I did it! I finally made a batch of biscuits!! Seriously, you guys don’t even know how many tries it took until I found a recipe that worked for me! But here they are… aren’t they gorgeous?! And the best part of all- hubby enthusiastically approved!
Homemade Biscuits
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 c. shortening, chilled
- 2/3 c. milk
In a large bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients. Cut the shortening into squares, and “cut” them in; I just use two butter knives and literally cut the shortening up into the flour mixture until it’s all nice and crumbly. The flour should stick together when squeezed between your fingers. If there is a lot of dry flour in the bottom of the bowl, keep cutting in the shortening until it’s all well incorporated.
Form the crumbly mixture into a hill, and create a “well” or hole in the center. Pour your milk into the hole. Using a spoon (I like a big wooden one), stir all together just until the dough sticks together.
Next, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed it about 10 times, until it’s nice and elastic, and a tad bit sticky still. Don’t work it too much, the less you handle it, the fluffier the biscuits will be. *Flouring your hands and the rolling pin will help keep the dough from sticking to them. Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/2″ thick. I use a canning jar lid to cut my biscuits out.
Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 450* for about 12 minutes. They won’t be brown on top. If you want them nice and golden brown, take them out of the oven once the time is up, and rub a stick of butter over the tops of the biscuits. Then turn the broiler on and broil the biscuits for about 30 seconds to one minute, until the tops begin to turn brown. Keep the oven door open, and watch them carefully as they will turn brown quickly!
Makes 10-12 biscuits.
A city girl learning to homestead on an acre of land in the country. Wife and homeschooling mother of four. Enjoying life, and everything that has to do with self sufficient living.
These are great!! I even baked them on the grill and they turned out amazing!! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Oh, I meant to say, you can stir and drop- less kneading makes fluffier biscuits. Use the margarine while its soft but cold.
Martha White flour makes good biscuits. Make enough to freeze. They sure are good, fresh or frozen!
What is the secret? I recently tried making biscuits thinking it would be a cinch. Not so much. I will try again and even use your recipe, but what am I doing wrong? Does it just take a lot of practice? Yours look so yummy!
wayside wanderer- what goes wrong with your biscuits? you name it, I’ve done it! are they too hard… too sticky… too flat??
Thanks, I am going to try for Easter Sunrise Service at church. I have had a hard time finding a good recipe that works for me too…I hope this one will work…Thanks again, Holly
Please ask me for help if you need any troubleshooting 🙂 It took me forever to figure out how to keep the dough from just becoming one big sticky mess, or the biscuits from being more like hockey pucks! Good luck!
When I make them, I use butter instead of shortening (no trans fats), and I roll them out a little thiner, and then fold it in half before I cut them – when you bake them like this they are precut.
I would love to try them with freshly rendered lard… but I haven’t attempted that yet.
These are things that generations past learned at the apron strings of their mothers. We have to bring these “simple” kinds of things back. Biscuits are harder than they seem. Next step…replace the shortening with homemade rendered lard…come on pork chop 🙂
I am so glad you posted this. Al ot of my family members would make fun of me because I couldn’t no matter how hard I tried make a simple brisket. It took me literally 20 years or more to get one that worked for me and it is very similar to yours. I felt so silly I would even watch them make a batch and still could not get it. Thank you so much for posting this I am not the only one out there. Your such a blessing.
You might try some brushing the top with milk or egg to brown them instead, much less trouble.
beautiful! Ive always been “dough challanged” but Im going to try these.