Betty Crocker Biscuits From Scratch Food

BETTY CROCKER'S BAKING POWDER BISCUITS (LIGHT, FLAKY AND TENDER)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450F degrees.
• Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Cut in shortening using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves side of bowl (dough will be soft and sticky).
• Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll or pat 3/4 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 ½ -inch round cutter. Place on ungreased cooked sheet about 1 inch apart for crusty sides, touching for soft sides (I prefer crusty sides). After cutting as many biscuits as possible, lightly press-don't knead- the scraps of dough together to make 1 to 2 more biscuits.
• Bake 10 to 12 min or until golden brown. Serve warm.
• Note: This recipe doubles very well. Every time that I make these, I always double this recipe. To double, simply double all the ingredients. Also, the key to high-rise, flaky biscuits is having really fresh baking powder and not overworking the dough. Even if your baking powder is not expired, the biscuits will not rise if the baking powder has clumps inside the container. Also, I cannot emphasize enough to just lightly knead the dough 10 times; over-kneading will produce a tough biscuit. When you pat the dough to ¾ inch thickness, the baking powder will already be activating the dough to rise. Do not re-pat the dough down again because the air bubbles forming will make the biscuits flaky.
• Betty Crocker's Tips for Biscuits: Tip One: One secret to making flaky biscuits is thoroughly blending or "cutting in" the shortening and dry ingredients. A pastry blender, which breaks the shortening into little lumps works great for cutting inches If you don't have one, you can crisscross two table knives through the flour and shortening or use a wire whisk.
• Tip Two: Use a biscuit cutter dipped in flour to cut the dough, pushing the cutter straight down through the dough. If you twist as you cut, the biscuits will be uneven. Cut the biscuits as close together as possible. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, use the end of an open 6-ounce juice can or other narrow can or glass, or use cookie cutters for fun shapes. Dip in flour before cutting.

SELF-RISING BISCUITS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray. Place flour in large bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk; stir with fork until soft dough forms and mixture begins to pull away from sides of bowl.
• On lightly floured surface, knead dough just until smooth. Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured 2-inch round cutter. Place biscuits with sides touching on cookie sheet.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

BETTY'S BISCUITS SUPREME

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl.
• Measure shortening and cut into flour mixture with pastry blender, two knives or blending fork, until mixture looks like "meal."
• Stir in almost all the milk.
• If dough does not seem pliable, add the remaining milk using just enough to make a soft, puffy dough easy to roll out.
• Knead quickly on a lightly floured board (too much handling makes tough biscuits).
• Roll out 1/4-inch thick for thin crusty biscuits and 1/2-inch thick for thick biscuits.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheet; close together for biscuits with soft sides, an inch apart for biscuits with crusty sides.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

EASY BAKING POWDER DROP BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the cold butter with a knife or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk a little at a time, stirring lightly between additions.
• Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden.

STIR AND ROLL BISCUITS (BETTY CROCKER COOKBOOK)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees.
• Measure and sift (important!) dry ingredients into bowl.
• Pour oil and milk into measuring cup- do not stir together; pour all at once into flour mixture.
• Stir until mixture cleans side of bowl and forms a ball. If dough is too sticky, add some flour. If it's not sticking together enough, add a bit more milk.
• To knead dough, turn onto a sheet of wax paper (or plastic wrap--I use plastic wrap because it's much cheaper and I don't always have wax paper) that's big enough so that you can fold the paper (or plastic) over on to the ball of dough and press it flat. Fold the dough over on itself several times or until it looks smooth. This is kind of like kneading bread dough.
• Pat or roll the dough until it's 1/2 inch thick.
• Cut dough with unfloured biscuit cutter (or just a regular knife--square biscuits are just as delicious as round ones!). Ensure that each of the biscuit has been cut around its entire perimeter; the cut edges have the best texture! I usually make a dough rectangle and then cut it into squares with a sharp non-serrated knife, taking care to cut off the outer 1/4 inch so that all of the biscuits have four nice cut edges.
• Place on ungreased, single-layer baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure to check to see if the bottoms have browned before removing from oven!