Ray Greggs Batch Biscuits Southern Style Food

SOUTHERN BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
• Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)
• Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

GREG'S SOUTHERN BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet with 1/2 teaspoon of lard.
• Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Grate the frozen butter and 2 tablespoons frozen lard into the flour mixture with a cheese grater; stir lightly 1 or 2 times to mix. With your fingers, make a well in the middle of the flour mixture, and pour the bacon drippings and buttermilk into the well. With just the tips of your fingers, stir lightly and quickly to just bring the dough together before the butter and lard melt. Dough will be sticky.
• Scrape dough out onto a floured surface, and gently pat the dough flat. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, and fold it in half; pat down, fold again, and repeat until you have folded the dough 4 or 5 times. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a square about 1 inch thick. Cut the biscuit dough into rounds with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter or the floured edge of a drinking glass by pushing straight down (twisting the cutter will seal the edge and keep the biscuits from rising). Lay the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet so the edges just touch.
• Bake in the preheated oven until risen and lightly golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

SOUTHERN-STYLE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• In a bowl and using your fingers, mix the flour and coconut oil together very well until the mixture feels crumbly. Add the milk and mix (but don't overmix). Knead the dough just a couple of times, then roll it out to a thickness of 1/2 inch on a floured surface. Cut into 3-inch rounds and put the rounds on a baking sheet.
• Bake for about 3 minutes, then liberally brush the biscuits with melted butter. Bake until golden, about 12 more minutes.