MAMA'S HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

2 cups buttermilk
½ teaspoon baking SODA
4-5 cups self rising flour, divided
2 tablespoons bacon grease or oil,
plus additional to grease tops of biscuits

Preheat oven to 425º.

Grease a cookie sheet or 9x13 baking pan with 2 tablespoons bacon grease or oil; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, baking soda and about 3 cups of flour. Stir until combined and mixture is stiff enough to knead on a board, adding additional flour to reach kneading consistency.

Generously flour a bread board or countertop; scrape dough out onto floured board and knead 8-10 times, turning dough on last kneading, smoothing and patting out with your hand until it's about 1 inch thick, no thicker.

***Don't overwork the dough; better to under knead than to over work. The less you work the dough, the more tender the biscuits will be and the higher they will rise.***

Using a biscuit cutter or a tomato sauce can with both ends cut out, cut biscuits and place into greased baking pan with sides touching. Knead trimmings and pat out dough, cutting more biscuits. As before, handle the dough as little as possible.

After all biscuits are in the pan, grease the tops of the biscuits with bacon grease or oil and place in hot oven. Watch carefully as different ovens get hotter, bake differently, etc.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, watching carefully. When biscuits are golden brown on top, check for doneness by lifting the corner on one of the middle biscuits. If the top lifts and the inside is fluffy but not sticky, biscuits are done.

Remove from oven and dump biscuits onto a wire rack, cloth lined bread basket or onto a clean kitchen towel to cool a bit, then serve hot.

This recipe yields about 2 dozen biscuits according to the size and thickness of your biscuits.

Enjoy!

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This is the same "recipe" for biscuits that my Mama made every day when I was growing up and until she died in April 2005 at the age of 76. Mama never had a recipe and I learned to make these biscuits by watching her, not from a recipe.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

MMMM sounds yummy , and the best way to learn , at your Momma's knee !
was thinking about you and was puttering around your site while I wait to finish up for the night (presently 230am!) wish I had some of your/Mommas biscuits NOW !they would lullaby the beast that lives in my belly to sleep xoxoxlove and miss you sister xoxox sugar for Lil Princess Emmy xoxox

Miss G

Stacyinga said...

Diane - I've just recently found your blog. Saw some of your recipes over at P.W. and followed the blog link.

Just wanted to tell you that I love your style of cooking. I'm in Georgia and love southern cooking, of course. So, a lot of your recipes hit home with me. When I first started reading them I just thought... she must be from the south! HAHAH! Love them.

bread lover said...

no shortening in the biscuits?

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Bread Lover: Nope, not in this particular biscuit recipe. Buttermilk, baking soda and self rising flour, and the oil/bacon fat to grease the pan and the tops of the biscuits, that's it. :-)

Di