Old Fashioned Biscuits

Intro: Old Fashioned Biscuits

This recipe is a slight variation of the basic Bisquick biscuit recipe. I'm not sure when my family adopted this recipe but Bisquick has been on the market since 1931 and it's probable that this "easy way" to make biscuits was discovered shortly after it was available. 

This year when we went home for the holidays my mom decided to introduce the next generation to the process and taught three year old Obie how to make them. It was fun to see and surprising how quickly she caught on. The recipe is about as easy as it gets but there are a couple of equally easy missteps that can make the biscuits turn out like hockey pucks. 

...but I suppose we can now say for sure it's so easy a three year old can do it. 

STEP 1: Ingredients and Other Things You'll Need

 2 cups Bisquick
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk

Flour for rolling the dough 

Medium sized baking sheet
2 inch round cookie cutter
Parchment to line the baking sheet
A fork 
A mixing bowl

You'll also need a rolling pin, wine bottle or some other suitable object to use rolling out the dough 

STEP 2: Mix the Dough

One of the keys to this is letting the milk and cream reach room temperature. So, set the milk and cream out a little while before you want to make the biscuits.

Once you're ready add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl and then stir in the Bisquick. Mix enough so that the dough can be handled without falling apart but be careful not to over mix. Like many baked goods, over mixing can result in flat, hard treats from the oven. 

STEP 3: Turn Out and Roll the Dough

Turn out the dough onto a well floured surface. Pat it down and fold it back up a couple times but don't get rough with it. Too much kneading and the biscuits will end up rock hard. 

Once that's accomplished roll out the dough until it's about a half inch thick, maybe a little more, and let it rest ten minutes or so. 

Now would be a good time to pre-heat your oven to 475F. 

STEP 4: Cut the Biscuits and Into the Oven

Simply cut out your biscuits the same way you would cookies and place them on a lightly floured piece of parchment on your baking sheet. Recipe makes a dozen or more. 

These biscuits bake pretty fast, 10-12 minutes. 

If you like your biscuits a little more soft place them close to each other on the baking sheet. If you prefer them a bit more crisp place them further apart. 

Bake them until they start to puff up and remove them just before they turn golden brown. 

STEP 5: Serving Suggestions

These are wonderfully versatile biscuits. Perfect for biscuits and gravy, great with jam or warm from the oven with butter. 

The older folks in our family like them best with thick sliced bacon and refer to them as "ham biscuits". 

These can also be made with water instead of milk and cooked in a dutch oven on an open fire for one of the best simple camp foods around. 

STEP 6: Original 1930's Recipe

"Rolled Bisquicks"

2 cups Bisquick
3/4 cup milk (or 2/3 cup water)

Stir milk into Bisquick. Beat dough hard for 30 seconds to make it tighten up enough to handle. Turn dough on well-floured, cloth covered board. Pat, round it up and fold over 3 times.

Roll out lightly with rolling pin, 1/2 to 1 inch thick, depending on how thick you want the biscuits. Cut with biscuit cutters. For biscuits with crusty sides, place a little apart on a baking sheet. For biscuits with soft sides, place close together. Bake quickly in a very hot oven, 475 F., 10 to 12 minutes.
This makes 18 biscuits cut with 1 3/4 inch cutter from 1/2 inch thick dough.

Found at www.oldrecipebook.com

Comments

[mdeblasi1]

That birthday meal I just commented upon, on the French Onion soup entry, well I also made him biscuits, because he loves those too. I put fresh ground black pepper right into the biscuit dough, along with fennel seed, them were transcendent.

If fennel doesn't float your boat, you could used almost any other herb or spice that floats yer boat. But the pepper, the pepper added zing!

[scoochmaroo]

If you don't have Bisquick (which is a convenient thing to have on hand), you can make your own:

1C Flour
1 1/2tsp Baking Powder
1/2tsp Salt
1 TBS Shortening

[Culturespy]

Nice! I'll have to add that to the Instructable.

[Culturespy]

No worries. I certainly understand your point though it is worth noting that Bisquick has been on the market since 1931. I'd say that still qualifies as old fashioned by many measures. Though the gals in our family still call it cheating.

Maybe I should post another recipe for making them from scratch and call it very old fashioned :)

[triumphman]

Do it!

[branwren]

Any "biscuit" you have to have a "biscuit cutter" for isn't a biscuit. I'm an old country girl who has always made her biscuit from scratch. It ain't hard and doesn't include a bunch of ingredients. You don't roll em out, over worked dough makes for tough biscuits. Just pinch off a ball of dough, flatten it out, put it in the biscuit pan and turn it over. Pat some flour on the place you pinched, turn the dough and pinch another daub off. Why do ya have to make it hard?

[Culturespy]

Awesome! I'll look forward to seeing your Instructable. As the saying goes, there's more than one way to skin a cat!

[Computothought]

Once they are baked, no one will ever know the difference. But I do prefer to bake them from scratch since we use all the basic ingredients anyway in other things. One less thing to buy at the store.

[valensiyabest]

Bsem privet!!!

[Archergal52]

+1.

But I dunno. I think my grandmother probably used self-rising flour (probably Martha White brand), which is pretty close to Bisquick, except for the fat you add to it.

And the buttermilk. I used to BEG her for any left-over biscuit dough. I loved biscuit dough.

[vladtimoshenko]

mm , i wanna eat