Kitchen Experiments: What Flour Makes The Best Biscuits? (2024)

FAQs

Kitchen Experiments: What Flour Makes The Best Biscuits? ›

“All purpose” flour is anything but. What's “low” or “high” when it comes to protein content? White wheat in general is around 9-12% protein, while the hard reds are 11-15%. As far as brands of flour, White Lily “all-purpose” flour has been my go-to for biscuit making.

Cake flour will give you a lighter, fluffier biscuit, but the outer crust won't have as much bite to it. Conversely, all-purpose flour will provide more bite, but it'll be a drier, less airy biscuit. The solution: Use half cake flour and half all-purpose flour.

The secret to the best biscuits is using very cold butter and baking powder. We've made a lot of biscuits, but this easy biscuits recipe is the one we turn to the most (they are so fluffy!). See our easy drop biscuits and cheese drop biscuits for even easier biscuits.

I used self-rising White Lily flour which is made from soft winter wheat and it is low in protein and gluten which means that even if you over-work your biscuit dough, it is almost impossible for the biscuits to turn out tough and hard (which can happen when you use standard all-purpose flour).

Plain flour is an all-purpose flour with a lower protein and gluten content. This makes the flour softer and ideal for cakes, pastries, thickening sauces, and biscuits.

Here's the Reason Biscuits in the South Really Are Better

The not-so-secret ingredient they rely upon is soft wheat flour. Soft wheat thrives in temperate, moist climates like that of the mid-Atlantic, so cooks in those areas have had access to its special flour for a long time.

While over-handling your biscuit dough can make your baked goods turn out like hockey pucks, under-mixing it while you're still adding all of your ingredients can result in floury or grainy biscuits.

Just as important as the fat is the liquid used to make your biscuits. Our Buttermilk Biscuit recipe offers the choice of using milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk is known for making biscuits tender and adding a zippy tang, so we used that for this test.

Southern buttermilk biscuit recipes typically call for White Lily flour, a low-protein brand primarily available in the southern states that makes for ultra-tender, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits.

While biscuits receive some leavening power from chemical sources — baking powder and baking soda — the difference between serviceable and greatness comes from the extra rise that steam provides. In order to generate steam, the oven must be set at a minimum of 425 degrees for at least 10 minutes prior to baking.

When should you not use self-rising flour? ›

As a general rule, don't use self raising flour if there is another leavening agent called for in the recipe such as yeast or baking soda.

A flour sifter was a necessary item to have if the home cook wanted tender cakes and biscuits. Today's recipes usually don't call for sifting flour, but it is still a good idea to have a sifter on hand for those few occasions when you do need it.

Unlike plain flour, self-rising flour already comes pre-mixed with a fixed distribution of salt and a raising agent out of the box. Generally, self-rising flour also has a lower protein content, so it's often used in recipes that benefit from being lighter and more tender, like biscuits.

Self-raising flour is used to make muffins, pancakes, or tender biscuits.

Yes: some with a very sensitive palate might be able to taste a difference, but in general we find there is no discernible difference in the volume, texture etc. of baked goods made with bleached versus unbleached flour.

All-purpose flour is best used for: cookies, muffins, bread, pie crusts, pancakes, biscuits, pizza dough, and pasta.