(Stolen, without prejustice, from April Goodwin-Smith on AFP, 2006-01-21)
The holy of holies, the beautiful fragrant, fresh from the
oven baking power biscuit is close to what is, in the same
place as above, called a scone, from what I have seen by
making scones from a recipe.
Baking powder biscuits are best eaten fresh from the oven,
split in half with melting butter dripping down your hand and
off your wrist, and marvelous golden syrup making you too
sticky to go anywhere until you’ve had a nice hose down. So,
while you are all messy anyways, you might just as well have
another. Don’t mind if ah do.
Do not be fooled that you can get the real wonderful
taste of biscuits in a restaurant. Unless they reach you
by ten minutes after they’ve come out of the oven, they
will be substandard - even my mom’s lose a little bit
of their oomph as they chill.
Here’s my mother’s recipe.
Donna’s Baking Powder Biscuits
Do not be tempted to overwork the dough, or the bisuits
will be tough. There should be ragged bits hardly sticking
to the main mass, even once patted out.
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lard/margerine/butter
3/4 cup cold milk
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in the
shortening until the size of split peas. Add milk. Mix
just enough to form a ragged lump. Pat out with hands
until about 1/2 inch think. Cut with floured cutter, like a
beverage glass. Baked on greased sheet at 450 F for
12 - 15 minutes.
Serve hot with butter and Rogers Golden Syrup.
That is the traditional recipe. Myself, I pat the dough out
into a square shape, and cut the biscuits into squares with a
knife, because the act of forming the scraps into another lump
for cutting makes the biscuits progressively tougher.