Tips For Making The Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

THE PERFECT BUTTERMILK BISCUIT Thanks to Eula Mae Dore, a great
Southern cook from Avery Plantation, La., I've learned to make the
best Buttermilk Biscuits I've ever had. Eula Mae says a good biscuit
is one of the best things to have on hand for quick meals. She uses
them in emergencies to make simple sandwiches filled with scraps of
ham or cheese and serves them with pickles and a small salad. For
dessert, she warms a biscuit or two and makes a shortcake with fresh
fruits or berries. She has convinced me that you can't have too many
biscuits on hand. Eula Mae learned to cook and bake from her
grandmother, not from cookbooks, and the artfulness of her  preparation
was a joy to watch. Here are some of her biscuit-making  tips: + First
go out and replace your baking powder, unless you  bought it within the
last four months. More baking flops occur from  old, tired baking
powder than from any other cause. And don't rely on  the old test of
checking the freshness of baking powder by putting a  spoonful in a
glass of water to see if it fizzes. Baking powder, like  a carbonated
drink, can fizz a little and still be almost flat.  Buying new baking
powder costs very little when you consider the cost  of baking
failures. + Next, Eula Mae insists that sifting the dry  ingredients
four times is the reason her biscuits are perfect. I  tested the recipe
sifting and not sifting and, indeed, sifting does  make a slightly
higher, more tender biscuit. + After you cut the  biscuit dough, put
the pieces on a baking sheet upside down. This  ensures a taller,
lighter biscuit by making sure any edges crimped by  the pressure of
the cutting don't interfere with the rise. (The  French use the same
trick when making puff pastry.) + The tip that  helped me the most was
using less flour than usual. Eula Mae's dough  was soft and sticky. She
handled it gently, dusting her hands and the  dough with only enough
flour to make the dough manageable. The result  was a lighter biscuit.
Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V4 #170 by  roy@indy.net (Roy) on Jul 3,
1997

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