Well, land sakes' - it's been a while!  I guess I had more going on than I thought.  October is a busy month for me - but time to get to the business at hand...

Biscuits - wasn't that the intended pursuit?

Well, I am amazed at the people who never have real biscuits.  Let me think of the different kind of biscuits I have been exposed to.....the good ones.  The bad ones all get lumped into one pile labelled "Don't want to talk about it."

Biscuits are a quick bread, meaning that they don't - in laymen's terms - have a rising period the way a yeast bread does.  The leavening agent is usually baking powder and the reaction (rising) begins as soon as the baking powder comes into contact with sugar liquid and heat.  If you leave the dough or batter of a quick bread sitting for a bit you can see it will form bubbles as the carbon dioxide is produced.

O.K., that's enough lab talk!  When I was growing up my mother only used self-rising flour for our breads.  She would mix the biscuits and fat (lard or Crisco) together well with her hands and then (after washing her hands!) she would add milk and mix it to a creamy but not runny consistency.  When the milk was mixed in she would drop the biscuit dough- using a large spoon- onto a pan.  They dough was thick enough that they held their shape and smooth out only slightly during baking.  They would bake at about 400 or 425 degrees.  This one food item probably is one of the cornerstones of my food memories!  And, because of the way they are formed, they are called "drop biscuits."

My paternal granmother made her biscuits similarly, although they were in a small rectangular pan and baked with the sides touching, although you could distinguish one biscuit from another.  When taken out of the pan, they were square.  And good. I remember that she always kept her leftovers in the first shelf of an upper cabinet that was to the left of the kitchen sink.  You could look in there any time and find leftover fried steak or sausage or chicken, and almost always, biscuits.

My maternal granmother made her biscuits similar to my mother's, but her batter was a little drier and she would spoon the dough into her flour covered hand and shape it.  I think I mentioned earlier that hers always had ridges across the tops where she would press the back of her fingers as the last shaping before she put them in the pan.

I do mine kind of the same and have always gotten good comments about them, but there has been one significant change in my bisctui making career, and that is the kind of flour that I use.  Run, don't walk to your nearest grocery store and make SURE they carry White Lily Flour.  It is a very soft flour made from winter wheat and it produces the most tender flaky biscuit your little Aunt Bee heart could desire.  If I switch flour for some absurd reason, my huband will take one bite and immediately make eye contact with me and either telepathically or verbally say "What is THIS about?"  A good biscuit day is a time of joy!

Here goes:

3 cups White Lily all purpose flour
1/2 cup (give or take...) Crisco brand shortening
1/2 - 3/4 cups milk

Cut shortening into flour with pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the milk, a little at a time until the dry ingredients are all moistened.  Sprinkle more flour over the top of the dough, and put some on the counter.  Turn the dough out onto the counter and sprinkle flour over the pile.  Using your hands or a flat scraper, work the dough just two or three times, and hold the whole of it in your well floured hands.  smooth itjust a little, lay it back on the flour-dusted counter and lightly roll it to about 3/4 to 1" thick.

Spread a little Crisco onto the baking sheet and place it in a warm oven until melted.  Put the pan on the counter so that the end farthest away is elevated a little so the Crisco will pool in the end of the pan.  Using a clean biscuit cutter dipped in flour.  Begin to cut the biscuits, cutting straight down into the dough - don't turn or twist the cutter.  Place the biscuit in the poole Crisco, then with a spatula, lift it up and flip it onto the other side at the top of the pan.  This is to coat both sides the the melted shortening.

When the pan is full, bake at 450 for about 15 to twenty minutes.  Remove from the oven when the tops are golden.  Serve immediately.

They are wonderful!!!  And save any left overs to split and toast in the morning for breakfast!   These biscuits are a little "short (crumbly) to be used for ham biscuits, but I will hve to talk to my Aunt Emily to find out her technique for a biscuit that can do that.  Oh to be at Grandmother's again.....I'll have to tell you later about breakfast at her house with the platter of fried eggs and a pan of sugar toast!!! Until then I will just dream about it!!