I decided yesterday was a great day for an iron skillet full of yummy homemade biscuits. I first tried baking biscuits when I was old enough to stand on the kitchen stool at my grandma’s elbow out at the farm. I learned to cook the way she did…a pinch of this and a dab of that. She learned to cook when “receipts” had measurements like “put in a hunk of lard the size of a hen’s egg” or “add a scant teacup full of sugar”. Grandma actually had an old coffee cup that she used as her one cup measure. She was a good ol’ country cook and I have tried to be just like her.

I’ve tried every recipe out there and seldom make a biscuit that’s swoon worthy. As I learned to bake a mean sourdough this year, I’m vowing to perfect my biscuits this winter. My go-to method at the moment is Virginia’s Best Biscuit Mix from Big Spring Mill in Ellison, Virginia. It uses their self rising flour and they add high quality shortening right in it so all you need to add is buttermilk or whole milk. I use buttermilk. Three cups of biscuit mix and one cup of buttermilk makes a baker’s dozen of very tasty biscuits. 

I find it takes much longer to bake than the 10-12 minutes recommended. I think the batch I baked yesterday took a good 25 minutes to get a nice golden brown. I used my new 11” cast iron skillet that recently seasoned. I added a teaspoon of bacon grease to the skillet and set it over a low flame to warm the skillet just enough to melt the fat. Then I spread it around with the back of a spoon and took the skillet away from the heat. You don’t want it too hot. 

Working quickly, I mixed the dry and wet ingredients together and turned it out on a lightly floured surface. I dusted a small amount of flour over the top and on my hands and gave the dough three or four turns, kneading it till it was just incorporated. I didn’t even bother with a rolling pin. I just patted the dough out till it was about a half inch thick and cut all the rounds I could get out of it and placed them in the skillet. I took the leftover pieces of dough, gently pressed them together and flattened it out again. I only got a couple of biscuits that go round. The last little bit of dough was hand shaped into a biscuit and added to the pan. 

I popped the skillet full of biscuits into a 425 degree oven and baked them about 20-25 minutes…but that was with opening the oven door a couple of times. You’ll want to watch them at around 15 minutes or so to see that they don’t burn. I always melt about three tablespoons of butter to brush on top of the biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven. Serving them hot with butter and my homemade apple butter was a wonderful treat on a very chilly fall morning.

The rest of the day was busy…delivering food to a friend recuperating from surgery, running a couple of errands in town, and a stop at Joann Fabrics for a little sparkly thread for my knitted Christmas ornaments I’m making. I also have a project I’m making as Christmas gifts so I picked up some melting chocolate and lacy cupcake papers. I’m not doing anything this weekend except sit and knit. I need a weekend off.

What do you want to bet it doesn’t quite turn out that way? lol

❤️

“If you cook bread in a shallow pan for this sacrifice, use only your finest flour. Mix it with olive oil, but do not use any yeast.”

Leviticus 2:5 CEV