Sunday, October 11, 2009

Gold Medal Flour - Extraordinary Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

I promised you a simple and bullet proof biscuit recipe when I posted the butter recipe a few days back.   Here it is.

This is right off of the back of the Flour Bag.   Go to the supermarket and get Self Rising Flour.  Make certain that it is "Self Rising Flour".   That's important for this recipe.   I used Gold Medal Flour the first time and the biscuits turned out perfect, I used store brand Self Rising Flour from Publix and it turned out perfect as well...

You also need the Buttermilk from the Butter Recipe, so if you haven't broken down and tried it, you should.  Otherwise you can substitute Whipping Cream or Milk.  Don't go for skim, it needs the fat to make them taste right.

Ingredient list:
2 1/2 Cups Self Rising Flour - Make certain that it is Self Rising Flour!
2 teaspoons of Sugar
1/2 cup of Butter - You did make this yourself, right?
3/4 to 1 cup (or more) of Buttermilk - Again, you did make this yourself, right?

Ok, I'll believe you there...

The recipe from the Gold Medal Self Rising Flour Bag is simple.

Preheat your oven to 450F
Stir together your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl:
2 1/2 cups Self Rising Flour
2 Teaspoons of Sugar

Using pastry blender or fork, cut in  1/2 cup butter until mixture is crumbly

Stir in 3/4 to 1 cup of Buttermilk until dough leaves side of bowl.   If dough is dry, add buttermilk a teaspoon at a time until it looks right.  Depending on how thick your buttermilk is will determine how much you need - thick buttermilk means you need more.   I had buttermilk before that was more like Yogurt and ended up using 1 1/2 cups.

The recipe calls for you to roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface.   Since I shoot for a sticky dough I  have a 1/4 cup measuring cup that I use to measure out biscuits.   Pack this dough down into the measuring cup, I'm always a little generous with it, and scoop it out onto your cookie sheet.

When the oven is at temperature, put the cookie sheet with the approximately 10 to 12 biscuits into the oven at 450.  The Recipe calls for 10 to 12 minutes.   I found that my oven runs "hot" and I end up baking this recipe for as much as 15 minutes.  I would check the biscuits every 2 minutes past the first 10 minutes until you learn what the biscuits "want".   

Bread Baking is an organic, and living process.  It is always a little different every time.

Be patient and remember, it is a living thing, treat your bread and biscuits with care.

Now that having been said, I have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.   I have a nasty habit of tossing all the ingredients in there, turning it on until it looks right, then spooning them out onto the cookie sheet.  I know, I KNOW!, there's some dear Southern Woman who is aghast at the idea that someone would make biscuits in a mixer that way but this really is a forgiving recipe and will turn out if you do it that way in the big ol mixer.

I promise, really I do.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks I couldn't find this recipe anywhere. I didn't Gold Flour last grocery visit, but Pillsbury. Totally different biscuit recipe.. and I don't have crisco.

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  2. Thank you for checking it out!

    I know the Pillsbury Recipe and I had tried it out when I didn't get the Gold Medal flour once. I don't think the Pillsbury recipe is quite as good as Gold Medal's recipe so that is the one I make weekly. Its always a winner!

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  3. I always have a problem cutting in the butter or shortening. I found that putting my dry ingredients in my food processor with the butter or shortening and processing it for a fw secondds works just as well. I never thought of using my stand mixer. I will try that next time.

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  4. I will say this is one of the most popular blog postings I have here. The recipe works well every time for me.

    The stand mixer for biscuits is a bit unorthodox, but my resulting batter turns out perfect every time. It also looks more like bread dough than a regular biscuit batter.

    Hope that helps!

    Bill

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  5. This is a great biscuit recipe. I've been a flop at making biscuits for as long as I can remember. Husband is Southern boy, so was really missing good Southern style biscuits, and this recipe is it. Yeah, at last!

    For those readers that are as biscuit challenged as I was, I've learned a few tricks that might help. I've learned that to get nice, light and flakey biscuits are to... Use frozen butter. ( I keep my butter in the freezer anyway, so it's always handy, and I use unsalted butter) Then instead of trying to cut it in, I shred it through the large sized holes on a box grater. Use really cold Buttermilk, also.

    Then I take a fork and lightly toss the flour and butter around. After the butter is gently tossed through the flour, I sometimes take my fingers and gently, and quickly as possible take my fingers and kind of flatten out the butter flakes a little bit. This incorporates the butter and flour a little bit better without making the biscuits tough. It's not necessary to do this part if you don't have the time. But it may depend on the size of the holes in your grater. I've done it both ways.

    Then mix in the buttermilk just until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Don't be too meticulous with this part. The less stirring the better. Then dump the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface. ( I use a lightly floured silpat mat.)

    Then gently with your hands, kind of form a rough round shape with the dough mixture. Then you can either roll out, or pat into a rectangle about I/2 to 3/4 inch high. Then either use a biscuit cutter, or just cut the dough into squares about 1 1/2 to 2 inches across with a knife or a bench knife. If you cut the rectangle of dough with a knife or bench knife, you won't have to re-roll any leftover scraps. Re-rolling too many times tends to toughen the biscuits.

    I like to place my biscuits close together, with sides touching. This gives them a nice pillow like texture on the insides and also helps them to rise nice and high.

    Anyway, thanks for posting the recipe. I hadn't written it down, and it had been a while since I'd made them. Had bought some King Arthur Flour, so was needing the Gold Medal proportions.

    Best regards to you!
    a grateful reader in Louisiana

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  6. I tried this recipe today and boy is it a winner. I have tried so many recipes before and this one is a keeper. I do agree the "fat" should be cold...

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  7. the secret to good biscuts is not to overdo the kneading. Over Kneading will make you biscuts hard as bricks

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