So, it has been a range of emotions this morning – not from the election or cancer or crazy kid drama like you may expect – but from biscuits. I love to bake. I love to experiment in the kitchen. I mean, I spent an entire year trying to perfect pizza dough that is restaurant (not fast food) quality – and from what my family says, I have. Not as much success has been achieved with biscuits. I have spent over a decade off and on trying to make a good, Southern biscuit but without much success. I am always outdone by the Golden Pantry and sometimes even the store-brand canned ones (shameful, I know). BUT…this year I have done it! I achieved biscuit perfection! I don’t know if it’s the chemo, the neuropathy, or just God smiling on me and finally giving me the spiritual gift of biscuit making, but I seem to have figured it out and can replicate the results pretty consistently. True to myself though, I doubt. I am convinced that someone else can do it better – especially a best-selling cookbook author.
Earlier this year (pre-COVID and pre-Cancer 2.0) I went to Texas for a very special friend’s daughter’s (who is also a very special friend now) wedding. One of my days there I had time to kill so I drove down to Waco to see what all the fuss was about at Magnolia Market. I made the rounds. I went to the coffee shop, the store, the clearance store on the other side of town (the original store), and of course, the Bakery. I had a biscuit and a cupcake and they were both fabulous. Since then I have been eyeing the Magnolia Table cookbook and it’s sequel. I have yet to purchase either of them but I did come across a raving review of the biscuit recipe (complete with recipe) online. I felt like I was obligated to try it, and this morning felt like the right day.
They were bad. And ugly. They had spread into one big blob and not maintained a good side-wall at all. I tasted the egg, of which I was very suspicious in the first place – Southern biscuits don’t have eggs. I warned my kids. Teenager #1 said “I taste egg.” Teenager #2 said “they aren’t bad but yours are way better.” Toddler said “Mamma, these biscuits are delicious! I love them!” (you should always keep a toddler around – they are great for your self-esteem.) Teenagers #1 and #2 continued to throw me under the bus for taking on this endeavor. They chastised me, stating that I should have applied the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” principle they have heard their Daddy say many a time after a failed recipe tweak. I let them feed one to the dog and contemplated tossing the whole batch. Teenager #3 came in and said “Dad and I were warned” and then “yeah, you need to stick with yours.” I was just bracing myself for the hubs – he is by far my best cheerleader when I need it, but will be brutally honest when I ask for an opinion. He isn’t critical in the mean way, but we both love to cook and experiment with food so we pull no punches when it comes to critiquing our culinary trials. [I felt I needed to give that disclaimer lest you think I am throwing him under the proverbial bus my children tossed me under previously.] To my surprise, he loved them! He said this was as close to Golden Pantry as I’ve ever gotten! He definitely saw room for improvement, but said not to give up on these. He encouraged me to go round #2 with this recipe. So I did.
I re-read the recipe and saw one huge oversight on my part – it called for self-rising flour. I missed this the first time because it also called for more baking powder and baking soda, which is why I assumed it was using AP flour. I also wondered why it didn’t call for salt – now I do. Now, I never buy self-rising flour. I have yet to find any that is unbleached or any that doesn’t contain aluminium (which I know, I know, is not exactly the same but I just can’t get over it). So I mixed up some self-rising. I also had a few tweaks I wanted to make this time. I added some salt the first time and still felt it needed a tad more so I added 1/2 tsp. extra. The first time I subbed one of the sticks of butter with Crisco because I am convinced that good biscuits need Crisco. This time, I stuck with the full THREE sticks of butter. I *may* have gotten a in a bit of a hurry the first time and not let the dough chill for 30 minutes, but rather stuck it in the freezer for a *bit* less than that – just maybe I did that. This time, I disciplined myself and let it chill for a whole hour in the FRIDGE. The original recipe bakes at 400°F and I usually bake mine at 450°F. From my baking experience, the higher temperature gives a better rise. I finally decided to split the difference and go 425°F.
A quick rabbit trail about pans…. My niece, Asher, has taken up baking and is whipping up some fabulous treats. She made us the cutest little monster Rice Krispie Treats for our Quarantine Trick-or-Treat party we had for the G-man. She even has created a Facebook page just for her baking adventures and has the best Tic-Tocky/sped-up/whatever-the-kids-these-days-call-them videos of her baking. One of the coolest things about watching her do this is that she has Apert’s Syndrome. If you are not familiar with it you should look it up. (Apert Owl is a great organization that provides support for children with Aperts – they have great info on their site.) These kids are amazing. They go through more in the first few years of life than most of us do in a lifetime. I have felt privileged so many times to be her aunt and I am crazy proud of the woman she is becoming. I am thankful that my kids have grown up with someone with a physical disability. We are all better people because of her. Anywho…. she was asking me if I had any favorite bread pans the other day and I have forgotten to text her back. I remembered when I was writing this so I thought I’d tell you too in case you have some crummy pans you want to replace. I have this loaf pan when I want to make a long, sliceable loaf. It appears that those pans aren’t as easy to find (translated to “on Amazon”). The other brand of pans I have I did get from Amazon years ago and love – USA Pans. They have a storefront on Amazon and have all different sizes. I highly recommend these. Mine have held up well for years and are much sturdier than the ones I came into my marriage with. I am also a big fan of parchment paper. I normally buy the big rolls at Costco but I recently bought some pre-cut sheets. They are really nice to have on hand – so much quicker. They don’t quite cover my biggest pans but are perfect for my pizza stone, 9×13 Pyrex, and smaller pans.
Back to the biscuits! Well, I will say that I think the extra chilling was necessary – patience is a virtue I continue to need to work on. I patted out the biscuits per the instructions and resisted the urge to fold a couple of times like I do to make nice, flaky layers. I do highly recommend using a floured towel like these though – much less messy than a floured countertop and things don’t stick as bad. I cut the biscuits with my biscuit cutter that is older than I am. I don’t know if it is the 2-3/4″ size mentioned in the recipe, but I’m not changing. Marsh has welded it back together for me a few times. It has that old patina and I love it, so if it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. I will have a hard time deciding who it goes to in my will. I won’t even get started on my antique Pyrex bowls (or maybe I will), they are so special and I use them all the time but my family is scared to touch them because they think I may disown them if they break them. But I digress. I got the biscuits cut out and my adorable sous chef helped me “paint” them. I baked them for about 18 minutes and while we waited, we sat in the floor by the oven and played an epic game of I Spy. They came out golden brown – still floating in a pool of butter that seemed to get soaked back up as they cooled. My arteries are groaning just looking at them – they are thankful that this is a house full of boys and that I may get to eat two of these, tops. I can’t say much about the difference in appearance. They seem a bit taller, but without measuring them I don’t know that you would be able to tell the difference. The taste: much improved – the extra salt helped and the extra butter did too I think. The texture: still a little more dense and eggy than I would like – but they don’t crumble and are stout enough to hold up to plenty of filling like sausage or lots of pear preserves as was in my case today. The crunch on the bottom is superb. Overall, I like them alright. I think they have a lot to offer. I still don’t dub them replacements for mine though. I think I’ll continue to fool around with the recipe some – maybe leave out one of the eggs – and go from there.
Lessons learned: Just like with cancer – don’t let setbacks make you think you’ve failed or that you should quit. You are better at stuff than you think you are. You will always have critics, but you will also have plenty of cheerleaders – listen to them! Don’t give up and all that other good stuff (I’m really stretching for good tie-ins here – it’s really not earth shattering wisdom, it’s just biscuits).
Here are some of the after pictures from batch #2. I hope you have enjoyed this ridiculously long and detailed re-telling of my morning. Now, off for a carb-crash Sunday afternoon nap!
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Cancermamma 