Buttermilk Biscuits #2

Tonight I took my second shot at buttermilk biscuits.

For my first try, I used a recipe out of "I'm Just Here For More Food" by Alton Brown (which is the best cookbook I think I've ever seen, I've started recommending it to anyone who mentions wanting to learn more about baking). He printed a famous old recipe, which I believe was what came on the back of shortening packages. He added in a story about how his good ol' Southern grandmother would argue with other Southern grandmothers about whether it was better to use shortening or lard, but how if any yankee mentioned using butter they would gang up on them. So, I tried shortening.

The biscuits turned out really well. Like, I wasn't sure what improvements could be made. Instead of rolling the biscuits out and cutting them (like the recipe said), I just kind of dropped them onto a baking sheet. They weren't pretty and round, but tasted great. They were a little gummy the first time I ate them (which according to the instructions means I put in too much milk), but after a day of sitting in the refrigerator, were wonderful. They had a great flavor, and a great flaky crumb.

Oh, and one thing worth pointing out, the recipe didn't actually call for buttermilk, so I just used normal milk.

Tonight, for the sake of something different, I decided to try a recipe out of "The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews." The biggest differences seemed to be: a) they used butter, instead of shortening, b) everything was done in a food processor (whereas before it was done by hand), c) I used an ungreased baking sheet, d) this time I used milk+vinegar to simulate buttermilk, and e) the recipe included 1t sugar. Overall, the biscuits weren't as good. I think I actually liked the butter flavor less. Also, the biscuits were too crumbly. Like, the outside was crispy and crunchy, a bit more than I would have liked. The biscuits always felt like they were on the edge of falling apart. The big benefits of this recipe, however, were how easy it was to make (literally, the slowest part was heating the oven).

So, next time, I think I'm going to try to see if I can do the Brown recipe in a food processor (like the Best Recipe one). I might also give lard a shot, and see how it does.