Southern Style Biscuits Stand Mixer Recipe
Mar 7th, 2010 by lane
I’ve altered my Flaky Southern Style Biscuits Recipe to include a Stand Mixer Recipe as well as some method adjustments. The first recipe uses a rolling pin and kneads the dough by hand. I think it’s personal preference, but I have really loved my results with the stand mixer and find hand patting the dough to give me the greatest rise. Check out how fluffy those biscuits are! I’ve also added my homemade buttermilk recipe to my new FAQ page.
If you find yourself sitting around coveting a fabulous stand mixer, biscuits and cakes and frostings dancing through your head, DoughMessTic has a contest running through midnight this Tuesday where you can win one! Hope over there, make a comment in the comment section noting you were sent there by dinnerandconversation. If the random number generator picks your comment number, you can with a Stand Mixer in a color of your very own choosing! While you’re at it, you can become a fan of DoughMessTic on Facebook and my site! Just search for doughmesstic or dinnerandconversation.com in your facebook, then click Become a Fan of!
The very very very best way to make Southern Style Biscuits requires White Lily Flour. Really. All other flours yield a biscuit though delicious, lacking a delicacy and levity unparalleled. If you’re in Dallas, you can pick up your White Lily Flour at Central Market. And if you’re lucky enough to be in Austin, you can pick it up at almost any HEB. Otherwise I hope you live in the southeast or you’ll be paying exorbitantly to ship 5 lb. bags of flour from either the site above or another you google. Quality ingredients are worth the shipping. Just ask me about my shipments of Heinz Genuine Dill Pickles. At the end of the day, my pickles cost over $10 a jar. That’s almost enough to make me hide them from my children. But who am I kidding, I can’t blame them for their highly refined palates ; ) And at least I’m no longer buying them from the Piggly Wiggly, who gracefully managed to pack them so that at least 1/3 of my shipment broke every time. Sigh.
Southern Style Biscuits Stand Mixer Recipe (makes about 14 biscuits)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Get thee some White Lily Flour)
4 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsps salt
1/2 cup very cold butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 to 1 and 3/4 c. cold buttermilk
8 tbsps butter, really softened
1 tbsp butter, melted
Preheat oven to 450° . Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add cold butter 1 tbsp at a time to mixer. Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs, with no large chunks of butter. Add buttermilk, pouring slowly until mixture just starts to look moist. The key here is to *not* let the dough look wet. Dough should be soft and moist; only add remaining buttermilk, if you are still seeing dry flour. If dough looks wet, add more flour. If you are using regular All Purpose flour, I find I need the higher amounts of buttermilk. When using White Lily, be prepared to stop at the low end of the amounts given. When just mixed, remove paddle attachment and switch to dough hook. Turn on lowest setting for 2 and 1/2 minutes. At this point your dough should have formed a ball around the hook and pulled away from the sides. Like this.
Move dough onto a lightly floured work surface (I find it works much better to use regular old All Purpose flour for this step, oddly enough, save your White Lily for the base recipe). Pat dough into a 14-by-10-inch rectangle. With short side nearest you, spread top two-thirds of dough with 1/3 of the soft butter, leaving top third, furthest from you, unbuttered. Fold dough into thirds by pulling top third down over center and then pulling bottom third over middle. Turn dough so short side faces you. Pat into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle. In same manner, spread again with second third of soft butter and fold letter style. Turn once more in the same manner. Pat into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle; spread with remaining soft butter and fold up. Work quickly and gently so as not to overwork dough. Pat dough into rectangle 3/4-inch thick on floured surface. Cut into rounds using the top edge of a wine glass. Push glass down, then turn to cut dough. Place on biscuits on parchment, 1 inch apart.
Lightly brush tops with melted butter. Bake in center of hot oven about 17 minutes, until lightly golden brown and firm.
Hi Lane, quick question please. After changing to dough hook, my ball never did cling to the hook.. Sides were clean, but ball looked completely dry, not even mist. Biscuits turned out with slight flour taste and not quite as flaky as I wanted. Your thoughts are greatly welcomed. Used King Athur Flour.
Jim — Garland Texas
Hi Jim, This got caught up in my spam folder, so I’m sure you’ve found new ways to biscuit prowess by now. My thoughts would be – king arthur is a hardier, higher protein flour than white lily, or even all-purpose gold medal in my experience. You could try adding more buttermilk – if you tried the whole 1 and 3/4 c. maybe push all the way to 2 c? If you can find any flour made from soft white winter wheat – that should help. You could even try cake flour – it is also low protein.