A few weeks ago our Mennonite friends in Kentucky invited us to watch them make sweet sorghum syrup. Sorghum is similar to molasses but has a much earthier taste with a touch of sourness. It can be used cup for cup in any recipe calling for molasses, honey, or corn syrup. Having said all that, in the South, if you give a friend some sorghum, they’re going to want a biscuit, a light, crunchy biscuit.
I anointed my husband, the Southerner, the “biscuit maker”; he had watched his mother make biscuits since he was a little fella. Sadly, they were not as easy to make as he had remembered. The first batch was fraught with problems: they were dry and hard like hockey pucks. From the rolling hills and gorgeous lakes of KY, I went on Facebook and begged our friends to tell us what went wrong with the biscuits. Their suggestions poured in. Futzing around in the kitchen, with the goal of making a good biscuit, became our vacation vocation.
Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1⁄3 cup all-vegetable shortening, lard, or butter, chilled
1 cup buttermilk
Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 500º
2) Lightly flour a large baking sheet. You can use the self-rising flour for this.
3) Mix together flour, salt, and shortening with a pastry cutter, whisk, or two knives.
4) Add buttermilk and mix with a fork until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Do not overwork the dough. The airiness in a biscuit is created by the holes left when shortening flecks melt and create pockets of steam. If you overmix the dough, you’ll lose those air pockets. The dough will be sticky.
5) Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface or a sheet of parchment paper.
6) Using floured hands, gently shape the dough into a disc. The way this delicately soft mound of dough feels in your hands is heavenly.
7) Flour the rolling pin and gently roll out the dough until it is ¾ inch thick. Alternatively, you could press the dough out with your fingertips.
8) Dust the edges of either a 2-inch or 3-inch biscuit cutter with flour. Cut the biscuits and place on a floured baking sheet. A 2-inch cutter will yield 16 biscuits. A 3-inch cutter will yield 12.
9) If you want the biscuits to have soft sides, arrange them so their sides are touching. If you want crunchy sides, arrange them one inch apart from one another. At this point, you could put the pan of uncooked biscuits in the freezer and once frozen, put the biscuits in a bag to store.
10) Bake at 500º for 5 minutes and then turn oven off. Leave biscuits in the oven to bake for another 3-5 minutes. Biscuits are done when they have a light golden brown color.
A Southern Treat:
Mix together a pat of butter and a heaping tablespoon of sorghum syrup. Spread mixture over warm biscuits.
The Biscuit King:
P.S. Special thanks to those who offered baking tips: Lou Ann, Robin, Anne, Libba, Stephanie, Terry, Susan, Holly M, Holly W, Mary Sue, Barbara, and Mrs. Harriman.
Toppings that go well on a biscuit:
Raising Sorghum Cane to Make Sorghum Syrup
Oven-Roasted Strawberry and Rosemary Jam
Crab Apple Jelly
Homemade Grape Jelly
Roasted Fig Preserves with Lemon and Thyme
If you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend and become a follower. When signing up, be sure to confirm the subscription on the follow-up letter that will be sent to your email.
Follow Judy’s Chickens on Instagram and Pinterest @JudysChickens.
Always check my blog for the latest version of a recipe.
© 2014-2020 Judy Wright. All rights reserved. Photos, videos, and text may only be reproduced with the written consent of Judy Wright.
@judyschickens 
These look fantastic! I can’t wait to try them this weekend.
Any recommendations regarding using butter vs. shortening or a combination?
Thank you Judy!
I will let you know how it goes.
Jennifer- My first comment! If you lived closer, I’d bake you a plateful of biscuits! I haven’t tried making them with butter, yet, but that will be next. I hope to try making them with lard, too. Check out this article: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/lard-the-new-health-food
What a lovely bake! Will be looking forward to your next bake!
Thank you.
Thank you mydearbakes!
You are now an official member, native daughter, of the deep south. Biscuits rule!
Going to Clarksdale and Como with YOU on your biography tour made me an official member, Corabel. I’m no longer the nerdener I was!
Oh LORDY, my life just changed for the better! So thrilled to see Judy’s Chickens on the Web: sending you a virtual casserole of welcome to the blogiverse.
Thanks, Ann. I’ve been watching you for ten years. You are my inspiration! I smile just thinking about you and Kay over at MDK.
Time for a bottle for the blue bottle tree? Die-hard Southerners will always insist on lard although it will surely clog up any room left in your arteries. But hey….you gotta go sometime and what better than after biscuits with what I prefer-fig preserves!!!
Dolores! I can always count on you to make me smile! You know I always need more colorful bottles for my bottle tree. I think fig preserves would be scrumptious on the biscuits. I will try making those next summer and when I do, I’ll bring a jar over to you. Let me know if you need any sorghum. xoJ
What wattage bulb should I use in my Suzy Bake Oven to make the biscuits brown like yours-the fam is really excited to eat these with a few slices of bacon,-question, can I substitute some pig fat instead of butter-we love your website and my wife’s friends were wondering whose purty hands those are holding the dough-signed, the hawk roosting in your tree🙀
Whollattaculotta, hated when you boys used my Easy Bake Oven. Oh, and I think I know where you can get some buttah.
Received a hands on live biscuit class from the master biscuit maker, Kelly Wright. They were as tasty and delightful as can be. I made the bacon Kelly the eggs and biscuits. What a fantastic breakfast. Of course the biscuits were served with sorghum and butter.
Thanks, Rachelle! It will be hard for you to ever go back to store-bought biscuits again now that you know that in the time it takes to heat the oven to 500º you can prepare biscuits from scratch! So glad you got to see first hand what we’ve been talking about. xoJ