Friday, July 23, 2010

The Family Biscuit Recipe


Here's an easy recipe that my mom and her mom made. When I got married, I copied it into the back of a cookbook I got as a shower gift. These biscuits are great with gravy and a good vehicle for jam. You can also use this as a basic recipe for cheese biscuits or cinnamon-raisin. I'm sure there are lots of great recipes out there for biscuits. However, these are different because, they have three ingredients people. You can't get any easier than that.
Biscuits require a light touch. Too much mixing or kneading and they will be dreadful.
It took me a few tries with these when I was new to cooking to get them right.
Here goes...



2 cups self-rising flour (If you've never used this, it's great for pancakes too.)
1-1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or milk, but buttermilk makes them richer, I think)
1/4 cup vegetable oil



Just mix with a fork until it holds together. Don't overmix. If it looks dry, add a little more buttermilk. If it's too wet, you can knead a little flour into the dough on your counter.
Roll out on floured surface, careful not to roll them too thin. I use a glass to cut them out. Place on nicely oiled pan. I always use a little of the buttermilk left in the measuring cup to rub on the tops.
Bake at 450 degrees in the center of your oven until golden brown. Times will vary based on how thick you cut them.



Notice the little tiny biscuit. My mom always baked the bit of dough that was left after rolling out the biscuits. When I was little we called that the "baby biscuit". I always got it because I was the youngest. Funny how you carry on silly traditions like that.
This recipe can easily be doubled, or tripled. Enjoy!

5 comments:

gina said...

My mom always made a baby biscuit, too! Only, we called it the runt. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Shelly.

Jessi said...

Your biscuits are always so great. Thanks for sharing! I've never used self-rising flour...probably a better investment than bisquick, eh?

Natalie said...

I might actually make these!

Natalie said...

So, I picked up some self-rising flour, but I don't have buttermilk...I was thinking of trying to just add a little butter to the recipe tomorrow morning- I'll let you know how that goes!

Shelly said...

I hope they turn out nicely, Natalie! You can make them with milk also, I use skim milk all the time if I don't have buttermilk.