Best American Biscuits Recipes

SOUTHERN BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
• Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)
• Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

AMERICAN BISCUITS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and a good pinch of salt into a large bowl or food processor. Rub in the butter with your fingers or whizz in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Stir in the buttermilk until you get a moist dough.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, then knead once or twice to bring the mixture together. Pat out the dough with your hands until 1cm thick and roughly 20cm by 10cm. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 6 triangles, dipping your knife in flour before each cut to prevent it from sticking.
• Place on a baking sheet, arranging them about 5cm apart. Brush over the tops with milk or cream, then cook in the oven for 10-12 mins until risen and golden brown. Leave to cool a little before serving.

BASIC BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• In a large mixing bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Pour milk into flour mixture while stirring with a fork. Mix in milk until dough is soft, moist and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and toss with flour until no longer sticky. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick sheet and cut with a floured biscuit or cookie cutter. Press together unused dough and repeat rolling and cutting procedure.
• Place biscuits on ungreased baking sheets and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes.