The Old Folks Home

[Wisher1000]

I got the baking bug today as well. I decided that after 16 years of feeding my family, I had, surely, gotten past my inability to make biscuits. I have tried many, many times to make biscuits and have failed every time. My grandmother made the best in the world and I was hooked on them as a child. My aunt Pearl would make them for me when I was in the first grade as I prefered them to candy. Mom made drop biscuits from bisquik that were good but not real biscuits. The closest thing I have ever had to my grandmother's are Hardee's biscuits and they are not nearly as light and fluffy as her's. I tried in high school, I tried when I moved out for the first time. I had a boyfriend in college who's mother could make some nearly as good and she tried to teach me to do it but mine were never as good as her's. So today I tried again. I even followed a recipe to make sure it was the right balance in the ingredients. Most of them were given to the outside dog. He ate one then turned around and licked his butt to get the taste out of his mouth. I will stick to cornbread.

 

[ronott1]

I got the baking bug today as well. I decided that after 16 years of feeding my family, I had, surely, gotten past my inability to make biscuits. I have tried many, many times to make biscuits and have failed every time. My grandmother made the best in the world and I was hooked on them as a child. My aunt Pearl would make them for me when I was in the first grade as I prefered them to candy. Mom made drop biscuits from bisquik that were good but not real biscuits. The closest thing I have ever had to my grandmother's are Hardee's biscuits and they are not nearly as light and fluffy as her's. I tried in high school, I tried when I moved out for the first time. I had a boyfriend in college who's mother could make some nearly as good and she tried to teach me to do it but mine were never as good as her's. So today I tried again. I even followed a recipe to make sure it was the right balance in the ingredients. Most of them were given to the outside dog. He ate one then turned around and licked his butt to get the taste out of his mouth. I will stick to cornbread.

You need to make them with lard.

Let me know if you want a good recipe with trick to them.

 

[Wisher1000]

Yes please, if you think it would help. I used shortening........

 

[ronott1]

Yes please, if you think it would help. I used shortening........

First of all your Grand Mother or Mother should have made sure you knew how to make biscuits.

Seriously though, my Grandmother could not make biscuits either. Her children(including my Dad) said that they were more like hockey pucks or that they could be used for Musket balls....Boy she could make a mean hamburger and home cut french fries....

Here is a recipe. The trick is to make sure the butter or lard is cold and that you do not over mix the fat with the flour. The butter needs to be spread out through the flour in little pieces to puff up the biscuits. That is what makes them flaky. Also, this recipe has you fold the dough over several times.

Lastly, make sure you use a sharp biscuit cutter.




My 13 year old daughter wrote this recipe into a notebook that she started for recipes and we practiced making them. When she visited her Aunt in Missouri last summer she made them for the family.

She made nice flaky biscuits and I am sure you can too.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

First of all your Grand Mother or Mother should have made sure you knew how to make biscuits.

Seriously though, my Grandmother could not make biscuits either. Her children(including my Dad) said that they were more like hockey pucks or that they could be used for Musket balls....Boy she could make a mean hamburger and home cut french fries....

Here is a recipe. The trick is to make sure the butter or lard is cold and that you do not over mix the fat with the flour. The butter needs to be spread out through the flour in little pieces to puff up the biscuits. That is what makes them flaky. Also, this recipe has you fold the dough over several times.

Lastly, make sure you use a sharp biscuit cutter.




My 13 year old daughter wrote this recipe into a notebook that she started for recipes and we practiced making them. When she visited her Aunt in Missouri last summer she made them for the family.

She made nice flaky biscuits and I am sure you can too.

Thanks! I am going to try this this upcoming weekend, I think.

I love a good biscuit.

 

[Stumpy]

Try cutting the lard into chunks and put it on a plate in the freezer for a while to get it good and cold. I've heard that the best biscuits and pie crusts are made from chicken fat, but I've never tried it.

 

[Countrypunk92]

Waiting on my SLW eggs . they should be here any minute now...

And my Mini Weinie wants me to go back to bed to snuggle..

 

[ronott1]

Try cutting the lard into chunks and put it on a plate in the freezer for a while to get it good and cold. I've heard that the best biscuits and pie crusts are made from chicken fat, but I've never tried it.

Leaf Lard comes from the fat over the Kidneys and is supposed to make really good pie crust and biscuits. I am getting some this week! A BYC friend butchered her American Guinea Hogs yesterday and she saved me the Fat over the Kidneys.

Yes, I forgot to say that the flour and fat is supposed to look like little peas when it is cut correctly. If you use shortening(It turns out that shortening is bad for us and lard is not), you need to chill or freeze it to.

Over working the dough or pie crust is what makes them tough and not tender. That includes cutting in the fat.

Wow, I had a good breakfast but between the food talk here and the pictures of the American Breese and a post about Julia Childs on the California Northern Thread I am getting hungry

 

[ronott1]

Waiting on my SLW eggs . they should be here any minute now...

And my Mini Weinie wants me to go back to bed to snuggle..

Tomorrow I will be getting Crele Penedesenca crossed with Cream Legbar hatching eggs. They should lay Olive colored eggs. I also have 30 eggs in lockdown and another 20 eggs in the other incubator.

I am hatching way too many chicks right now.....

 

[Wisher1000]

She made nice flaky biscuits and I am sure you can too.

I like fluffy (not flaky) biscuits. Flaky makes me think of the canned biscuits that you pull apart, layer by layer. My boys call them "wop biscuits" because you wop them on the counter to open them! I have read the way to make layers or flakes is to fold the dough instead of kneading it. The only other thing I've had that was baked to be flaky is pie crust. That is okay, but not in a biscuit!

My grandmother's were so light and fluffy inside that they would almost melt in your mouth when you ate them. I would open them and pick the soft part out of the middle first because it didn't have any crust on it. Actually, the crust of her biscuits was soft, too, compared to others. They tasted like Hardees' biscuits, but were much lighter in texture and softer on top and bottom.

MAN, do I miss them -- and her.....