Who makes the "perfect" biscuit?

alblancher · Feb 4, 2012

I've been doing biscuits for over 40 years and can honestly say that I have never made the perfect biscuit. A perfect biscuit has to be light and fluffy, with a nice brown outer crust and soft white interior that bounces back when depressed with your thumb. I also think they should have a hint of butter taste but not be overpowering. This allows you to finish them the way you want!

This morning I found a hint on a site that makes so much sense that I am kicking myself for not having thought of it earlier. If you freeze your butter you can run it over a grater making it much easier to incorporate into the flour then just cutting the butter into patties or small chunks.

OK so now who makes the perfect breakfast biscuit from scratch and please tell me how you do it.

big casino · Feb 4, 2012

Sausage gravy and bisquits is one of my favorite breakfasts but I use

pillsbury...LOL I get the frozen bisquits, I have failed every time I have tried to make a good buttermilk bisquit, so I hope this thread turns into a good learning experience

alblancher · Feb 4, 2012

I think that is why so few of use make biscuits anymore the canned ones are pretty good. Or at least we have become accustomed to them. All the fast food joints make decent biscuits but I know they use a lot of butter type stuff in them!

boykjo · Feb 4, 2012

Big C was right on with the pilsbury frozen buiscuts in a bag... They are realy good. Dont like the ones in the can...... I prefer bo jangles and hardeees buiscuits for a food chain

Joe

BGKYSmoker · Feb 4, 2012

My grammy did when i was a yonker

daveomak · Feb 4, 2012

If you freeze your butter you can run it over a grater making it much easier to incorporate into the flour then just cutting the butter into patties or small chunks.

Al, Great find !!! I'm gonna try that.... It does make perfect sense, don't it ??? Dave

BGKYSmoker · Feb 4, 2012

There is a biscuit mix at the wallys in NC (where the flour is) that has slices of butter in the mix. I think i got a sack somewhere i will get a pic of.

shoneyboy · Feb 4, 2012

A buddy of mine owns a grab and go type of restaurant. He uses Pillsbury frozen biscuits, he said that he looked at a lot of other brands, but they were the best. He sells about 400 a day, usually with your choice of ham, bacon, smoke sausage, pan sausage, egg and cheese in any combination that you wish. Base price for a biscuit, meat, egg and egg is 1.99. He coats them with real butter as they bake so they turn out crispy toasty brown. The only problem with doing that is that they pick up a salty taste if he puts too much, but if he dose it just enough that are the best.

alblancher · Feb 4, 2012

Yea Dave,

It was a great help, surprised the devil out of me how fast and easy the butter was incorporated into the dough. As a matter of fact the biscuits I made this morning where pretty darn good. I grew up being told not to over work the biscuit dough. Just get the moisture incorporated and then flatten out. Well this morning I got the dough to the point that it held together and could be moved to the floured counter top. Instead of not working the dough this time I rolled it out, then folded in on itself by thirds lightly dusting with flour each time. I did this maybe 5 or 6 times basically making 15 layers in the biscuit. When I rolled them out I only passed the roller on them once in each direction, horizontal and vertical using very little pressure.

I cut them into squares with a sharp knife, moved them to a greased cookie sheet and let them rest for about 10 minutes, then into a 450 oven. They where much better then what I normally make but still not quite perfect. Guess I'll have to keep trying!

Something else to think about, when grating the butter a bit of flour on the plate where the butter shaving falls will prevent some of the mess.

Fresh hot biscuits with homemade blueberry jelly, ummmm

daveomak · Feb 4, 2012

Al, How about making the dough with everyting but the butter... Then grate the butter on the dough, fold, roll, grate more butter, fold, roll, grate more butter etc.... add a sprinkle of flour as needed.... until the butter is gone.... ????? My thoughts on this.... will that work ??

Am I over thinking the making of biscuits here ???? Dave

chef jimmyj · Feb 4, 2012

I have yet to NAIL IT...I use Alton Browns Grandmothers Recipe they are light and tender but too crumbly to spread anything on. I have a taste for Biscuits and Sausage Gravy and have a variation to AB's recipe I want to try, if I get it right, I will post..I love KFC Biscuits...JJ

big casino · Feb 4, 2012

KFC bisquits rock, b4 I found the frozen pilsbury I used to go order a dozen from KFC

sausageboy · Feb 4, 2012

White Lily flour only.
I use clarified cultured buttter and lard.
Buttermilk for the moisture.
Brushed with buttermilk.
Both baking powder and baking soda for maximum lift.
I fold the dough over on itself a few times to create layers.

:sausage:

desertlites · Feb 4, 2012

Bridgeford frozen bread also makes biscuits,(maw would use when she didnt have the time) also Rohades(sp) aren't to bad.

terry colwell · Feb 4, 2012

I was taught you use butter or lard, whatever you choose, that is ice cold. And I also use ice water in the mixes and knead ONLY till incorporated . I like looking thru the "old" cook books from my Grand parents and older if I can find them. Gets me back to the basic ,simple ways.

pops6927 · Feb 4, 2012

here's a post I did several years ago:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/70592/baking-powder-biscuits

alblancher · Feb 4, 2012

Thems some good looking biscuits SausageBoy!

Dave, that makes sense, grate the butter directly into the flour, combine and then add the liquid! Saves some mess and if you mix it a bit while grating the butter gets evenly dispersed.

alblancher · Feb 4, 2012

Pops those look pretty good too! Mine never look that good!

supercenterchef · Feb 4, 2012

alblancher: I feel silly even considering giving you a suggestion, considering your expertise...so take this with a grain of salt...

Your technique above looks good...something you didn't mention, but prolly know instinctively is that a big part of working the dough as little as possible is to minimize heat transfer from your hands--gloves can help, throwing the whole thing in the fridge for a few minutes can also help...

I use your frozen butter trick all the time, works like a charm--a bit off topic, try it with your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe sometime, for a wonderful, flaky cookie...

I too am always on the hunt for the perfect buscuit recipe...share!

alblancher · Feb 4, 2012

SupercenterChef

Thanks for the kind words but you over estimate my abilities. My friends here on SMF have taught me more then they can possibly realize. I do agree that keeping everything as cold as possible is a big help! Also make sure you use the proper amount of liquid. I understand you want the dough to just hold together, to little liquid and the dough will not come together, to much and you get something like thick paste that will not rise.

I think Pops and Sausageboy are the two biscuit makers on the forum, their bakeview? looks pretty darn good!

Who makes the "perfect" biscuit?

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