Southern Flaky Biscuits

Light and flaky biscuits are a staple in the South. They're delicious on their own with butter, sandwiched around a piece of ham, or a host of other options. In addition to being delicious, these biscuits take only minutes to make. They're perfect for not only your holiday dinners, but also your any time meals!

There are a ton of recipes for biscuits. Many of them call for buttermilk.

However, I settled on a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking - From my home to yours that called for regular milk.  Rather than use the mixing technique called for in the recipe, however, I cheated and used my food processor.

This Is What You'll Need

I used the following ingredients for these amazing biscuits: All-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, Kosher salt, unsalted butter, and milk.

Here's How I Made the Biscuits

With a food processor, making these biscuits is super easy.

1. First, I put the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in the food processor. Then, I pulse processed the dry ingredients several times to ensure that everything was well mixed.

2. Next, I cut the butter into pieces and added it to the dry ingredients.

3. I pulse processed the mixture 9 to 10 times until the butter was well incorporated. I ended up with butter that ranged from in size from that of a small pea to coarse cornmeal.

4. After that, I added the milk to the food processor. I pulse processed the dough 3 or 4 times to incorporate the milk.

5. Then, I dumped the dough onto a floured surface. I gently shaped the dough into a ball and hand-patted it to around ½-inch.

I cut the biscuits with a 2 ½-inch cutter and placed them on a baking sheet lined with reusable parchment paper.

6. I baked the biscuits in a preheated 425°F oven for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, the biscuits has risen nicely and were golden brown.

I ended up with 8 awesome Southern Flaky Biscuits that were perfect to add to any meal. Yum!

Chula's Helpful Hints

1. It's important to use active baking powder for these biscuits and other recipes using baking powder. Heat and humidity can shorten the shelf life of baking powder. Generally, however, baking powder should active for up to a year. To test whether the baking powder is still active, add around ½ teaspoon to about ¼ cup of boiling water. If it bubbles up immediately, the baking powder is still active. Otherwise, it's time to go to the store and buy a new can of baking powder!
2. When I buy a new can of baking powder, I write the date on the top.
3. If you don't have a food processor, you can still make these amazing biscuits. You can use a dough blender or your hands to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients and to mix the dough.
4. To ensure the flakiest biscuits, keep the dough handling to a minimum. The more you handle the dough, the more gluten that is developed. While gluten development is key to yeast breads, it results in tough textures for non-yeast breads.
5. For these biscuits, and all baked goods for that matter, I weigh the ingredients. You'd be amazed at the variability in the weight of flour given how it's measured. Do yourself a favor and purchase a kitchen scale if you don't already have one. This is the one that I use.
6. Here's how I fold a kitchen towel for a bread basket.

This was one of my first posts when I started Pudge Factor. Since the January 23, 2012 post, I've made these biscuits a number of times. I decided that it was time to update the post with new pictures and amended text.

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