Southern Biscuits

Biscuits are my favorite easy-to-make breakfast item. Recently I've been trying new recipes and found 2 that I really like. The first one is the Buttermilk Biscuit recipe from Baking Illustrated (recipes from the magazine Cook's Illustrated). The second recipe also uses buttermilk and is from my mom's huge pile of family recipes. These biscuits are light, fluffy, and flaky.

SOUTHERN BISCUITS

2 cups flour*
2 t. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/3 c. shortening (or butter)
2/3 c. buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a bowl. Cut in shortening thoroughly until mixture looks like meal.
3. Stir in almost all the buttermilk. If dough is not pliable, add just enough milk to make a soft, puffy, easy-to-roll dough.
4. Round up dough on a lightly floured board. Knead lightly 20-25 times, about 1/2 minute. Roll a little less than 1/2" thick. Cut with floured biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

*note: if you're using self-rising flour omit the baking powder and salt.