Learning to Make Southern Style Biscuits
It seems like one of the main requirements of being a grandma should be passing down a killer biscuit recipe! Hopefully you had that awesome southern Granny (or you are her!) that did not disappoint you in the biscuit department. For those of us who were less fortunate, we can thank God for a wonderful lady named Sarah Voyles who patiently took the time to teach me!
*Just to be clear, I have two amazing grandmothers and I am very thankful for them both! I am sure they probably would have taught me to make biscuits had we lived a little closer. Due to the distance between us (North Carolina to Michigan) and short periods of time together throughout the years we never got around to biscuits.
Enter Mrs. Sarah Voyles! She is a wonderful wife, superstar mother of ten, “Grand-mommy” to many, and an all around amazing Christian lady.
At age eighteen I had no idea how to make biscuits from scratch. While staying at the Voyles’ home, I was asked to make the biscuits for Saturday breakfast (Saturday breakfast is a pretty big deal!). The task involved making biscuits for up to about fifty hungry people who would gather there to eat and fellowship. Instead of changing her mind and asking one of the many others there who were capable of doing the job on their own, Mrs. Sarah very patiently walked me through the biscuit making process.
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Timeout: Some Lessons We Could All Learn From Sarah
- Allow others to help! Mrs. Sarah was not afraid to delegate tasks that needed done to pull this breakfast off. I see many women who stress when feeding ten people, much less fifty. Learn to loosen up and let others help out, even if they do not do things exactly like you!
- Be willing to teach others. If you know a skill and see that someone else is desiring to learn, help them out! Many women reach the age where they either want to give too much assistance to those who are younger (to the point of meddling), or they give no help/advice at all. Balance in this area is key. We younger ladies need your know how!
- Have some patience. When others do not know the things you know, do not be discouraging or negative, just be patient! You did not learn everything you know in a day, do not expect others too. Answer all the silly little questions. Deal with all the many mistakes new learners make with grace and kindness.
Read here about Twenty Things I Learned from the Best Moms
Extra: My Big Biscuit Blunder!
I thought I would add this funny tidbit to my biscuit learning story.
With the help of Mrs. Sarah I was able to accomplish the job! We made the biscuits early in the week, froze them, and planned to throw them in the oven when needed. Saturday morning came around and we were all in the kitchen early trying to get things ready for the company coming later in the day. My biscuits looked great! They were the right size and texture, light and fluffy. However, one bite and you knew something went very wrong on my biscuit making journey!
Mrs. Sarah’s teaching style was to give you the necessary information but let you do the work on your own so you could better learn how to do things. I followed all the instructions but somehow got the canisters of baking ‘soda’ and baking ‘powder’ confused!
They were still edible, just very salty tasting. Mrs. Voyles was very kind about it, despite the fact that I literally messed up biscuits for fifty people! I can laugh about this now, but I was very disappointed in the moment!
Moral of the story- pay very close attention to your powder and soda. When you do, biscuits turn out much better!
Recipe for Southern Style Biscuits
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 1/2-1 3/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
Makes approximately 20 medium size biscuits.
1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
2. Cut butter into sixteen, tablespoon slices. Add butter to dry ingredients. Using your hands, mix the butter in with the flour mixture. Your goal is to get flakey pieces of dough. Use your fingers to gently break up the bigger clumps.
3. Add one cup of milk. Mix together using your hands. Then add additional 1/2 cup of milk. If dough is still too dry, add another 1/4 cup of milk. The goal is to get a somewhat sticky, bulky dough. (See picture below for dough texture.)
4. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
5. Flour surface and your hands.
6. Gently place the dough on the floured surface. Mash flat with hands until dough is about 1/4 inch thick. You may need to sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough to keep from sticking to your hands.
6. Cut out biscuits using a biscuit cutter or glass mason jar. (I use a jelly jar.) Once you have cut out all the biscuits you can, re-gather remaining dough and follow step 6 until all the dough is used.
7. Lightly spray a cookie sheet or cast iron skillet with cooking spray or coat with a thin layer of oil.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Tips and Tricks
1. It is easier to cut and add in the butter while it is cold, not room temperature.
2. The key to fluffy, soft biscuits is to not overwork the dough. This simply means when mixing dry and wet ingredients you want to work with the dough as little as possible. The dough does not have to be smooth, you actually want a somewhat rough, clumpy texture. When rolling and cutting out the biscuits try to make as little contact with the dough as possible.
3. You can freeze biscuit dough if you only need a certain amount and use the rest when needed.
Thank you so much for stopping by the woods to learn how to make biscuits! Do you have any extra tips or tricks to add? We would love to hear from you in the comments below or by email!
