My Grandmother, Ruth Johnson Bowers, made the best biscuits you could possibly imagine. She made them every day. She made them before she went to work. She even made them before she went to church. Biscuits, gravy, bacon, and fried eggs were her specialty.
Many years ago I tried to get her to "give" me the recipe, and she said there was no recipe. She did it by feel, she told me. So I tried to make it along side her several times. I took notes that are now long gone.
Today I decided it was time to figure out her recipe. This one comes pretty darn close, except for one thing, bacon grease. My Granny made her biscuits with bacon grease that she saved up like gold in a little can on the counter. It was gold, pure liquid gold that gave all the best southern cooking it's fabulous flavor. Oh, the good old days...
I used butter and a little extra salt to replicate that bacon grease flavor. It comes close.
By the way, Granny's biscuits are nothing like the ones in the can. They are not fluffy and not very flaky. But, they are so very yummy. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Granny's Southern Style Biscuits
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup buttermilk
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter. Stir in the milk. Turn onto a floured board and knead lightly. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter. Place biscuits onto a lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.
They look delicious. I also have relatives who can't give me recipes because they don't follow one :)
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that your homemade biscuits have no added things that the store bought ones do, but I was wondering if a tip I found on another blogger's recipe would help with cutting in the butter. She froze the butter and grated it into the flour - no need to cut it in! That recipe was for strawberry shortcake, but it might work here also.
Thanks for sharing - I will definitely give them a try.