Breadmaking 101

Lesson 4: Biscuits and Scones

Getting Experimental

It really isn't touched on in the book, but the quintessential Southern flour is self-rising flour, the most famous brand being White Lily. It’s a flour that includes the leaveners and salt, so basically all you have to add for good biscuits is butter or shortening and buttermilk. King Arthur Flour also has its own variety, which the Web site claims has less salt than other products. According to White Lily you can substitute one cup of plain all-purpose flour plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt for one cup self-rising flour, and you can substitute self-rising flour for the regular flour, baking powder and salt in other recipes. It’s a fun thing to play with if you want to try authentic Southern biscuits, but you can make delicious biscuits without it.

I also want to encourage you now to start experimenting with changing recipes if you haven’t done so already. This is really easy to do with biscuits and scones without messing things up. You could start simple by, say, substituting peanut butter chips for chocolate chips in a scone recipe or changing the kind of cheese or variety of herbs used in a biscuit. Don’t be afraid to try different things. These breads are infinitely variable, and the best way to start feeling comfortable about baking is to experiment. So don’t be afraid!

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