Vintage 7Up Biscuit Recipe - Semi Homemade Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to biscuits? ›

Carla's secret to making flaky biscuits is simple: grate the butter. Grating the butter creates shards that are uniform in size, ensuring they're evenly mixed with the flour. But in order to properly grate it, you need to make sure your butter is cold — very, very cold.

When the fat is cut too small, after baking there will be more, smaller air pockets left by the melting fat. The result is a baked product that crumbles.

Baking powder and baking soda are what we call chemical leavening agents, meaning they make our baked goods rise. A chemical leavening agent will form carbon dioxide bubbles making your biscuits rise.

The biscuit-method, also used for scones, is prepared by sifting together the dry ingredients including flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder, the fat is then cut into the dry ingredients, and the mixture is folded together with the liquid producing a dense yet flakey texture.

So what's the final verdict? Butter is the winner here. The butter biscuits were moister with that wonderful butter taste and melt-in-your mouth texture. I'd be curious to test out substituting half or just two tablespoons of the butter with shortening to see if you get the best of both.

There is some actual science behind why White Lily flour is lighter than others and, thus, better suited for items like biscuits and cakes.

Conclusion: More baking powder makes the biscuit rise more (imagine that!). About 1 tablespoon of baking powder per 2 cups of flour seems to be about the right amount, but even halving or doubling this amount should not ruin your biscuits.

Why are my biscuits hard? If your biscuits come out hard and crumbly, it's most likely because the dough was overworked during the kneading process. To prevent that, mix your dough just until it comes together. You should still see bits of butter in your dough.

While it's certainly important to prevent the dough from sticking to your work surface, hands or rolling pin, too much bench flour can absorb into the dough. Biscuits made with too much bench flour are tough and leaden, like a sad, doughy hockey puck.

Just as important as the fat is the liquid used to make your biscuits. Our Buttermilk Biscuit recipe offers the choice of using milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk is known for making biscuits tender and adding a zippy tang, so we used that for this test.

Is it better to use milk or buttermilk in biscuits? ›

What's the Difference Between Buttermilk Biscuits and Regular Biscuits? As the names might suggest, regular biscuits do not contain buttermilk, while these do. Regular biscuits are typically prepared with milk or water instead. Buttermilk adds a nice tang to the biscuit flavor and helps them rise better.

Using too much baking soda or baking powder can really mess up a recipe, causing it to rise uncontrollably and taste terrible. But don't freak out if you accidentally poured too much baking soda in cookie dough or added too much baking powder to cake batter. Depending on the situation, you might be able to fix it.

The two keys to success in making the best biscuits are handling the dough as little as possible as well as using very cold solid fat (butter, shortening, or lard) and cold liquid. When the biscuits hit the oven, the cold liquid will start to evaporate creating steam which will help our biscuits get very tall.

The basic formula is as follows: 2 cups AP flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 6 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup milk—and the add-in(s) of your choice. I'm giving you two savory options. The red is a sun-dried tomato and cheddar biscuit with paprika and a touch of cayenne.

The two keys to success in making the best biscuits are handling the dough as little as possible as well as using very cold solid fat (butter, shortening, or lard) and cold liquid. When the biscuits hit the oven, the cold liquid will start to evaporate creating steam which will help our biscuits get very tall.

Buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the biscuits and makes them slightly more tender. No food processor: Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl, and use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until crumbly.

But if you chill your pan of biscuits in the fridge before baking, not only will the gluten relax (yielding more tender biscuits), the butter will harden up. And the longer it takes the butter to melt as the biscuits bake, the more chance they have to rise high and maintain their shape. So, chill... and chill.

Biscuit recipes tend to be egg-free, this makes them drier and the lack of protein to bind the mix helps achieve that crumbly texture. For super light, crumbly biscuits try grating or pushing the yolks of hard-boiled eggs through a sieve into the biscuit dough.