Y’all, I love bread.

I know.  The last post I talked about aiming for a low-glycemic diet.  For the sake of today, I will remind you that I mentioned it was most of the time.  Hence, a post about bread, and not just any bread, but flaky, delicious, soft….wait.  I’m getting ahead of myself!

AB and I love watching the Great British Baking Show together, and it makes me want to bake in the worst way.  Holidays do, too.  I am also a ridiculous fan girl of Ms Sam Wears Dresses.  She bakes…among so.many.other.things.  Can we say Renaissance Woman?  I could say that I want to be her when I grow up, but, when I was helping her book flights for her recent travel, I discovered that she’s younger than I am.  Nuts.

A girl’s gotta have goals, though, right?

So…Ms Sam, who I am so privileged to know, posted a recipe for an orange glazed biscuit in which she uses her basic biscuit recipe.  It’s on my list to make in the next couple of days.  I must say “couple of days” because I need to buy oranges.  All of that to say, she linked to her basic biscuit recipe.

Y’all.  They are rolled out baking powder biscuits.  *Ack*

I remember my Mama making rolled biscuits when I was little, but it seemed to take for.e.v.er and seemed so very complicated…and messy.  With that memory, I never tried them on my own, I just found drop biscuit recipes that used melted butter with cold milk poured in to created the small pieces.  That was it.  They were ok, but there was no flake.  I always loved the “womp” biscuits as Ms Sam calls them – the canned biscuits you have to “womp” on the counter to open.  The flaky layers.  Oh.my.

When Ms Sam said that I could have a homemade batch in ten minutes, and it only took five ingredients, I knew that I had to try it out.

So, with AB as my sous chef, we set forth.  Ms AB is great at prep and  measuring out the dry ingredients.  We even did some school.  *gasp*

Yes, 5T is the equivalent of 1/4c. + 1T.

The dough came together quickly.  Woot!  Then the rolling, not too bad.  And the cutting – here’s a tip that I learned:  NEVER TWIST THE CUTTER WHEN CUTTING OUT BISCUITS.  Apparently, it seals the edges keeping you from getting the flaky layers.

I refrained from twisting.  It was hard, but I did it.

The batch of dough made nine biscuits.  Ms Sam said there should only be one cat-head biscuits (the one made from the scraps).  Somehow I ended up with three.  Whatever.

10 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and I gingerly peeked inside the oven…did we have layers?  Layers is what I was after – tender, flaky, scrumptious layers.  Maybe?  They were a little pale for my liking, so I gave them another two minutes.

Judgment time.

With a bit of trepidation, I pulled them out of the oven.

Hallelujah!

We have layers!

 

It was everything I hoped for and more.

I could be in real trouble, folks.

You can always go over to Ms Sam’s blog to see her recipe and to watch her “how to” video.  Just so you know, she used lard in her biscuits, I stuck with palm shortening.

Here’s what AB and I put together:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (Can anyone tell me how to get that degree sign?  I know there must be a way.  Ha!)
2 c. flour (I buy it by the 20lb?…50lb? bag from Azure Standard and Honeyville Farms)
2 1/2t Rumford aluminum free baking powder (AB learned that this is equivalent to 5 half teaspoons since we keep a 1/2t measuring spoon in the container.  I use it up so quickly, I buy the 5lb tub from Azure Standard)
3/4 tsp salt
combine
cut in 5 T (aka 1/4c+1T) shortening (I have a monstrous box of palm shortening that I got from Azure Standard. <3)
pour in 3/4 c milk
Stir just to combine.
Pull together and knead 10-12 times (this creates your layers).  I just kept it in my bowl to knead.
Place on wax paper and roll out to 3/4″ thick…unless you’re weird like my husband and like thin & crispy biscuits, then You Do You.
I have no idea where my biscuit cutters went, so I used a lovely crystal glass – DO NOT TWIST.  Just press down & lift up.
*Note – while you can use a glass to cut your biscuits, there’s no place for the air to go if you go straight down, you might want to press down one
side at a time.  This does explain why biscuit cutters are open or have vents cut in the top.  😉
Place on a baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes til they are as golden as you want.
Eat hot, slathered with real butter (because no one should be eating margarine…I mean, really!).

We devoured these in the space of just a few minutes.  So, it looks like I will be at least doubling the batch in the future.  That’s probably what took my mom so long – she made a pot-load of biscuits at a time.  It’s a labor of love, to be sure.

Let me know if you try them!  I want to know what you think!  😉

 

*Just a note – the links above are affiliate links, so if you click through to purchase through this link,
it will not change what you pay, but it will be helping us out just a bit.
My kiddos thank you!*