Tips for making the perfect buttermilk biscuits

----- Now You're Cooking! v4.20 [Meal-Master Export Format]
 
       Title: Tips For Making The Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits
  Categories: breads, breakfast
       Yield: 1 servings
 
       1    good recipe for biscuits
       1    light touch with dough
 
   THE PERFECT BUTTERMILK BISCUIT Thanks to Eula Mae Dore, a great            
   Southern cook from Avery Plantation, La., I've learned to make the         
   best Buttermilk Biscuits I've ever had. Eula Mae says a good biscuit       
   is one of the best things to have on hand for quick meals. She uses        
   them in emergencies to make simple sandwiches filled with scraps of        
   ham or cheese and serves them with pickles and a small salad. For          
   dessert, she warms a biscuit or two and makes a shortcake with fresh       
   fruits or berries. She has convinced me that you can't have too many       
   biscuits on hand. Eula Mae learned to cook and bake from her               
   grandmother, not from cookbooks, and the artfulness of her                 
   preparation was a joy to watch. Here are some of her biscuit-making        
   tips: + First go out and replace your baking powder, unless you            
   bought it within the last four months. More baking flops occur from        
   old, tired baking powder than from any other cause. And don't rely on      
   the old test of checking the freshness of baking powder by putting a       
   spoonful in a glass of water to see if it fizzes. Baking powder, like      
   a carbonated drink, can fizz a little and still be almost flat.            
   Buying new baking powder costs very little when you consider the cost      
   of baking failures. + Next, Eula Mae insists that sifting the dry          
   ingredients four times is the reason her biscuits are perfect. I           
   tested the recipe sifting and not sifting and, indeed, sifting does        
   make a slightly higher, more tender biscuit. + After you cut the           
   biscuit dough, put the pieces on a baking sheet upside down. This          
   ensures a taller, lighter biscuit by making sure any edges crimped by      
   the pressure of the cutting don't interfere with the rise. (The            
   French use the same trick when making puff pastry.) + The tip that         
   helped me the most was using less flour than usual. Eula Mae's dough       
   was soft and sticky. She handled it gently, dusting her hands and the      
   dough with only enough flour to make the dough manageable. The result      
   was a lighter biscuit.                                                     
                                                                              
 
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