Making Biscuits!

[Tuckervill]

My grandmother made the best biscuits you ever tasted. They were the size of a cat's head, too. I loved them, but I've never known how to make them. She passed in 2005, and she wasn't able to make them the last 10 years of her life, so I don't remember much about making them.

My mother never made biscuits unless they came out of a can. I've always wanted to know how, so I decided that this week I would learn. But none of this rolling and cutting business for me. That's too much cleaning up--especially since I once saw an older, country woman at a camp out making biscuits right out of the bowl of flour, one at a time, and then saw her put the lid on the flour bowl and use it again the next morning.

That's my kind of biscuit making, right there! It has taken a few years to for the planets to align and remind me I wanted to do this. Today was the day!

I googled and found this Southern woman making biscuits with her practiced hands. This is just how the woman at camp did it, but like I said, one at a time in her bowl. But this woman didn't give any proportions or say anything about the flour. I didn't look close enough to the White Lily bag to see that it was self rising. My first batch didn't come out too well--edible, but lumpy.

Not discouraged, I googled some more, and found this. A-HA! Pinch biscuits! That's what they are! I whipped up a batch (this recipe makes a LOT). They were fantastic!

"Now let's eat!"

Karen

[OakLeaf]

I hate to be the one to break the news:

At the end of June, operations ceased at the Knoxville, Tenn., plant where this classically Southern flour had been milled since 1883. That flour, produced by the former owner of the White Lily brand, C.H. Guenther & Sons, has been a favorite all over the region, and now the brand's new owners -- the J.M Smucker Co. -- hope it will retain its mystique even though Smucker is milling it in Ohio.

Well-known Southern food mavens already are crying foul, and a blind test the New York Times conducted shows there are differences between the Tennessee White Lily and the Midwestern White Lily.

[SouthernBelle]

Martha White self rising flour.

[Tuckervill]

I looked for Martha White in the IGA, because I know that's what my grandmother always used, but they didn't have it. So, I used Gold Medal.

In my search, I ran across a website that had a list of flours and their protein content. White Lily and Martha White were both at the bottom of the content pile, right next to cake flour.

Here's the site.
http://pinchmysalt.com/2007/09/18/ho...-from-scratch/ But she wanted to roll them, and I didn't so I didn't use that one.

Karen

[SouthernBelle]

MW's website has a store locator. Aren't you in Arkansas? I can't believe you can't find it there!

ETA: You know, of course, that the best biscuits are made with lard.

[Irulan]

I've been making scratch biscuits for years, with soups or stews. I use the recipe for fluffy buiscuits in Joy of Cooking. The secret- handle absolutely minimally.