Cooking For Engineers

Guest · Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:02 am Post subject:

Besides the density issue when converting flour weights to volumes, one also has to consider humidity. I need much more liquid to make my biscuits in my arid climate (especially in winter) than I used when I lived at humid sea level. I've also read that the wheat variety and quality used to make one's flour can effect both density and moisture content. So don't obsess about "correct" conversions - learn to do adjust your ingredients to achieve the correct dough texture.

Fred Rogers · Guest

Lovely biscuits. I'm sure they are delicious. My mother always insisted that her biscuits had to be made using White Lily Flour and Crisco for the shortening. She cut the shortening into the flour using her fingers. The results were wonderful biscuits. I was never able to master the art of cutting the shortening in with my fingers. I prefer the pastry blender. I don't thing it matters much which technique you use: it's the result that counts.

Kath · Guest

I just recently bought leaf lard from Heritage Foods USA. http://store.heritagefoodsusa.com
It cost $39.00/5# plus shipping. The surprise was that the leaf lard was the unrendered lard. So, I have now learned how to render lard! It was actually very easy (low and slow) in my crockpot. I now have lots of snowy white leaf lard to make biscuits, pie crust, etc. Since I was paying shipping anyway, I ordered their Berkshire pork chops. So now I am in heaven.

Jim Cooley · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 377 Location: Seattle

Kath,

Michael turned me onto leaf lard for pie crust. It's wonderful stuff.

It's quite a bit cheaper to make at home if your butcher can get it.

See my note here

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22694#22694

Susan · Guest

Good recipe. I don't use biscuit cutters, just cut the large rectangle of dough into a grid of smaller rectangles - it's easier and all biscuits are equally light in texture.

Blackchefp · Guest

Greetings Michael:

I love your site and full proof formulas. Question? Is there anyway you could create a similar formula for a Southern Sweet potato buttermilk biscuit?

Michael Chu · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 1654 Location: Austin, TX (USA)

granee01 · Guest

I was taught by a country lady who didn't go to a store for umpteen years. Her kids never had a soda or loaf bread. They lived with whatever they grew, raised, or butchered on their farm. She did use lard and buttermilk. Everything was done by hand. No pastry cutters, biscuit cutters, rolling pin, or anything. Melt in your mouth perfection. Takes less time than some ways once you get the hang of it. She always made me hot biscuits when I walked in her home. She was my sister's mother-in-law who treated me like family. Sure.miss the old way of cooking.

Balessk · Guest

I am from Texas and am an experienced southern cook/baker. I used this recipe with a friend in Denmark who wanted to learn how to bake biscuits like he had tasted in the South. This recipe turned out perfectly...very light and flaky layers. Thanks!

GrammarDiva · Guest

I LOVE this recipe. I live in an area with a lot of resources, so I have leaf lard available nearly all the time to render my own. The first time I made these biscuits, they rose so high that I was concerned they were going to hit the top rack in my oven. Your website was down yesterday when I came looking for the recipe, and I was VERY upset, as I had to use another recipe that's far inferior. Glad to see you are back up, and this recipe is going immediately into my favorite aggregator, Pepperplate.