your biscuits will be. If your dough seems a little dry, add a dab more milk. If it's a little sticky, that's fine. It's easier to add in a little flour to make a dough drier than it is to stir more milk into stiff dough.
• Thoroughly clean and dry the surface before rolling out your biscuit dough. You can use any flat surface in the kitchen, such as a table, countertop or a pastry sheet to roll your dough on.
• Lightly flour the surface. Spread flour on an area large enough to accommodate your rolled-out dough.
• Turn your dough out of the bowl onto the countertop or table. Generously flour your hands. Keep a bowl of flour nearby to dip into as often as you need to flour your hands, add flour to the countertop, or sprinkle onto your dough if needed.
• With floured hands, gently lift the dough, pulling it inwards to begin kneading. Flour your hands as needed to keep them dry, and knead the dough about 10 strokes. To knead, you flatten the ball of dough out just a bit with the heels of your hands, gently grasp the far edge of the dough and fold it in half by pulling it over towards you. With the heel of your hand, push the dough down into itself. Turn it a quarter-way around and knead again. Do this about ten times, all the while keeping your hands dry. You can tell if you need to re-flour your hands if the dough begins sticking to them. Don't over-knead! Remember, the less you handle your dough, the lighter and fluffier your biscuits will be.
• When you're done kneading, pat the dough to flatten it a little. Then roll it out evenly in all directions until it's about ½-inch thick. If you don't have a rolling pin, you can actually roll your dough out with a smooth drinking glass. For a glass, using your hands, spread a little flour all around the glass and lay it on its side on the dough to roll. If the dough starts sticking, add more flour onto the glass.
• When you've rolled out your dough, it's time to cut the biscuits. You can use a biscuit cutter, or - you can just flip that make-shift rolling pin (glass) upside down and cut your biscuits with the top of the glass. As with everything else, dip the top of the glass (or your biscuit cutter) in a little flour to keep it from sticking. I know I've stressed keeping everything floured, but remember - lightly floured! If you use too much flour on everything, your biscuits could turn out to be too dry. Cut each biscuit with one straight-down stroke. If you twist or turn your cutter, your biscuits will bake unevenly shaped. Rather than roll and cut your biscuits, you can also patty the biscuits like you would make hamburger patties (with floured hands) and lay them on the pan as you go. This is a great way to get done quicker if you're in a hurry or just don't want the mess to clean up. The biscuits aren't as pretty pattied out, but they still taste just as good!
• Lay the biscuits on your lightly greased or sprayed pan, leaving about one inch of space between the biscuits.
• Don't waste your left-over dough after cutting. Roll it into a ball, roll it out, and cut more biscuits until your dough is all used up.
• Bake at 450° F on the top rack of your oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe will make about 10 biscuits. If you need more, double the recipe, and then split the dough into two balls. Roll out and cut one ball and then roll out and cut the other ball. If you have a surface large enough, it won't be necessary to split the dough.

This recipe is also great for freezing. Make your biscuits, put them on the pan, and pop into the freezer instead of the oven. Once they are completely frozen, move them into a zip-lock baggy and store in the freezer. When you're ready to bake them, bake at 450 F for 20 minutes. You may want to have a biscuit-making session to make lots of biscuits for freezing. Saves lots of time and is so convenient when you need them later.

Serve your delicious homemade biscuits while they're piping hot. Your bunch will love them!!