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SCENE 1
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| Now, the biscuit chords are flour, fat and moisture. | Flour - Fat - Moisture |
| Now, first the
flour. Among flours alone we've got, well, all purpose
flour. There's self rising flour. We've got bread flour.
Um, unbleached all purpose flour. Let's see, there's cake flour and, well, dozens of others.
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All Purpose |
Now, with the exception of the self rising which contains chemical leaveners, the main difference between all these flours is, well, mostly protein content. And that depends a great deal on wheat.
| Now about 75 percent of the wheat grown in America is hard wheat, meaning that it's high in protein. Now, flour made from this kind of wheat is often marketed as bread flour because it forms the kind of plastic structure that French baguettes and crusty sour dough rolls depend on. | "Hard" Wheat |
| Soft wheat, because it contains less protein, is more suited for softer baking goods like cakes, pastries and biscuits. These kind of soft flours are traditional in Southern baking because before modern transportation that's what they had. | "Soft" Wheat |
Now, just as some traditional Northern hard flours have become available in the South, some Southern flours, often labeled as better for biscuits, are starting to show up on Northern shelves.
| All purpose flour, by the way, is usually a mixture of hard and soft flours. 'AP' as it's called, is fine for most baking chores but just as you'll never make a great baguette with it, biscuits, too, will elude you. | All Purpose =
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| Now in a pinch, you can concoct your own biscuit flour by mixing three parts of all purpose flour with one part of cake flour. It'll get you close. | 3 pt All Purpose |
AB: Nothing like lard for a flaky pie crust, huh?
W: Oh, this? Oh, this isn't for me.
AB: No.
W: No. I would never cook with this. This is for ... um ... oh, one of
those contests with the greased watermelon. Yeah.
AB: The greasy watermelon contest.
W: Yeah, the greasy watermelon contest.
AB: Got it.
Whether fat-phobics like it or not, fat, especially
fats that are solid at room temperature,
play a crucial role in the texture of baked goods.
Now, take this vegetable shortening. Not only will it tenderize
and moisten our biscuits
by surrounding all the starch granules, even a very small amount will create a dramatic
increase in dough volume.
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Now, any solid fat can be used in biscuits. Butter lends great taste but iffy texture while lard produces a very tender crumb but has a touch of gaminess. Vegetable shortening is neutral in flavor, produces a light texture, has a long shelf life and is easy to work with. Now, I like to use shortening for texture along with a little bit of butter just for flavor. |
Butter = Flavor
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Vegetable shortening is produced
by hydrogenizing
soy bean and cotton seed oils.
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To bring the other ingredients together and supply the moisture needed for a good rise, the last of the biscuit power chords is liquid, usually in the form of milk, cream or, better yet, buttermilk. |
Milk, Cream, Buttermilk |
Now I accidentally put some of this in my cereal when I was about three and I got to tell you, I never got over it. But when it comes to biscuits, there's just no substituting the sour twang of buttermilk. Now, either low-fat or fat-free will do fine. And since it's basically spoiled already, it keeps for a long time in the fridge. Just don't confuse it with skim come Saturday morning.
GUEST: Mae Skelton
Here at Good Eats we make a habit of trafficking in
cultural icons. And what could be
more culturally iconoclastic than the American grandmother. That's right. This
is not a TV grandmother. This is my real grandmother. I call her Ma Mae.
AB: Hey, Ma Mae. Did you get those weights moved up to the attic?
MAE SKELTON: You're as mean as a snake.
This is going to be great. Ma Mae fed me my first biscuit back when I was about yay tall and I've been studying how to make them at her knee like Luke Skywalker at Yoda's place for decades now. So, the first step to making biscuits is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
AB: Right?
MS: 475.
Heh, heh. 475. I say 400. Next, we make biscuits.
Today's buttermilk is made by adding
special
bacterias to low fat or nonfat milk.
GUEST: Ma Mae, Grandmother
The battle line has been
drawn. We are at battleground biscuit. Now, although Ma Mae
taught me how to make biscuits and every biscuit that I've ever had has
basically tried to
live up to hers, over the years my methodology has definitely spread into a different
direction, especially when it comes to measuring and measuring is really kind of the first
place that you can go wrong in biscuiting. Now, when you've made biscuits for like a
175
years like Ma Mae has, then you know what things should look like and feel like.
But
for the
beginning biscuit maker and even for me I still measure everything.
So, we have the differences in methodology here. Ma Mae using
artifacts found in burial
ground from like the 5th century.
AB: What is that?
MS: That is a biscuit cutter.
AB: That's not original material there.
MS: Well, they brought that over on the Mayflower.
AB: [laugh] Good to know you've still got a sense of humor about that.
Okay, so we're both going to be starting with a soft, winter wheat flour. We're not going to name brands but, Ma Mae prefers to use self rising flour that already has the leavening ingredients added in. I have to admit I very often use it as well but for the sake of argument, I'm going to be using all purpose flour today and I'm going to add the baking powder and the baking soda separately. And we're going to come back to more of those later.
AB: You ready to start?
MS: Ready to start.
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Okay, we're going to start with phase one: measuring. I do it. She doesn't. Here we go. |
Measuring |
She'll be spooning out her flour while I'll be precisely measuring my ingredients. I use a digital scale that has what's called a tare weight on it which means I can slap a bowl on there and then basically subtract the weight of the bowl.
| Now, Ma Mae goes with two
cups of flour and I basically do to only that my two cups of flour generally weighs out to
about ten ounces. You'll also notice that she sifts her flour. AB: Why do you do
that? She says it makes it lighter, I'm not so sure. We'll have to be the judge later on. I've got ten ounces of flour. And I suspect that because she sifts her flour, she's probably using a little less than I am because the grains in her flour are going to be kind of lifted away from each other while mine are more compact. |
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2 Cups Flour |
10 oz Flour |
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| Okay, I'm going to go ahead and add four teaspoons of baking powder, which is the same as one teaspoon plus one tablespoon. Now baking powder is interesting stuff because it's balanced. It holds both acid and alkalines so it will, ... it can rise all by itself without any other chemical agents. | 4 tsp Baking Powder |
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| And I'm going to add about a
quarter teaspoon of baking soda, a tiny, tiny little amount. It's going to give us a
little bit better of a rise especially with the acid that's in the buttermilk we're
using. But the reason I also use a very small amount is that it will flavor
things. It's got a lot of sodium in it. And if you use a lot, you'll taste it. AB: You having a hard time
with that thing there? |
1/4 tsp Baking Soda |
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AB: Okay, we're done with the measuring part,
right? The dry stuff?
MS: Yes.
AB: Okay, so you're ready to go. Give me a second. Let me stir this up.
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Oh, salt. Her flour already has salt worked into it. And you've got to have salt for any kind of bread or it just tastes ... I don't know. AB: What does it taste like when you don't have any salt in it? |
Big Pinch Kosher Salt |
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Now, Ma Mae has moved on, pulling in front into the cutting-in of the fat. Again, renegade as she is, no measuring, just diving right in there. And she's going to cut it in ... AB: Why do you use a spoon? My great grandmother used her hands. It was good enough for her. It's good enough for me. AB: You just ... it's all the fancy jewelry you're wearing, I suspect. |
Cutting in the Fat |
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| I'm going to weigh mine and what I like to do. And what I like to do is I like to have my fat cold when I cut it in. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and measure out my buttermilk. And I like to use a cup of buttermilk. And since a pint is a pound the world around, eight ounces fluid measure equals eight ounces of weight. So I can just look at my scale and I've got eight ounces, which is the same as a cup. | 8 oz Buttermilk |
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| And I'm going to put in two ounces, actually more like an ounce of butter. And I'm just going to add it straight to this until I get one ounce which is there. | 1 oz Butter |
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I'm going to hit the tare weight again. She's already smoking me. Slow down, you make me look bad.
AB: That ... How old is that
bowl? That's the only one I've ever seen you make biscuits in.
MS: Well, it's older than you are.
AB: Well, a lot of things are, thank goodness that we're still at that point.
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I'm going to add, also, two ounces of shortening. She likes all shortening. I like to use a little bit of both. AB: Shortening is going to give you a little bit better texture, right? You think? |
2 oz Shortening |
I like to use a
combination. You're going to
get a tender tooth, a tender crumb out
of the biscuit, from shortening. You're going to get a little bit of flavor if you
use butter.
AB: You don't wait on me. You keep going. I'll catch up.
Now where she cuts hers in with a spoon, I like to use my fingers. But when you do this, try to use just your fingertips. I know it looks messy but don't worry. And just kind of work it in. What we're wanting is something like looks kind of like corn meal. Just break it up and work it in. This is a lot more fun than her method. All right. She's already going on the buttermilk.
AB: How much do you think you use?
MS: I never measure it. I just put in there what I think it needs and stir it till
it's good.
AB: To stir it till it's ...
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But she and I both like a very loose dough. One of the great secrets which she's taught me is the secret, really, to biscuit making is a very, very wet dough that you don't work very much. AB:
Right? Just stir it until it comes together into a kind of sticky mass. If it looks sticky and nasty you're going to right way. |
Wet Dough |
She likes to do this on parchment paper which makes for
a slightly neater kitchen. I don't
really get too worked up about that. Now that I've got the fat worked in it just
looks crumb-y. It kind of looks like bread crumbs almost.
I'm going to make a well, kind of right in the middle, and I'm going to
add my buttermilk.
AB: I lost my spoon, Ma
Mae. Can I use
yours? Can I use your
sacred spoon?
MS: You make fun of my spoon.
AB: The spoon. It's a wonderful spoon. Weighted perfectly for biscuit making.
Aw, she's ahead of me already. This is looking pretty bad for me. You see how gently she's working it. These are the hands of a master, right here. You don't see this kind of biscuit making much in America anymore. Barely patting it out. No rolling necessary.
AB: Can I put your spoon in the sink?
MS: If you want ... yes.
AB: Okay. What were you going to say?
MS: If you want to wash your rolling pin, you can roll it out.
AB: Rolling pins just aren't my cup of tea.
Going to roll out enough flour to keep it from sticking
on the board and then just turn out
the whole thing. Oh, she's gone for her pan, her special biscuit pan. Circa 1853.
Ulysses S.
Grant.
AB: I don't even know where I put my biscuit pan.
MS: I wish.
AB: I've got to run for a biscuit pan.
Like many of our favorite kitchen tools, you probably
won't find the ideal biscuit pan at
the mall. But if you town has more than three restaurants, there's probably a restaurant
supply store that's open to the public and that's where I promise you will find sheet
pans,
standard issue for the commercial American bake shop. Unfortunately it's a little
large for
home use. But fear not. It comes in a half size called ... yep ... a half
sheet pan. Forged
from a single piece of heavy duty aluminum and more trustworthy than your dog, this pan
is
built to take it and dish it out.
Now aluminum is an excellent conductor. So it heats quickly and
it relays that heat nicely
to whatever happens to be sitting on top. Now unlike non-stick or
dark metal pans,
this one
won't burn biscuit bottoms before the rest of the biscuit has had time to cook. See
this lip? Not only does it stop disastrous slides, it adds stability rendering the pan, well,
virtually unwarpable. Show me a cookie sheet that can do that for under ten
dollars. [takes all the
pans] Just in case.
Aluminum conducts heat half as good as copper and twice as good as steel.
AB: ??? ... pulled out of a civil war battle
field. They're like
what General Grant baked biscuits on.
MS: Yeah, but you sure loved the ones that came off of it.
AB: Well, okay. That's true. But I don't remember you greasing the pan.
MS: I do always ...
AB: Well, I don't grease mine.
MS: ... lightly.
You notice another thing that she does which is good. Straight down and then she gives a little bit of a twist. If you twist your way through biscuit dough you won't get a clean rise. AB: Right? |
Straight Down & Twist |
I use an aluminum pan. I don't like to use stainless steel and I don't like Teflon pans.
AB: Have you ever tried to bake biscuits on Teflon pans?
MS: No, I haven't.
AB: They turn black on the bottom. It's not a good thing.
|
Biscuit cutter. Straight down, twist, pop out. Down, twist. The twist is okay but only if you've gone all he way through. Now you'll notice that both she and I like to put our biscuits shoulder to shoulder and that's because you'll get a better rise out of them if they're just touching. If you crowd them too much, the heat won't be able to get in between the biscuits. |
Biscuits should just touch |
AB: Right?
MS: Right.
Okay, I'm right on something, finally. It's taken all of these years.
AB: So, if you have them too far apart they'll burn and they'll spread
out, won't they, ...
MS: Sure.
AB: ... instead of going up.
So if you just touch them next to each other they'll
rise straight. Now she's rolling out her
garbage, as we say, her trash. And you roll those together just as lightly as you can
because
the dough has already been worked perfectly. You don't want to go too far.
Now as usual I have more trash on my board than she does but that's
okay.
AB: How many do you usually get out of a
batch? You always get the
same number?
MS: About twelve.
AB: You always get a dozen, don't you?
MS: Um, hm.
Mine are a little bigger so I'm not going to have quite as many. Down and twist.
MS: Well, I'll have one fat one and that used to be the one when you was a
little boy that you wanted.
AB: Well, because it's big, right?
MS: Yes.
AB: But I liked them the best the next day when you split them open and buttered them and then you toasted them.
MS: Right.
AB: That's the way they were supposed to be.
I've probably eaten 50,000 biscuits at Ma Mae's house.
AB: Now did your mom teach you to make these like this?
MS: No, not really.
AB: How did you adapt your biscuit making?
MS: Just by doing.
AB: Just by doing it, huh? You used to make them like every day, right?
MS: Sure. When I was first married, I made biscuits for breakfast every day.
AB: Every single day.
MS: Yes.
AB: Back then we worked, though, so nobody got fat off of them.
MS: That's true.
AB: Nowadays if I ate biscuits everyday I'd be like ...
MS: You'd have to get as ...
AB: Alfred Hitchcock cooking hour. It would be pretty bad.
MS: Stone Mountain.
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Okay, the very last touch, and for goodness sakes, don't skip this, note the indentation, the slight indentation. Now I do mine with the thumb. Ma Mae does hers with two fingers. Pushing down in the middle is going to help the biscuit to rise evenly since the heat hits the outside of the biscuit and works in. If you didn't punch it in you might end up with a domed biscuit. AB: Right? |
Push Down Centers
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| AB: Okay, you're 400 ... MS: You want my biscuits in the oven yet? AB: Yes, well they're done aren't they? Why? Don't you want to sit around and, like, stare at them? MS: You don't want them to rise until they get in the oven. |
400° Oven |
| So, the power chords are in
place: Flour, fat, moisture. Now for the unifying element of good rock 'n roll and
biscuits, volume.
|
Flour |
Baked goods get their volume from the lift of hot air. Or to be more exact, steam and
carbon dioxide that's produced by yeast and chemical leaveners. Now as you no doubt
remember from your fourth grade science class, if you combine an alkaline, say baking
soda, with an acid like vinegar you get, well, a big case of gas. Now, this
relationship like
most has to be equal if it's really going to work and that's what's so great about
baking
powder.
You see, it contains an equal ratio of an acid, cream of tartar, and baking
soda.
All
you have to do is add liquid ...
Double acting baking powders react
once
when wet, then again when hot.
... and instant
gas.
So, why does so many recipes call for both baking
powder and baking soda? Well, it's got to do with an equal ratio. You see, a lot of
ingredients—chocolate,
sugar, eggs,
even dairy
products—can throw off the acid/alkaline relationship. So, we add just a
little bit
of baking soda to our biscuit dough to help counteract the acid in the
buttermilk. [phone
rings] Excuse me.
AB: Hello? No, Ma Mae. I'm not doing anything dangerous. Yes, I'll tell them. Bye, bye.
She wants me to remind you that chemical leaveners have a specific shelf life. So watch those expiration dates.
Once you've got biscuits down, you can experiment with endless variations on the theme.
| Scones start with the same dry mixture as biscuits but with the addition of two tablespoons of sugar and an extra two tablespoons of butter. Substitute three quarters of a cup of cream for the buttermilk and add one beaten egg. A handful of currants or dried cranberries would be traditional but not mandatory. | 2 Tbsp Sugar |
| Now, shortcake is even easier. Just add a third of a cup of sugar to the dry mix and you can replace the buttermilk with half & half if you want but I'd miss that buttermilk twang. It's up to you. Stir the dough until it just comes together then spoon it right out onto the pan. Brush thoroughly with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 until golden. Cool. Smother with berries and whipped cream. Eat. Repeat. |
1/3 Cup Sugar |
The southern biscuit's nearest living
relative
is the "Soft" biscuit of N.E. Scotland
Now that's what I'm talking about. Perfect golden biscuits.
AB: How did yours out, Ma Mae?
MS: Perfect like always.
AB: So did mine.
MS: When did yours get to be perfect?
AB: So, what do we put on the perfect southern biscuit?
MS: You put butter.
AB: Well, I don't know. We've got some jam, some preserves, some sausage, bacon, ...
MS: Well, so what? Just ...
AB: Butter.
MS: Butter.
AB: I'm with ya.
Well, we've hoped you picked up a few pointers about the quintessential quick bread that is the biscuit. It's powerful medicine, to be sure, but it's well within your reach. Just remember. Use soft, winter wheat, southern flour, work in the fat thoroughly, mix it quick and bake in a hot oven, at least 400 degrees.
AB: Right?
MS: 475.
AB: Ma Mae, your oven hasn't seen 475 since the Ice Age.
MS: Honey, you don't know a thing about an oven. My oven will out-cook yours any
day.
See you next time on Good Eats.
AB: Your
oven.
I've got more ovens in the garage than you've ever
had in your life.
MS: Well, yeah, but you don't have a good one like mine.
AB: What's good about that oven? The thing runs on coal fumes.
MS: It's just a good one, that's all I can tell you.
AB: Well, you try one of my biscuits you'll have good.
MS: I don't want one of your biscuits.
AB: Well, nobody's going to eat those hockey pucks.
Visit us on the web at www.foodtv.com.
Last Edited on 08/27/2010
The American North and South have always stood toe-to-toe like great
cultural tectonic plates forever held in check. Factory versus plantation. Yankee ingenuity
versus Southern hospitality. Leonard Bernstein versus Lynyrd Skynyrd. Everything symmetrically balanced.
Now, Southern biscuits, on the other hand, hail directly from English scones and they are
so light, so fluffy, so just down-and-out delicious that I wouldn't be surprised if Sherman's
march to the sea was nothing more than a biscuit-run run amuck. Maybe he just didn't like banjos. Nah.
