Biscuits: The Heavenly Bread

By: Angela Gillaspie Copyright © February 2002

With the morning dew, God laid a dusting of manna over the desert floor for His people to eat. The Israelites weren't sure what the white stuff was so Moses said something like, "Eat up, y'all! This here's biscuits from God!" Sure I'm paraphrasing, but you get the message - biscuits are the heavenly bread.

Biscuits are really easy to make, but many folks opt for the whop-the-can-against-the-counter-over-and-over-scaring-the-dog biscuits. One warning: canned biscuits do expire. My friend Alice survived to tell the tale of expired biscuits.

One evening she sat a can of biscuits out in a warm sunny patch on the kitchen counter while she started cooking supper. With a mighty roar (much like Moses probably heard the second morning after the Israelites dug into their heavenly bread), the can exploded. Thinking her trailer was under attack, Alice dove underneath the kitchen table for cover. Hearing the explosion over the lawnmower, her husband killed the motor, and blasted through the door to find Alice in tears with an economy sized can of fermented biscuit dough in her hair (and on the ceiling, floor, walls, curtains, and cat) with the gravy boiling over on the stove. Alice told me, "It's truly amazing how one can of slightly-expired biscuits when heated in direct sunlight can ferment and rise enough to feed a third world nation."

Most Southern women learn to make biscuits before they learn to flirt. As soon as my three sisters and I mastered this art, our popularity soared. My older sister had lots of friends that loved to visit; I was in awe of her popularity. She later explained to me the reason she had so many friends: Momma's famous biscuits. I bet that her biscuit making ability was what put her on the homecoming court.

My younger sister made biscuits for a high school home economics project. Her teacher was so impressed that she urged my sister to enter them in the county fair. She selected two or three of the best looking biscuits of the batch and entered them. Her best friend couldn't cook, so my sister gave her friend some of her "uglier" biscuits to enter in the fair. My sister won first place and her friend won second.

To make biscuits, you need three basic ingredients: flour, fat, and liquid.

• Flour. There are a bazillion kinds of flour - whole wheat, cake, bread, rye, rice, potato, corn, and buckwheat to name a few, but the best choice for biscuits is a soft wheat flour. Soft wheat has a lower protein content - the higher the protein, the more chewy the bread. What brand of flour you choose is up to you, and many a family feud has started over using Gold Medal®, Martha White®, or White Lily®. Myself, I use White Lily® self-rising flour because I have to - it's in my family's bylaws.
• Fat. Ah yes, the culinary "f-word." Nowadays, folks think it's bad to use fat, but let me tell you something: reducing fat in the recipe robs the biscuit of tenderness and will cause uneven rising. Momma taught me to use about two tablespoons of fat per cup of flour. My granny would make biscuits (and gravy too) with whatever fat she had on hand. If she made fried chicken, she'd use the chicken grease, or at breakfast, she'd use bacon drippings. If she didn't have any grease, she used either lard or oil. Me? I've used butter and bacon grease, but my fat of choice is Crisco® vegetable shortening - it makes the most tender biscuit. (Just so you know, leftover fish grease will NOT make good biscuits.)
• Liquid. Most folks choose either milk or buttermilk for the liquid. Sure, you can use water, but I've noticed that water makes the dough too thin (although I have an uncle that liked to use his corn mashings). Buttermilk gives a better consistency to the dough so that you don't have to work it as much - the more you handle the dough - the tougher the biscuit. My liquid of choice is regular whole milk because I always have it on hand.

Biscuit making technique varies from house to house, but one thing is for certain: you must watch the oven temperature. A slow oven (300º thereabouts) won't cook the inside or brown the tops like a fast oven (about 400-450º). But a kiln will char the biscuit, as one of my unnamed relatives can attest.

Biscuits are a staple on all tables, not just Southern. Whipping them up from scratch or whopping the counter trying to open canned biscuits, we eat them with breakfast, lunch, supper, and snack on them in between meals. You can top them with all kinds of stuff like syrup, honey, butter, or jelly. Best of all you can use a biscuit as an edible utensil to sop up drippings and to help get the peas onto the fork.

Whether you use them for topping or sopping, biscuits are definitely the heavenly bread.

Momma's Biscuits

About 2 cups Self-rising flour, "Must be White Lily®," Momma says
About 1/4 cup Solid Vegetable Shortening (I use Crisco®)
Milk - start with about 2/3 cup

Preheat oven to 450°.

Cut solid vegetable shortening into flour, keeping in mind that the more shortening you use, the flakier (and greasier) the biscuits will be. Add enough milk to make a dough. Don't over-knead the dough, because it makes it tough.

If you want rolled biscuits, roll out dough, fold over, roll out, fold over, roll out, and fold over. This makes your layers in the biscuits. Cut out your biscuits and place on greased cookie sheet. I like great big old "cat-head" biscuits, but Momma prefers dainty biscuits.

If you want drop biscuits, just grease up a pan and drop the dough by big spoonfuls.

You're the master of your biscuits ... do whatever flips your trigger.

Bake your biscuits 7 to 10 minutes until they are lightly brown on top and bottom.