Grandma's Baking Powder Biscuits
Submitted by bradfod
Grandma’s baking powder biscuits use five pantry ingredients to deliver tall, flaky biscuits with crisp golden tops and tender layers inside. Cut, drop, or buttermilk variations all baked in a hot oven for that signature lift. Old-school comfort, no fancy gear needed.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
20 minREADY
40 minThese biscuits prove you don’t need a stand mixer or a marble slab to bake great breakfast bread. Five ingredients, a fork, and a hot oven do the work.
The pastry blender step is what separates good biscuits from sad ones. Cut the shortening into the flour until it looks like coarse cornmeal with pea-sized lumps. Those lumps melt during baking and create the steam pockets that give biscuits their signature flaky layers.
Knead lightly. Ten to twelve folds is enough. Overworking the dough develops gluten, which gives you tough, dense biscuits that taste like dinner rolls.
A blistering hot oven at the start is what drives the rise. The shortening hits the heat, water flashes to steam, and the biscuits puff straight up before the crumb sets.
The recipe gives you three doors: classic cut biscuits, lazy drop biscuits with extra milk, or tangy buttermilk biscuits with a pinch of baking soda. Pick your weapon.
Pro Tips
- Use cold shortening straight from the pantry. Warm fat melts into the flour and kills the flake.
- Don’t twist the cutter. Press straight down and lift, or the biscuit edges seal and won’t rise tall.
- Set biscuits with edges touching for soft sides, or one inch apart for crisper edges.
- Brush tops with melted butter the second they come out of the oven for shine and flavor.
Variations
- Stir in a half cup of grated sharp cheddar and a tablespoon of chives for savory cheese biscuits.
- Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before baking for a sweet riff.
- Use bacon grease in place of half the shortening for Southern-style smoky biscuits.
Ingredients
Directions
BAKING POWDER BISCUITS: In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the center.
Add milk all at once.
Using a fork, stir just until moistened.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Quickly knead dough by gently folding and pressing dough 10 to 12 strokes or until nearly smooth.
Pat or lightly roll dough to ½-inch thickness.
Cut dough with a 2½- inch biscuit cutter (if you don’t have a biscuit cutter, a glass works well to cut biscuits).
Place biscuits 1 inch apart on a ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in a 450℉ (230℃) oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.
Remove from baking sheet; serve warm.
Makes 10 biscuits.
DROP BISCUITS: To make drop biscuits: Prepare as above, except increase milk to 1 cup.
Do not knead or roll or cut dough.
Using a big spoon drop dough into 12 mounds on a greased baking sheet.
Bake as directed above.
Makes 12 biscuits.
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS: Prepare as above, except stir ¼ teaspoon baking soda into dry mixture and substitute buttermilk or sour milk for the milk Bake as directed above.
Makes 10 to 12 biscuits.
Serve with jam, cream, or butter if desired.
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