Tried and True – The Original is the Best
After numerous fails with different biscuit recipes, I went back to my original favorite biscuit recipe with one change that has made all the difference. I have finally learned to pat out the dough to the right thickness. All this time I have been fiddling around with the recipes trying to get just the “right” one for those mile high biscuits and then my sweet hubby made the following suggestion: “If you want them to be higher, just make the dough thicker before you bake them. Don’t roll them out so thin.” (Picture me, slapping my forehead here.)
Totally worked. For some reason, I had it stuck in my head that the dough would rise a bit and I could roll it a little thinner and get a few more biscuits out of the recipe. But obviously it isn’t a yeast dough. Don’t know what I was thinking.
Today I made my favorite biscuit recipe again…Grandma’s Easy Biscuits (modified a bit from an original Betty Crocker recipe my grandma got back in the 1950’s) and I left the dough thick when I patted it out. 1/2 – 1 inch thick, depending on your preference. I normally get 8 biscuits or so out of this recipe. Tonight I got six. But they were six of the most melt in your mouth, tall biscuits I have made in a long, long time. Clearly, for my family of 6 this recipe will need to be at least doubled. Enjoy!
Grandma’s Easy Biscuits
2 cups flour, 1 T. sugar, 3 t. baking powder, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. cream of tartar
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk
Blend dry ingredients and then cut in shortening (I use a dough cutter, but you can crumble it in with your hands if you don’t have one).
Add milk, stirring with a fork.
The dough will be sticky – lightly flour rolling surface and pat dough out to between a 1/2 and 1 inch thickness.
Use a biscuit cutter or a glass and cut out biscuits. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. This make SIX biscuits when you roll it out to the proper thickness 😉 I spread mine with butter and homemade strawberry jam. Mmmmmm.
*Can also roll dough flat into a rectangle, spread with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, roll up and slice into biscuits and bake. My kids love these cinnamon-sugar biscuits for breakfast!
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I cannot wait to try these out. I live in the UK but the American style food/baking excites me!! I am finding it tricky to source some ingredients but I’m getting there. When you specify milk, do you use whole/full fat milk in these?
Sorry about the delay in response. When using milk, I use whatever I have on hand. Usually 1 or 2 percent milk, but they would be great with whatever you use, good luck!