In this episode I learned the proper way to make a southern biscuit from Alton’s grandmother Ma-Mae. Unfortunately, in Las Vegas I was unable to find a soft winter wheat flour as suggested, so I had to make my own. Make sure before making these recipes that your leavening ingredients are fresh, they have a very specific shelf life and it will make a world of difference in your baking.

Southern Biscuits
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons butter, chilled
* 2 tablespoons shortening, chilled
* 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions

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.

MA MAE’S BISCUITS
Advice courtesy Mae Skelton
I don’t have much use for recipes but the one you get on a bag of White Lily(r) self-rising flour is hard to beat. And it’s a lot easier than the one my crazy grandson dreamed up.
Recipe Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

These biscuits were nice and fluffy. I used 3 part AP flour and 1 part cake flour as Alton suggests in the episode. These are a nice basic biscuit, but I felt they were lacking a bit in flavor, this might be because I was using unsalted butter. Next time I will use the salted butter. I would add brushing the tops with buttermilk before cooking. All in all a pretty good recipe.

Shortcakes
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons shortening
* 3/4 cup half and half
* Melted butter to brush shortcakes
* Berries
* Ice cream or whipped cream

Directions

Heat oven 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Cool and eat with berries, ice cream and/or whipped cream.
Recipe Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

These were exactly like the biscuits but slightly sweet with the sprinkled sugar on top. I wanted to cut them with my biscuit cutter, because I like them when they are more uniform, but I resisted and dropped them on the pan instead. Whipped cream and berries make this a yummy treat!

Scones
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons shortening
* 3/4 cup cream
* 1 egg
* Handful dried currants or dried cranberries

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.
Recipe Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

These were my favorite of the day! I used the dried cranberries. They were light, creamy and sweet! Len who doesn’t like Scones said he liked these.