The Ratio Rule To Keep In Mind For Tender Biscuits

The quest to find the perfect recipe to produce the perfect biscuit is like undertaking a journey to find the holy grail. The culinary exploration is fraught with perils and challenges, but the reward is almost too great for the taste buds to imagine. Biscuits can be a very personal food. Some people like them fluffy and soft. Others prefer their biscuits a little denser and crumbly. Still, King Arthur Flour explains if making biscuits makes you feel a little intimidated, don't be. This doughy mix is simple to make. In fact, the cooking site offers a three ingredient recipe that uses only flour, heavy cream, and salt.

That said, if you are a fan of a soft, tender biscuit, one misstep, and you could end up with a product that is more like a rock. So, there are a few things to keep in mind as you make your next batch of homemade buttermilk biscuits. According to Quaker Oats, if you find yourself producing a tough and chewy biscuit, it is most likely because you were playing with your dough too much. Overhandling the dough messes with the shortening, causing it to melt prematurely. This results in smaller air pockets which leads to a tough biscuit. 

But never fear, to truly make a tender biscuit, the Washington Post recommends using a tried and true ratio rule that will help you achieve just that.     

The Washington Post reports that if you want a soft, tender biscuit, you need to rethink your fat. To get that type of consistency, the media outlet says your biscuits require "more fat and less moisture." The Washington Post goes on to share Tom Douglas, the chef at Serious Biscuits in Seattle, Washington, has a recipe for biscuits that uses three sticks of butter. But before you have a heart attack, both figuratively and literally, from the mere thought of using three sticks of butter to make anything, the newspaper suggests, instead, to look at the fat in the liquid you might be using to make your biscuits.

While King Arthur Flour concurs that butter reigns supreme when it comes to getting a light, fluffy biscuit, it also says buttermilk, half and half, and milk can add just the right amount of fat to keep your biscuits rising tall while remaining soft and absolutely perfect. The site goes on to reveal different liquids can be broken down differently. Some have more water and fat than others, and this is essential to understand as you are selecting the right fat-to-liquid ratio.