The Ingredient That Makes Southern-Style Biscuits Taste Better
By LAUREN ROTHMAN
Food - Drink
Extra light and tasty, Southern-style biscuits accompany a variety of Southern comfort food classics, ranging from fried chicken and country ham to pulled pork and baby back ribs. Behind the trademark tenderness of this baked delicacy is a rather simple fact — these are traditionally made with flour ground from soft wheat.
This type of wheat has about half as much gluten as hard wheat — the type of wheat used in bread flour. Because gluten lends structure and chewiness to baked items like bread, less gluten means a more tender result — and a good Southern-style biscuit sure is tender.
However, making flaky biscuits isn't only about the type of flour, as former "Top Chef" contestant Carla Hall uses all-purpose flour, which leads to biscuits that are more structured and crunchier, but still soft. There are plenty of other methods to help you turn out tender biscuits as well, like using plenty of cold butter.
