Vintage Biscuit Making

Biscuits are the best. They are my absolute favorite food. I love everything about them. I love baking them, I love eating them, and I love how everyone has a particular way they like them. They are so simple and humble, but there are so many styles, and ways to flavor them. To me, there is nothing that embodies home cooking more than a buttery biscuit. So I am so excited to cook a few of the biscuit recipes I found in my vintage community cookbooks. 

From classic buttermilk to flavorful sweet potatoes, I am going whip up a whole flight of delicious biscuits, but before you get started, it may help to know some of the basic tips and tricks to help you make your own perfect biscuit. 

I’m just a home cook, so I still have so much to learn about cooking, and tons of things I’m insecure about, but biscuits are my comfort zone. They were one of the first things I learned how to make, in fact I think they’re an awesome first bake for anyone at almost any age. They’re basic enough to build your confidence, but with enough technical aspects to make you proud to pull them off. Oh, and they’re delicious, so that’s a bonus! 

With a few tips and tricks, and a bit of practice, you’ll become a biscuit expert in no time. They are super simple, but there are a few unbreakable rules, and since I’m kind of a nerd about them, I thought I would make a video just for biscuit tips. I just posted several amazing biscuit recipes you can practice with, so check them out after this once you get these basic practices down.

So, first tip for biscuits- and this one’s especially important- very cold butter. Like pie crust or puff pastry, cold butter is the first step to a delicious flaky texture. I cut mine into cubes then refrigerate or even freeze it for 10 or 15 minutes while I prep everything else. That way, when you cut it into the flour, cold butter will stay solid without melting into the flour, and you want to leave as many large pieces as you can. Those big rough pieces are what causes layers of flaky deliciousness as it bakes. It’s what gives biscuits that distinct texture. 

BISCUIT TIP #2 - UNDER IS BETTER THAN OVER MIXING

And with that, comes the second tip - don’t over-mix. For the same reason as before, the last thing you want to do is over-mix and blend all those cold butter pieces into the dough. Also, the more you mix the flour, the chewier the final product will be. That’s because stirring and kneading activates gluten. A great thing for a lot of breads, but terrible for biscuits. Biscuits should be very tender, and fall apart into buttery layers when you bite into them, so the less you handle them, the better they will be. 

And that goes for kneading, too. You will need to knead a little, just enough so they will hold together and the flour gets hydrated evenly, but no more. I was always taught to knead exactly 19 times. No more, no less. I don’t even know where that number comes from, but it works, so I don’t ask questions. And by knead, I don’t mean the aggressive kneading you’ll use with some loaf breads you have to slap on the table and push through.  Kneading biscuits is more of a fold and press. Just fold the dough in half, away from you, and press together just enough to make it big enough to turn it 45 degrees and fold it in half again. Keep repeating the process of folding away from you, pressing, and turning to fold again, 19 times, and though dough will be just smooth enough to make the perfect biscuit. Don’t worry if it’s a little shaggy, often the shaggiest dough makes the best biscuits, so trust the process and stop no matter what it looks like. Rolling biscuits is super easy. I think 3/4 inch thickness is perfect. You can go thinner, but any thicker and you risk an undercooked center. 

BISCUIT TIP #3 - STRAIGHT DOWN, STRAIGHT UP

Then there’s cutting, and while it is a simple process, of course, there is one thing to keep in mind - no twisting. It’s natural to want to twist the cutter to make sure you got all the way through, but that causes what is called binding. That’s when the layers get stuck together, preventing a proper rise. If you’ve ever had a biscuit rise crooked, or not rise very well at all, that’s probably what happened. So, to avoid binding, keep a little pile of flour to swirl your cutter in between cuts, and when you cut, go straight down and straight back up and out. Just that simple, but an easy mistake to make. 

BISCUIT TIP #4 - CAST IRON IS KING

Now let’s talk about the pan you’ll bake them in. You’ve got tons of options, everything from cookie sheets to casserole dishes, but I absolutely believe a truly authentic American style biscuit must be cooked in a cast iron skillet. Not glass, since the very high baking temps required are often out of glass bakeware’s league, and aluminum gets too hot too fast, which often means burnt biscuit bottoms. And it has to be a skillet, even a cast iron Dutch oven is wrong because the sides are too high to allow the moisture to escape properly. 

A good quality cast iron skillet is the perfect biscuit baker. The short sides allow moisture to escape, but holds heat in just enough to finish them perfectly, and the cast iron protects the bottoms, heating up at the ideal pace for crunchy bottoms without burning. Oh, and for perfectly crunchy bottoms, melt a few tablespoons of butter in the skillet before you put them in, or better yet, fry up some bacon and leave all those yummy blackened bits with a few tablespoons of grease behind. 

Keep in mind, the size of skillet you choose is important too. What size depends on the recipe, but you’ll want a pan that only leaves about 1/4 to 1/2 inch around the outside of the biscuits. If the pan is too big, the biscuits won’t have the support they need to rise properly which means they’ll flatten out too much, and dry out more than they should as they bake. 

BISCUIT TIP #5 - KEEP THEM SNUG

Which leads me to the next tip - placement matters. I hate even saying it because it’s so cheesy, but it’s true, so you’ll have to forgive me - biscuits should be like really great friends, supporting each other to their highest potential while still giving each other enough room to grow. So, close enough to one another that they help the one next to it rise, without stopping it from filling out. 

I’ve found the easiest way to get it right is to cut all my biscuits, then use the cutting scraps to form a final sacrificial biscuit for the center. I call it that, because it’s the most likely one to get messed up, underbake, come out a weird shape, or not brown as well, so I don’t worry about making it pretty by rolling it out flat or cutting it perfectly round, just roughly shape it to the same size as the perfect ones, and place it dead center. Then place your perfect biscuits around and just touching the center one, with about 1/4 inch gap between each.

READY TO BAKE!

That’s it! You’re ready to bake the perfect biscuits. Most biscuits come out perfectly at 425, for 12-15 minutes. I’ve found cast iron always adds a few minutes to a bake, so don’t panic if it takes longer. There is no real way to test when they’re done. The color of the top is your only indicator, which is why I don’t brush any meted butter or egg wash on the tops of mine like some recipes call for. It browns differently if you do, which makes it too tough to tell when they’re done. Just look for the tops to be evenly golden brown with slightly darker brown peaks. It’s pretty easy, but you’ll get more comfortable with practice, so trust your instincts. And, if you’re nervous, leaving them in the pan to cool for at least five minutes helps. A good cast iron skillet will stay warm for a remarkably long time, giving them a few extra minutes to make sure the centers won’t be undercooked. 

Now you are to enjoy your delicious biscuits! I hope it will convince to never buy those tubes of mystery ingredient pre-made biscuits from the store again. They are so much better, and remarkably easy once you get the hang of it. I still remember how proud I was of my first good batch of biscuits, and how happy they made everyone who ate them. They are really fun and very quick to make, ridiculously tasty, and surprisingly simple. Be sure to check out the vintage biscuit recipes below, and enjoy making a batch of your own!