Welcome to part 2 of biscuit-palooza, where a few biscuit lovers are searching for the answer to the age old question--cream or lard? During part 1 of biscuit-palooza we tested a cream biscuit recipe. This part 2 recipe falls into the lard category; these biscuits are made with butter, buttermilk, and vegetable shortening. A word about vegetable shortening, i.e., Crisco. It's weird--and scary. It's also not good for you. Still, we wanted to try it to see if shortening improved the taste. Plus all of us remember having cans of Crisco in our childhood homes, so it was a little bit of nostalgia as well.
| 2 1/2 |
cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces), plus additional flour for work surface |
| 1 |
tablespoon baking powder |
| 1/2 |
teaspoon baking soda |
| 1 |
teaspoon table salt |
| 2 |
tablespoons vegetable shortening , cut into 1/2-inch chunks |
| 8 |
tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, lightly floured and cut into 1/8-inch slices (see illustration below) |
| 2 |
tablespoons unsalted butter , melted |
|
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk , cold
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add shortening to flour mixture; break up chunks with fingertips until
only small, pea-sized pieces remain. Working in batches, drop butter
slices into flour mixture and toss to coat; pick up each slice of
butter and press between floured fingertips into flat, nickel-sized
pieces (see photos below). Repeat until all butter is
incorporated; toss to combine. Freeze mixture (in bowl) until chilled,
about 15 minutes. Spray 24-inch-square area
of work surface with nonstick cooking spray; spread spray evenly across
surface with kitchen towel or paper towel. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of extra
flour across sprayed area; gently spread flour across work surface with
palm to form thin, even coating. Add all but 2 tablespoons of
buttermilk to flour mixture; stir briskly with fork until ball forms
and no dry bits of flour are visible, adding remaining buttermilk as
needed (dough will be sticky and shaggy but should clear sides of
bowl). With rubber spatula, transfer dough onto center of prepared work
surface, dust surface lightly with flour, and, with floured hands,
bring dough together into cohesive ball. Pat
dough into approximate 10-inch square; roll into 18 by 14-inch
rectangle about 1/4 inch thick, dusting dough and rolling pin with
flour as needed. Using bench scraper or
thin metal spatula, fold dough into thirds, brushing any excess flour
from surface; lift short end of dough and fold in thirds again to form
approximate 6 by 4-inch rectangle. Rotate dough 90 degrees, dusting
work surface underneath with flour; roll and fold dough again, dusting
with flour as needed. Roll dough into
10-inch square about 1/2 inch thick; flip dough and cut nine 3-inch
rounds with floured biscuit cutter, dipping cutter back into flour
after each cut. Carefully invert and transfer rounds to ungreased
baking sheet, spaced 1 inch apart. Gather dough scraps into ball; roll
and fold once or twice until scraps form smooth dough. Roll dough into
1/2-inch-thick round; cut three more 3-inch rounds and transfer to
baking sheet. Discard excess dough. Brush
biscuit tops with melted butter. Bake, without opening oven door, until
tops are golden brown and crisp, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool on baking
sheet 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
|
THE VERDICT: Delicious, flaky, biscuits. I could eat these all day long. ALL DAY. This biscuit tasted better than the first test, but was also a little more work, including rolling out dough and adding the butter and shortening by hand. A side-by-side comparison would rate these as tastier, but more difficult to make than the cream biscuit. I guess it all depends on how much time you have. If you have ten minutes, make the cream biscuits; if you have 25-30 minutes, then these are a better choice.
Stay tuned for part 3 of biscuit-palooza.
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