I have been wanting to make perfect biscuit for many years. I do not have a grandma/ma who can make good biscuits. In fact, I'm probably the best cook in my whole family. But I can't make good biscuits. In the past I always have kind of searched in the dark, not knowing how the ingredients work together. Recently I watched Alton Brown's show on biscuits and I learned a lot, so today I decided to try it out. I used the recipe from the back of the flour package (for a reason):

2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of buttermilk (which I don't have, and I'm trapped in the house due to icy roads, so I substituted Alton Brown's skim milk+lemon juice. But since I don't have milk either, I used coffee creamer, water and lemon juice, pathetic)
1/2 cup of shortening (I followed Alton Brown's choice of part shortening and part butter, because butter has too much water in it. So 2 tbsp of butter and 6 tbsp of shortening)

I do not have biscuit cutter, so I used my hand to form the biscuits. I made 16 small biscuits using 2 cups of flour.

450 degree oven for 10 minutes.

result is very fluffy biscuits, BUT, the top isn't browned at all, and is a slab of white crispy crust. Well, that's not the result I'm expecting for. I have seen good biscuits made without biscuit cutter, they are perfectly browned on top. I think if I bake them longer the crust will become thicker, giving me dry biscuits. I'm kinda confused about this browning part. 10 minutes isn't supposed to be enough for browning, is it?

Dissolve some sugar in water (just enough water to dissolve the sugar), and brush the tops of the biscuits with a very small amount before you put them in the oven.

OK send some to Bangor Maine in the U.S. and I'll taste test them for you :yes:

Erm, I'm not an expert; I've always used the Bisquick recipe.

But

If you want some browning, and don't mind it not being true to form, get a blowtorch and do a quick once over as in browning a sugary desert :flamethrower: :cake:

But really, mine have turned out alright with the mix. :shrug:

Oh, you're doing it all wrong! You need to build a little fire on top of your dutch oven to get them perfectly golden! :nod: Cheesy bisuits on trail are a huge morale boost!

Wait...conventional....I'm still thinking that you need more top heat, but when it comes to baking there are so many variables like humidity, temp, etc. or is that just bread?

I still say make it fun and get a dutch oven and cook over coals. Then you can have an excuse for them not being perfect, or be a god when they ARE perfect, and, your being an Alton fan, you can appreciate the multitask capabilites of a good dutch oven :thumbsup:

Finally, regarding the shaping, I've never used a cutter for them, just a wad of dough balled up as quickly as possible. Are you leaving points on them, from the natural stickiness?

That's what my grandma does. Or puts a bit of butter on the top. I think anything that heats up more quick than the dough mixture will help(sugar heats up fast, and can even catch fire when placed on hot surfaces, butter has oil in it, which also heats up quickly).

Get a cooking brush and spread a little butter or oil on top before baking.

I watched alton brown's show again, apparently he put 1 cup of liquid into 2 cups of flour. a 2:1 ratio is a very wet dough. He also suggested that it should be a very wet and sticky messy dough. Today mine was harder. also he baked at a lower temparature 400 and.. he didn't say how long, lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyBZE0kBtE

Details at 1:05.....

less spam please...

OK...I'll leave room for the remaining 191 serious replies.
:facepalm:

I recommend the kind that come in a package that you whop on the edge of the counter. I'm lazy like that.

Here's an old school trick;

Freeze the butter and shortening then use a cheese grater to combine into the dry mix. And your right about the hand forming of biscuits; the less you work the dough, the fluffier they get. Forget about cutters, but if you are seriously anol about form, then prep the dough and just cut into squares with a pizza cutter.

The secret to fluffy biscuits is the flour. The secret to high rising biscuits is vinegar or some other acid like lemon juice.
You need a soft winter wheat, which has less protein and doesn't form glutinous strands.
White Lily is an excellent flour for biscuits. Flours like Gold Medal and Pillsbury are hard winter wheat flours, and produce dry b iscuits.
I never use self rising flour, instead I use all purpose, with baking powder and salt. I mix it with a whisk until all dry ingredients are blended. Sometimes I add herbs and grated cheese to the flour mixture. Then I cut my fats in, (I use canola oil, which has no trans fatty acids like shortnings and margarines do) When the dough is pea sized granules, I add milk which has been soured with vinegar. Wet stuff starts the chemical reaction for the leavening process. The vinegar reacts with the baking powder (which is compromised of baking soda and cream of tartar) making it rise even higher that it would have if you had simply added milk.
Check your oven, and make sure that it is calibrated correctly, it could be a few or many degress off. Use an oven thermometer, they can be bought at grocery stores and are not expensive.
Also, coffee creamer has no dairy, it's actally sugar and fats.

Yes, wet dough is preferrable for biscuits. I bake my biscuits for about twenty minutes, at most, if that helps.

Not sure what all has been suggested but for the buttermilk put a teaspoon of vinegar in the regular milk and for better browning of the tops, brush with butter or milk before baking. If you like the bottom crisp, use a shiny pan and not a non-stick one.

Also make sure not to work the dough anymore than you must to get it to stick together as they will be tougher the longer you mess with it.

For a biscuit cutter wash out an open soup can and use it to cut the biscuits or just shape them by hand.