I’ve always liked to cook, but I’ve never really delved into baking. It always seemed so fussy. However, as they say, the first step in being kinda good at something is being really bad at it, so I decided I should try anyway. All said, pretty pleased with the result, especially the evidence of laminated layers.
American biscuits are a form of quickbread. Chemically leavened, with fats worked into the flour.
Super simple in terms of ingredients, and fairly easy to make (though also easy enough to screw up).
You take your flour w/leaveners, then cut in whatever fat you’re using; butter, lard, bacon grease, shortening, whatever.
Then mix in the liquid. It’s usually milk, or milk products like buttermilk.
From there you very gently work the dough until it’s sticky and can be formed.
If you want flakier biscuits, you roll and fold a bit, getting laminations and then cutting. If you want them soft and fluffy, do nothing but form them into balls by hand. In between, you roll them out to preferred thickness then cut. Cutting can be like in this post, or using a round cutter.
You then place them on a lightly greased pan. If you want softer sides, you place them close enough together to make sure they touch as they rise in the oven. For crusty sides, give them space.
Biscuits, particularly southern style biscuits, are an art form of sorts. The least rigid kind of baking there is imo. There’s a ton of variation in textures and flavor.
Very good explanation, thank you.