Buttermilk Biscuits #3

Tonight I made a third attempt at buttermilk biscuits, and they essentially turned out perfectly. Here is the recipe I used:

2 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
4 T lard, cold (straight from the fridge)
milk (see below)

Preheat the oven to 500F. Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the lard, and squish into the dough with your fingers for a couple minutes. It is done when there are still lots of small (pea-sized or smaller, maybe a few larger) lumps in the flour, but flour looks like corn meal, and if you take a handful of any amount of flour and squish it in your hands, it will somewhat hold its shape. Add milk, not much at a time, and stir with a spoon, until you have just enough for the dough to hold together. It should not at all be sticky or tacky, and even feels a little dry on the outside. Pat the ball of dough together with your hands, but don't really kneed it. Let it rest for a few minutes on the counter. When the oven is ready, tear pieces of dough into about 1/4 or 1/3 c lumps, shape them into half-circles, and place them on an ungreased pan. Bake them for ~9 minutes.

This turned out really well. They were easy and fast to make. The texture was perfect (not too gummy like #1). The lard added a nice subtle flavor, without being overpowering like butter. Overall, I'm really happy with this. In the future, when I'm cooking for vegetarian or Jewish friends, I'll use shortening as a substitute, rather than butter.

As I said, this might turn out to be the finished "master" recipe, however I have two small variations I really want to try. First, I don't actually use buttermilk in this recipe, and want to see how that would alter the flavor. Second, I would like to try the same recipe, except substituting half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. However, in both cases I will use the same proportions and techniques as before.

But yay, this might mean 1 down and 6 to go!