White Lily flour Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Buttermilk biscuit with butter and jelly

I’ve always admired those apron-clad cooks, who can walk confidently into a kitchen early in the morning and whip up a country breakfast lickity-split. All the while they’re able to carry on a conversation about Aunt Nelly’s gall bladder operation and the upcoming school board election.

I’m talking about cooks, who can turn out buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, omelets, hash browns, or a breakfast casserole without breaking a sweat—or referring to a recipe.

In Search of a Better Biscuit

When it comes to recipes, I’m one of those who can never leave well enough alone. I’m always looking for another, even better one than mine. I’ve made many a batch of biscuits. Yet I’m forever searching for an easier, fluffier one.

This recipe from Southern Living, called Our Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits, may just be it. (I think a recipe qualifies as Southern if it specifies King Arthur or White Lily flour.) The ingredients are few and simple: frozen butter shredded on a box grater, self-rising flour, (preferably White Lily :-)), and buttermilk. That’s it!

Frozen butter cut into pieces on a box grater, (though I think a flat grater placed over the bowl would be easier to clean.)

Buttermilk biscuits in the making

Cooking Soul Food: A Cure for Pandemic Boredom

Start by making a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the cold buttermilk. Stir about 15 times. (You don’t want to overdo, or underdo, or biscuits will be tough.) There’s no kneading required, but there is some folding of the rolled out dough to achieve layering in the cooked biscuits.

If you like, use your hands to gently flatten the dough and skip the rolling pin. Cut the dough 3/4″ thick with a floured biscuit cutter or the rim of a drinking glass.

From Bowl, to Board, to Baking Sheet

I use a cake pan for biscuits rather than a baking sheet, because they bump together slightly and rise up higher. After brushing tops with butter, slip the biscuits into a 475 degree oven until they’re golden, about 15 minutes.

Gently open cooked biscuits and smear with real butter and/or some of the homemade jelly your aunt gave you last year. Or—my favorite way to enjoy this delicacy—use a biscuit as the base for sausage gravy.

Soul food is feel good food. Easy enough for entrapped parents and kids to enjoy making together. (White Lily recipe here and Southern Living biscuit video here. They’re nearly the same.)

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Buttermilk biscuits

A Few Things to Remember

When cutting cold butter into a flour mixture, I’ve always used a pastry cutter. But this recipe calls for cutting of the frozen butter on a box scraper. Much easier.
Chill prepared dough for a while in the fridge to allow gluten to relax and butter to harden. I even chill my mixing bowl.
Use a light colored, rimless baking sheet on the second or third rack in an uncrowded, pre-heated oven. Dark pans absorb more heat and can cause “over browning”—an euphemism for burnt biscuits. For taller, soft sided biscuits, bump rounds up against each other or use cake pan.
In the event you “over brown,” the biscuits, just cut off the bottoms (as per Rachel Ray) and fry them in a buttered skillet. Or serve with extra syrup to mask your mistake. 🙂
If making biscuits with all-purpose flour (not self-rising) and you want to test the age of you baking powder, put 1/2 teaspoon of it into 2 tablespoons of water. If the mixture foams, it’s okay. If it doesn’t, toss it.

Buttermilk biscuits with Lingonberry jam

While cleaning out a kitchen cabinet, I ran onto some square-shaped biscuits cutters, that I bought years ago, but never used. Why did I need square biscuits rather than round ones? Beats me. But finding the cutters was enough to inspire me to make a batch of biscuits.

Besides, I had earlier bought some Lingonberry jam, a European delicacy, that goes well with the Akea Swedish meatballs I have in the freezer. In Europe the cranberry-like jam is served with meat courses, stews, potato cakes, and even oatmeal. I like it on biscuits because it’s not overly sweet.

White Lily for Southern-Style Biscuits

Drats! I didn’t have any White Lily, the go-to flour in Southern kitchens when making biscuits. Their self-rising flour has less protein than most brands and that makes for lighter biscuits. Undeterred, I soldiered on, using the Gold Medal version, that I had on hand. (Recipe for White Lily Biscuits, using milk or buttermilk)

Mixture of self-rising flour, shortening (or butter), and buttermilk.

Happily, the recipe on the back of the flour bag had a mere 3 ingredients. (Self-rising flour already has baking powder and salt included.) In no time at all, I had a tray of squarish biscuits in the oven.

Do not over work the dough. Roll it to about 1/2″ thickness before cutting.

If biscuits are bumped together in a cast iron skillet or pan to bake, sides will be softer and biscuits will rise slightly higher. Here I choose to just put them on a baking sheet.

Despite the ease with which this recipe comes together, there’re a few tips worth noting to ensure success.

Tips for Puffy, Flaky Biscuits

Make sure both milk and butter are cold. This is critical for light, fluffy biscuits. Frozen butter is even better. Grate frozen butter with a box grater into the flour mixture. If you’re really serious, put a metal mixing bowl of flour in the fridge the night before making the biscuits and you’ll have chilled ingredients ready to go.
Alternatively, you can cut the cold butter (or shortening) into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter until it’s the size of peas. Over mixing keeps biscuits from becoming flaky.
If possible, use White Lily self-rising flour for best results. Because self-rising flour contains leavening, make sure flour isn’t outdated.
Only work with dough on a cold surface. Remember cold dough makes flaky biscuits! Use a metal fork to mix. Heat from your hands warms the dough.
After rolling the dough, cut it in half and stack it, that is cut, stack, roll. Do this 3 times if you want to give biscuits a layered look.
Don’t twist the biscuit cutter. Cut straight down and lift up.
For soft-sided biscuits, arrange each in a pan so that edges touch slightly. Being close helps them to rise taller.
Brush tops with butter during last several minutes of cooking for crispier, browner tops.
Reheat bakes biscuits in toaster oven or wrap loosely in foil and warm in oven.