Baking Powder Biscuits - BWJ

By norsegal8

Among bakers, one hears the expression "She has a good biscuit hand." Like pie crusts, biscuits are a measure of a baker's talents and a pastry in which bakers take particular pride.
To have a good biscuit hand is to have a light touch and restraint - a biscuit dough is so soft that it invites poking and prodding, kneading and mashing, when it should be just barely worked. The golden rule with biscuits is to stop doing whatever you're doing to them two beats before you have to . So, when you're rubbing the shortening and flour together and there are still some chubby chunks of shortening - stop. When you're tossing the flour and butter mixture with the milk and the dough looks only just moistened - stop. And when you turn the dough out onto the counter and knead it just to work it into a mass, count each knead, get to ten and - stop.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 cup milk

Details

Servings 14

Preparation

Step 1

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425°F. Grease a 9- by 12-inch baking pan and set it aside.

MIXING THE DOUGH
Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and stir with a fork just to mix. Add the shortening, roll it around in the flour mixture to coat it, and break it into 4 or 5 pieces. Rub the flour and the shortening together with the tips of your fingers, making little crumbs and letting the crumbs fall back into the bowl. Keep rubbing the flour and shortening together and tossing the contents of the bowl until most of the shortening is mixed with the flour. Don’t worry if you still have a few largish pieces. Add the milk and stir with a fork to moisten the flour. Again, don’t worry about getting everything thoroughly or evenly mixed. You’ll have s sticky mass of dough.

KNEADING THE DOUGH
Flour a work surface and your hands, scoop the dough of the bowl, and drop it onto the counter. Knead the dough 10 times – no more, even if its malleable texture tempts you. Pat the dough into a circle about 9 inches across and using a 2-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out the biscuits. (You can, of course, make the biscuits larger or smaller to meet your needs. And you can press the scraps together into a ¼-inch thick circle and cut out additional biscuits.)

BAKING THE BISCUITS
Transfer the biscuits to the baking pan, allowing them to touch each other if you want biscuits with soft sides, and placing them apart if you want crisper sides. (The biscuits can be brushed with melted butter before baking, an optional but nice touch.)
Bake the biscuits for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden on top. Serve them warm.

STORING
Biscuits are best just out of the oven, but they can be kept covered at room temperature for a few hours and warmed for about 5 minutes in a 350°F oven before serving.