Basic Biscuit Recipe
By: Anonymous
Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 1:22am

Ingredients




2 cups self rising flour
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 450 to 475 degrees. Place flour in mixing bowl; add shortening. With pastry blender or blending fork, cut shortening into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 2 Gently push the flour mixture to the edges of the bowl, making a well in the center. Blend the milk with a fork until dough leaves sides of bowl. Do not overmix. 3 Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently 10 to 12 strokes. On lightly floured surface, pat or roll dough to slightly more than 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with 2 or 2 1/2 inch cutter, dipping cutter into flour between cuts. 4 Transfer cut biscuits to an ungreased baking sheet. For crusty sided biscuits, place biscuits about 1 inch apart. For soft sided biscuits, place with sides just touching. 5 Reroll scraps of dough and cut into biscuit shapes. Bake in oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden. If sides touch bake biscuits 8 minutes; bake 6 to 7 minutes if sides don't touch. 6 Increase milk to 1 cup in recipe. Drop dough from tablespoon onto greased baking sheet; bake as for basic biscuits. Makes 12. 7 Substitute buttermilk for milk in recipe. 8 Substitute 1/2 cup dairy sour cream and 1/3 cup milk for the 2/3 cup milk. Combine the sour cream and milk thoroughly before adding to flour mixture. Bake as you would basic biscuits. 9 Add 1 cup of grated sharp Cheddar cheese, 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Prepare biscuits as directed, except stir in cheese, mustard and pepper after cutting in shortening. Bake as directed. Makes 12 to 14 biscuits.