Additional Recipe Notes

The recipe is called "Southern Buttermilk Biscuits" to differentiate them from the hard cookies also called biscuits or certain types of crackers of the same name.

I struggled with the volumetric measurement of flour for this recipe (as I do with all my baking recipes). The correct amount of flour to use is 280 g, but what volume do I provide for readers without a scale and rely on measuring cups? In my experience, a bag of flour that has been sitting in the pantry can range in density from 150 g per cup to 185 g per cup (it can be more if you lightly tap the flour bag against the counter over and over to compress the flour). Freshly sifted flour can weigh 125 g per cup or less (125 g is the official USDA mass for 1 cup of all-purpose flour). In theory, one should use the 125 g per cup measurement because that's the only non-variable when it comes to flour. If you sift the flour well (let's say three times), then scoop your dry measuring cup into the flour and level it, it will be very close to 125 g. However, it's not reasonable to assume that the home cook will freshly sift their flour every time a recipe calls for flour. What do people do? They grab their bag of flour, scoop the measuring cup in, and level it. More often than not, when I do that, it comes in at around 160 g per cup. So, on several recipes I use that measurement. Initially, when I wrote this recipe, I based it on the 160g per cup measurement (so I had 1-3/4 cup flour), but while researching baking recipes I keep finding authors using 5 oz per cup as the conversion: 140 g per cup of flour. I found that I could get 140 g in a cup if I first used the measuring spoon to loosen up the flour (scoop, drop, scoop, drop, stir) and then scoop, level, and measure. Sifting results in too little flour per cup, not doing anything results in too much flour per cup, but playing with the flour first seems just right. So, this recipe uses the 140 g per cup conversion factor.

If you're in the Austin area and looking for an excellent source for leaf lard made from local pastured pork, try Dai Due. Jesse Griffiths renders the pork fat from Richardson Farms hogs.

Sometimes calling local pastry shops or butchers can reveal sources to local leaf lard sellers or renderers.

I'm also moving the old biscuits recipe from the Recipe File to Test Recipes.

If we don't have lard and want to substitute butter, do you suggest using the same weight of butter as the lard?

Yes, just use 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) of butter instead of the lard and butter combination.

A friend from the San Francisco Bay Area wrote to me asking if I knew of a source for good lard in the Bay Area. Here's what I wrote in response:
Boccalone (Chris Cosentino's salumeria) in the Ferry Building stocks rendered pig fat regularly at $10 for one pound. I just called and it isn't pure leaf lard; the lard is rendered from the fat of all different parts of the hog, but it might be good enough. Just don't use the supermarket stuff - it's nasty tasting and probably contains trans fats.

They did tell me that Prather Ranch (the meat guys also in the Ferry Building) occasionally stocks pure leaf lard, but it's probably something you'll need to call ahead and ask about since it's only once in a while that they have it.

Seems to me I once got good lard from that butcher at the end of Church Street, end of the "J" line.

That was five or six years ago, so I don't know if he's still in business.

I always use 135g AP flour per cup as my starting point for converting recipes when I do not know the method used by the recipe writer to scoop the flour. In general I'd rather have a little less flour in a recipe than too much. Especially when a recipe calls for multiple cups of flour and your conversion factor has more impact.

What is the diameter of the biscuit cutter? What are the approximate length and width of the first rolled layer?

My large biscuit cutter is 3-in (75 mm) in diameter. The first rolled layer (the thin one that I roll out completely before the two business envelope folds) is about 11-in x 16-in (280 mm x 405 mm).

I guess the folding is what gives you the flaky look where they split as they rise?

Yep.

I have been buying rendered lard (leaf lard, the best) from Dietrich’s Meats & Country Store, http://www.dietrichsmeats.com/index.htm . Last purchase was $41.50 including shipping for 10 lbs lard. It's wonderful and last (me at least) a long time.

As a "older southern lady" it interested me to read your recipe and how you went about it. There is an instrument for Cutting in.. called a pastry blender i believe. Probably as hard to locate as lard in some areas :) Also if one does not have a pastry blender, holding 2 butter knives side by side will work better & faster than a spoon. and... I would cut in whatever shortening that I was using, a bit finer.

Is the pastry blender the tool that looks like a handle with four or five half circle wires or metal strips looping out of it? It might be mine, but I find that I'm faster with a spoon than my pastry cutter. I also find the two knives technique a bit awkward, but I also haven't had much practice with it.

Those are absolutely the most gorgeous things ever.

Besides the density issue when converting flour weights to volumes, one also has to consider humidity. I need much more liquid to make my biscuits in my arid climate (especially in winter) than I used when I lived at humid sea level. I've also read that the wheat variety and quality used to make one's flour can effect both density and moisture content. So don't obsess about "correct" conversions - learn to do adjust your ingredients to achieve the correct dough texture.

Lovely biscuits. I'm sure they are delicious. My mother always insisted that her biscuits had to be made using White Lily Flour and Crisco for the shortening. She cut the shortening into the flour using her fingers. The results were wonderful biscuits. I was never able to master the art of cutting the shortening in with my fingers. I prefer the pastry blender. I don't thing it matters much which technique you use: it's the result that counts.

I just recently bought leaf lard from Heritage Foods USA. http://store.heritagefoodsusa.com
It cost $39.00/5# plus shipping. The surprise was that the leaf lard was the unrendered lard. So, I have now learned how to render lard! It was actually very easy (low and slow) in my crockpot. I now have lots of snowy white leaf lard to make biscuits, pie crust, etc. Since I was paying shipping anyway, I ordered their Berkshire pork chops. So now I am in heaven.

Kath,

Michael turned me onto leaf lard for pie crust. It's wonderful stuff.


It's quite a bit cheaper to make at home if your butcher can get it.

See my note here

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22694#22694

Good recipe. I don't use biscuit cutters, just cut the large rectangle of dough into a grid of smaller rectangles - it's easier and all biscuits are equally light in texture.

Greetings Michael:

I love your site and full proof formulas. Question? Is there anyway you could create a similar formula for a Southern Sweet potato buttermilk biscuit?

I've never had a Southern Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuit! But, it sounds awesome. I'll keep my eyes open for a good recipe to try, but I wouldn't know if it came out right since I've never had one... (of course, that doesn't mean I won't know if it's bad :) )

I was taught by a country lady who didn't go to a store for umpteen years. Her kids never had a soda or loaf bread. They lived with whatever they grew, raised, or butchered on their farm. She did use lard and buttermilk. Everything was done by hand. No pastry cutters, biscuit cutters, rolling pin, or anything. Melt in your mouth perfection. Takes less time than some ways once you get the hang of it. She always made me hot biscuits when I walked in her home. She was my sister's mother-in-law who treated me like family. Sure.miss the old way of cooking.

I am from Texas and am an experienced southern cook/baker. I used this recipe with a friend in Denmark who wanted to learn how to bake biscuits like he had tasted in the South. This recipe turned out perfectly...very light and flaky layers. Thanks!

I LOVE this recipe. I live in an area with a lot of resources, so I have leaf lard available nearly all the time to render my own. The first time I made these biscuits, they rose so high that I was concerned they were going to hit the top rack in my oven. Your website was down yesterday when I came looking for the recipe, and I was VERY upset, as I had to use another recipe that's far inferior. Glad to see you are back up, and this recipe is going immediately into my favorite aggregator, Pepperplate.