How to make biscuits with Rachel Wharton and Charlie Shaw

Comment by Kansas on July 12, 2009 at 1:44am

OK, I wanna hang out with you guys - great fun ! Intrigued by the White Lily Flour.....here in KS flour is dense and hard - homemade bread literally stales in 1 day & is dense and heavy. And I am a bread baker but just cant stand this flour... I am from Canada and our flour is softer. We also have "Cake & Pastry Flour" in 1 kg bags or 10 kg bags...it makes the best pastry ever ! Wondering where the heck I am going to get my hands on White Lily Flour. You guys didnt read out loud the recipes? If you had brushed all of your biscuits with melted butter before baking they would have been shiny golden brown. I have an old Home & Garden Bread book that has Sour Cream biscuits (they are made with a mixture of sour cream & cream) and they are really good....kind of scone-like though. I like airy light fluffy biscuits. Hmmmmmmm....Anyway, you guys have inspired me to bake some biscuits despite the temp here hovering around 100F for the past few days. Thanks for sharing your fun biscuit extravaganza !

Comment by Kansas on July 12, 2009 at 1:49am

Just checked Amazon.com for White Lily Flour. Its a go-to for ingreds or things I cant find here on the prairie. 8 - 5lb bags of White Lily Flour is $45.45 plus shipping. I DON'T THINK SO ! Not that intrigued by their flour. Nada! It's 1 am and I have to be up early in the morning to transport 2 black Labs and a Coonhound to Omaha so off to bed....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Nite Nite !

Comment by Katja on July 13, 2009 at 6:01am

Loved this show! But... as a Dutch person ignorant of Southern cooking, do you eat these on their own with coffee or something? Or do they accompany other dishes?
Keep up the good work :)

Comment by Lance on July 17, 2009 at 10:04pm

White Lily costs $45.45 for 8-5lb.??????????????????????????????? Plus shipping???????????

Yikes, we “po folk” will have to compromise on the White Lily flour issue. That’s the thing about the “foodies”—price is no object. Of course, they probably think that price is quite reasonable. Aaaaahhhhhhh living off the fat of the land! :-)

So I will proceed with Gold Medal flour or something similar!

Anyway, the biscuits look delicious.

I may also start making my own baking power. That sounds like a good idea.

In sum, the video is excellent, and I will be making biscuits this weekend!!!!!

Comment by Tina Fisher on July 29, 2009 at 12:13pm

Thanks for the baking powder tip, I'm going to get some of that so I always have it on hand. Would it help the life of baking powder to freeze it I wonder? Love the dogs, love your friends and wife. Found you on youtube and fell in love with the labs and your sense of humor. Thanks for expanding my knowledge. Blessings.

Comment by Charlie Shaw on August 16, 2009 at 9:58am

Hey Guys, Charlie here. The baking powder idea comes from Cooks Illustrated, they say that baking powder basically goes bad after about 3 months from interacting with the moisture in the air. White Lilly Flour can be ordered from Smuckers (2 or 4 5-lb. bags), with shipping around $16 a bag (half that is the shipping....). Red Band and Martha White are 2 other low protein flours. See the NY Times article on White Lily for more info. I've also heard of people mixing general purpose with cake flour 1-to-1 for quickbreads like biscuits.

Comment by Paula on September 22, 2009 at 9:21am

Good Show.
Do you know a whole grain biscuit recipe?

Tip: The pastry cutter Charlie uses is also good to chop up nuts.

Comment by Tish Hall on September 23, 2009 at 9:55pm

I saw the big biscuit broadcast a few weeks ago but didn't check in here until tonight because I listened to the Gardenfork Radio discussion. There is a cheaper alternative to White Lily Flour and that is to mix all purpose flour with cake flour in a three to one ratio. Adjust up or down depending on the hardness of the all purpose flour.

I use cake flour for angel food cakes and I mix it with all-purpose flour for pie crusts. I buy small boxes and in hot weather I store it in the refrigerator.

For whole wheat biscuits, try using whole wheat pastry flour. White Lily's protein content is at the level usually described as Pastry Flour. Bob's Red Mill and Hodgeson's Mill are nationally distributed brands that have whole wheat pastry flour in their product line.

Comment by Laurl Self on September 25, 2009 at 5:39pm

Southern buscuits are only sweet when they are being used for a dessert, such as Strawberry Shortcake. I think if you re-visit this topic you should check out some Southern cookbooks. For more authenticity, try a Southern Living cookbook from Southern Living magazine. My favorite biscuit recipe from them is a two ingredient whipping cream and flour (white lily please!)... although being from the South, I rarely use a biscuit recipe anymore, unless I'm trying something new.
A note on cutting technique, the glass you are using is crimping the edges. If you use a cookie cutter you will get a higher rise because the edges have a cleaner cut.
And what you we eat them with... for breakfast, eggs and bacon; for lunch or dinner baked ham, fried chicken, etc; for a snack, jam, cold ham, butter or plain.
I love biscuits and make them every weekend for breakfast.

Comment