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So, is this true about the protein content of the flour and biscuit making? If so, what is the protein content of White Lily and how comparable is it to something like cake flour?
White Lily is simply pastry flour and the protein content is basically in the 9% range for pastry flour. Cake flour is lower. All purpose flour is higher.
And frankly I don’t think it makes the best biscuits. I prefer all-purpose and Gold Medal is my go-to when in the USA. And hey, Stella Parks is southern herself and she also prefers AP to White Lily.
That article is all over the place in terms of what it has to say about the type of wheat used and other information. The notion that all northern flour is made from hard wheat is just wrong.
“ The biscuit mix itself is a simple combination of all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. For light and fluffy biscuits, steer clear of any flour made from 100% hard red wheat; this style is relatively low in starch and high in protein, readily forming gluten in a high-moisture dough. That’s great when it comes to making chewy breads and pasta, but bad news for light and tender biscuits. Nor do I recommend going overboard in the opposite direction with a flour made from 100% soft white wheat, a high-starch/low-protein scenario that can produce biscuits that are borderline cakey, too tender and crumbly to split for breakfast sandwiches and the like.”
Biscuits made with soft wheat pastry flour are cakey for my liking. They’re not bad, but they’re not my ideal.
Nancy Silverton specifically uses KA all-purpose because the very strong flour makes for good lamination, so the final product ends up full of crisp, flakey layers. It’s a whole different animal from a southern cakey biscuit, but it definitely has its fans.
I would offer up that Southern cooks make biscuits three times a day.
Its quickly disappearing but when you do something three times a day every day for several decades you get really good at it.
Ive had some pretty dismal hockey pucks in the south, by the way.
So helpful. I have been really pleased with the results when baking biscuits with King Arthur all-purpose flour. Thanks to you @Shellybean, now I know why.
I dislike biscuits made with White Lily self-rising flour.
The baking powder in White Lily self-rising flour contains aluminum which, to me, leaves a nasty aftertaste.
Ditto. I use KA AP and a variety of multi-fold methods, most recently [this one from Chef John],(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLo6r65pNss) and the family and I are always happy with the results. And despite his comment near the end of the video, it didn’t take a bunch of tries to get it right.
Edit - ingredients weren’t on the YT video page. They’re also published here at All Recipes.
What does Carrie Morey use to make her Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits?
Most of America is terrible at Making Alot of Things.
Why limit it to just biscuits.
I don’t care for self rising flour because of the aftertaste. I also let the biscuits rise for 1/2 - 1 hour covered. You’d be surprised.
indeed. show of hands - all the people who do so much cooking here . . .
how many of you make biscuits?
our long term biscuit has been the drop type, but I’m looking for a really light airy rolled out type.
and I’ll second the baking powder choice issue. Rumford and Clabbergirl (made by same company…) are non-aluminum and the difference can be noticed.
I make biscuits. I don’t think of biscuits as light and airy, but here’s the recipe I use.
I don’t like rolling and cutting biscuits. I shape the dough into two circles and cut each circle into six wedges.
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I make biscuits. I made sourdough discard biscuits this morning.
I have never rolled a biscuit, although am not opposed to trying. Typically, I cut and stack the dough on itself several times (pressing down after each stack) to give it a little lamination, and then make a final shaping by hand before cutting. If I’m making a small enough batch, I use the bench cutter for all the pressing, so my warm hands don’t have to touch the dough much.
these are drop biscuits - the dough is very sticky, spooned onto sheet - rolling it would be a disaster…
Here’s Stella Park’s conversion from a roll biscuit to a drop biscuit. I assume it provides the clues to reverse-engineer your way back from a drop to a roll (ie. decrease liquid, add butter):
| 255 g. AP flour | 255 g. AP flour | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 T. baking powder | 1 T. baking powder | |
| 2 t. granulated sugar | 2 t. granulated sugar | |
| 5 g. kosher salt | 5 g. kosher salt | |
| 8 T. unsalted butter | —> | 6 T. unsalted butter |
| 180-190 g. buttermilk | —> | 240-254 g. buttermilk |
I make biscuits every month or so.
Nah. Bacon in the oven is the way to go, unless you are making less than a serving.
The biscuits I grew up eating were made with baking powder and Crisco.
Carrie uses White Lily
