[C320-list] Biscuits, was - Galley Sink Waste

[Chris Burti]

--- Bryan Campbell <bcampbell at valp.net> wrote:

> How about sharing that biscuit recipe
> 

Bryan,
Unfortunately, I really don't have a recipe. I learned
to make biscuits by watching a cook who made them
without any recipe and practiced until I developed a
good feel for the proportions. I can now make any size
batch from three biscuits to three pans of three dozen
each without really measuring anything. Although,
bigger batches are much easier to get consistently
good results because small errors in the proportions
have little effect.

However, I'll try to explain what I do and hope it
makes some kind of sense. I can't warrant these
measures of proprtions, but they should be close
enough to work.

A good way to start the learning process is with about
two cups of self rising flour (it has the baking
powder and salt pre-mixed or you can add about 2
teaspoons of fresh baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of
salt per cup of all-purpose flour) in large bowl.
Note: These are biscuits...not cake. I never use cake
flour and I never sift.

Cut in about 2-4 tablespoons of shortening with a fork
until it makes rice sized lumps. Crisco is good if you
are watching cholesterol, hog lard is best if you want
flavor to die for, heheheh. If you decide to make
biscuits regularly, I recommend buying a shortening
cutter and a couple of different sized biscuit
cutters.

Now is the time to add grated cheese if you wish,
about 8 oz. will work for this size batch, which will
make about a dozen cat-head and about 18 regular sized
biscuits.

Using a big spoon, stir in the buttermilk. Start off
with about 2/3 of a cup and add a little more a bit at
a time until the dough is stiff enough to stay in one
big lump and is a little sticky. You can use any sweet
milk as a substitute right on down to skim milk or
even water in a pinch but... flavor is lost in the
translation. In a pinch, you can make 'buttermilk' by
adding a bit of vinegar to fresh milk.

Dust your hands and the counter with flour. If you
have too much buttermilk in your dough and it is too
sticky, then heavy and repeated dusting will fix it.
Place the dough ball on the floured counter and
flatten it, fold it over left then right hand, in
thirds, then turn it 90 degrees and repeat. Some cooks
say you should not over-work the dough and to only
stir it enough to mix it. I find that kneading it like
this eight to ten times produces a higher-rising flaky
biscuit contrary to conventional wisdom.

When ready to cut, flatten the dough ball down to
about 3/4 inch thick all around. I don't use a roller,
but you can if you like. I prefer biscuit cutters for
cutting out the biscuits but a tall thin-rimmed glass
will function ok, or you can roll a small lump of
dough into a ball and flatten it. But, you don't get
those gorgeous sides that a cutter produces. 

Take a little bit of shortening on a paper towel
(usually wiping off the spoon you used to measure out
the shortening will suffice and that is when I grease
my pan as well) and wipe a very thin coat on your
baking pan. Too much shortening will burn, making
clean-up difficult and causing the cheese in the
biscuits to stick to the pan = PITA.

Place the biscuits on the pan just touching each other
and re-knead the trimmings and cut another round until
the dough is all used up. If you have a little dab of
dough left over, it is traditionally rolled into
'snakes'.

Brush the tops with butter (entirely optional and I
more often than not just skip it). Drawn butter works
fine, clarified produces an exquisite golden color.
Place the pan in an oven preheated to 450-475 degrees
and bake for about 10-12 minutes, check, and continue
cooking until golden brown on top, usually about 15
minutes total, depending on the oven. 

Once you have the process down pat at home, try the
galley. You can make the dough up ahead of time and
refrigerate it. However, once you get pretty good at
making biscuits, the results from refrigerating the
dough are disappointing and you'll find it fast and
easy enough to do aboard anyway. The gas oven and
little aluminum pan that come with the Catalina 320
cook fast so, lower the heat some or else the bottoms
of the biscuits will be hard when the center is
finally done.

If you want to try the iron skillet technique, line
the bottom with two layers of tinfoil, the bottom one
should be wrinkled a bit. The air between the layers
makes a good insulator to keep the biscuit bottoms
from getting too hard. Lightly grease the top layer of
foil and make your dough just a touch more moist than
for the oven. 

If you cook them on the stove-top, you will need a
domed lid on your skillet to turn it into an 'oven'.
This isn't required on the grill, just keep the cover
closed down tight. You have to keep an eye on things
because you have very little control over
temperatures, but if you peek too often, the bottoms
will be burned and the middles will be gooey when the
tops turn brown.

Good luck and don't be surprised when after you start
producing consistently good results...your friends and
family encourage you to "keep practicing"...it really
is a compliment.



Chris Burti
"Commitment"
Catalina 320, #867, 
Farmville, NC


		
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