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Scott Guest
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:48 pm Post subject: Those biscuits... |
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I used to buy biscuits until I found out how easy it is to make them - well, I'm English - we must stop for tea and biscuits every evening!
It's suprising how quick and easy biscuits can be, especially if a food processor is used.
My only tip for this is that to create a sweet romantic gesture, cut the biscuit "dough" into heart shapes, and top when cooled with blood red icing (warm water, icing sugar, and a small drop of food colouring). So very easy but so very effective...
Scott Sinclair
http://www.realepicurean.com |
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Guest
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:42 am Post subject: |
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What we call scones and find in american coffee shops most Brits would call rock cakes. |
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mississippi girl Guest
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 4:47 pm Post subject: baking vessel |
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Just wanted to share that in baking biscuits (we always use buttermilk, my mom uses shortening but I like butter better) my family and just about anyone I know uses an iron skillet for baking biscuits. The iron is thick and the heat is evenly distributed so that they don't get done on the bottom before the top is done. I've tried them on cookie sheets and it just isnt the same. |
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rolltiderol6969 Guest
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:14 am Post subject: scone vs biscuts |
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I think everyone needs to relax. Embrace each others differences. Thats why we have different cultures. The Japanese don't stress about what we call bruchetto (SP) we also know that as rice things are different for a reason. take up an International cooking class you may find you have much to learn. now back to my very basic question: I live in Germany and when I make biscuits/scones they brown faster on the bottom than the top, that has never happened to me in the US I am wondering why? |
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Michael Chu
Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 1654 Location: Austin, TX (USA)
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:19 am Post subject: Re: scone vs biscuts |
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rolltiderol6969 wrote: | I live in Germany and when I make biscuits/scones they brown faster on the bottom than the top, that has never happened to me in the US I am wondering why? |
Just a guess: If your pan is different - a darker pan than the one you used in the US - then the bottom will brown faster. |
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jewel Guest
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:10 am Post subject: fluffy biscuits |
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wanjean2 asked the same question I've had about biscuits. The ones @ KFC are so much fluffier than mine ever come out. Anyone out there have suggestions for making the flaky, fluffy biscuits?? |
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Peter Guest
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:02 pm Post subject: biscuits |
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I grew up with Biscuits as one of the forms of bread that appeared on the dinner table (biscuits, spoon bread, corn bread or rolls). Using any shortening but Lard or Crisco was unthinkable.
At weddings, funerals and other rites of passage, they appeared with paper- thin slices of Smithfield Ham in the middle. Beaten biscuits were an acceptable alternate with ham.
Biscuits were an inch, maybe an inch and a quarter in diameter. I never saw a 'big, fluffy biscuit' until I moved to Georgia. |
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Guest
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:17 pm Post subject: Factors that Influence fluffiness |
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I like my biscuits to be as tall and airy as possible (unless I'm going to make breakfast sandwiches out of them...then I purposely make them a little denser for stability)
The first and most important thing for light biscuits is to use "southern" flour. Even here in yankee Ohio, White Lily brand is available, but I hear King Arthur also makes a suitable version. The right kind of flour will be called "soft", "southern", or "winter wheat". It's a low-protein wheat that will lighten your baked goods...basically the opposite of bread flour. If you can't find soft flour at all, you can mix equal parts of all-purpose flour and cake flour.
Also, I use a 50-50 mix of butter and vegetable shortening for my biscuits. Butter gives great taste, but shortening makes the biscuits more tender. The mix is a good compromise.
Buttermilk gives better texture and flavor than regular milk. Period. Adding a tiny amount (like 1/4 teaspoon) of baking soda to counteract the acidity of the buttermilk is a good idea. I also use about 1 cup of buttermilk to 2 cups of flour. The dough is much stickier and harder to work with, but the secret to light biscuits is a wet dough. Make it as sticky as you can stand to work with. You know what the contents of a can of Pillsbury biscuit dough is like? Yeah, a sticky mess...but they end up nice and light because sticky is key! If your dough ball won't stick hopelessly to an unfloured surface, you don't have enough liquid.
Finally, I pat my dough out (on a floured surface, of course) to a greater thickness than this recipe calls for—generally about 3/4 inch. If you want them tall, they need to start tall. I can take the same dough that makes tall, fluffy poofs of buttery deliciousness at 3/4 inch, and find that it makes little dry hockey pucks rolled out to 1/4 inch. You're really trying to lower the surface-area to volume ratio so they don't crust too much.
And about placement. I've found that putting them on the baking sheet with about 1/4 inch gap between adjacent biscuits is perfect. That way they don't fuse into a big mass, but they still butt up against each other and help their fellow biscuits rise. Being adjacent to other biscuits is key in getting them to go UP instead of OUT. Therefore, I also like to arrange them so that there are as few "edge" biscuits as possible...you want as many of your biscuits as possible to be surrounded by others on all sides. One row of 12 biscuits would be horrible...you want the opposite. Consider it a packing problem.
Just my tips...take 'em or 'leave em.
-- Dave in Ohio |
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Mangala
Joined: 04 Feb 2007 Posts: 1
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:06 am Post subject: cheese biscuits |
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When making savoury biscuits to eat with a soup or stew, I use a very similar dough. But they are so much tastier if, after being rolled out, the dough is buttered, sprinkled liberally with grated cheddar cheese, and then rolled into a tube and sliced. The result is little spirals of cheesy, flaky goodness with a crisp outer layer.
I cannot figure out why only my mom and grandmother seem to make biscuits like this. |
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TOM Guest
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Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:13 pm Post subject: BISQUITS? |
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ALL THIS CRAP ABOUT BISQUITS, GOING TO GET MY COOKBOOK OUT. Southern or yankee biG deal, havng eaten bisquits in 46 states and Canada the really great ones come from southern Mo. thats the recipe Im looking for |
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Guest
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Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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Adding a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar stops the biscuits from getting too high and toppling over. |
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Guest
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:01 am Post subject: Best biscuits ever |
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That was the easyest recipe ever AND THE BISCUITS WERE DELICIOUS! Maxium effect for minimum work. |
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Guest
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:52 pm Post subject: Tricks |
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for those of you who would like a lighter fluffier biscuit try using half and half of two different flours. All purpose and pastry cake flour. If the recipe calls for 2 cups of flour use 1 cup of all purpose and one cup of pastry flour. Hear is another trick as well. Place your butter, margarine or lard whatever the recipe calls for and the cheese grater as well in the freezer while you sift the dry goods. The key is keeping the butter cold !!! Grate the butter into your dry goods, and mix well, until the flour looks like meal. Avoid using your hands to mix, because the heat of your hands will melt the butter. Also i find best is a heavy bottom pan, such as cast iron. Hope that these few tips help out. Happy Biscuit Making!! |
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CLove Guest
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject: yumyum |
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I have to say that I followed the directions to a T and they came out beautifully. They only took 12min to bake and I baked them on a lightly buttered, very old cookie pan (the pan is probably aluminum and darkened by use over many years in my mother's kitchen). I used a heart shaped cookie cutter, so very cute. No, they didn't grow very tall, but I figured I'd just roll the dough thicker next time, but they did pull apart easily and were delightfully fluffy. I'll never buy a tube again! |
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Choupique Guest
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:21 pm Post subject: bisquits |
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Nice soft flakey bisquits are great to eat topped with butter and jelly but
does anyone have any suggestions how to make bisquits more elastic so
gravey or syrop can be sopped with out them crumbling before they can be lifted to your mouth? |
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