Biscuits Supreme I Made It

Biscuits Supreme

pointsevenout 10 years ago
Recipe by Laneysmom: Biscuits Supreme/saved
A good biscuit. Doubled in height, which is a hallmark of a well leavened biscuit.
Didn't do the log thing. Rolled out to 1" and cut with a 2" cutter.
Used cornmeal instead of grease on the baking pan. Forgot to crowd the biscuits so they have a little lean to them.
Made a baker's dozen.
Recipe does not say how long to bake them. Went 17 minutes before I decided to pull them. Time is going to vary with thickness of biscuit.
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mrpiggy 10 years ago said:

Those are great looking biscuits. I really need to try and make them again

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frankieanne 10 years ago said:

Oh, geez. I had totally forgotten about my plan to master biscuits. Shoot. Those look so good!

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mommyluvs2cook 10 years ago said:

I can never get a good rise like that on my biscuits...beautiful!

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pointsevenout 8 years ago said:

Made these again because I received a note from the author.
I'm still impressed at how much rise these biscuits get.
Ingredients are not that far off from a standard biscuit recipe, with the exception of the cream of tartar.
Could that be the secret ingredient for good rise?

Used a 3" cutter this time with the bake time remaining the same, and crowding the biscuits so they would not lean.
Made 9 biscuits with the 3" cutter.

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bakerme 8 years ago said:

Nice rise on those biscuits, Points! I don't know enough about baking science to know what cream of tartar does to a biscuit recipe. If anybody knows, I'd be interested in knowing myself.

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pointsevenout 8 years ago said:

Alkaline and acid materials, when mixed, and a liquid agent added, have a chemical reaction with each other because they are on opposite ends of the PH scale. By-products, that we use in baking, of the chemical reaction are heat and carbon dioxide.
Baking soda is alkaline and cream of tartar is acid. They are on the opposite ends of the PH scale. They can be mixed in their dry form without chemical reaction. It is called baking powder. Also some cornstarch is added to keep the mixture from clumping.
I have always assumed that baking powder was a perfect balance of soda and tartar to yield maximum carbon dioxide formation.
All foodstuffs we tinker with in the kitchen are to some degree alkaline or acid.
This recipes ingredients are for the most part a standard biscuit recipe except for the additional cream of tartar. So I am assuming that there is more alkaline in some form or another in this recipe that the addition of cream of tartar can react with, over and on top of the cream of tartar in the baking powder.

On a side note, cream of tartar, baking soda, and baking powder all have shelf lives, even though they are in a dry powder form. Humidity (water in the air) will react with the stuffs, over time, even though you only open the bottle to peek inside and close it again.
When your bottles are 3 months old it is time to replace them so you can get maximum rise out of your baked goods. I'm an advocate of buying the larger box for cost savings. But it's a good thing, in this instance, to buy the items in smaller quantities.

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bakerme 8 years ago said:

Points, I read your answer twice and I have no idea what you just said! Baking science is a foreign language to me, so you have to keep it simple. Does it make the biscuits rise higher, make the texture more tender, make the tops brown more, or what?

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pointsevenout 8 years ago said:

When ingredients that are alkaline in nature and ingredients that are acid in nature mix together in a wet environment they produce gas bubbles. It's just what they do because of the chemical reaction between them.
It's these gas bubbles that we want to trap in our baked goods in order to make them rise.
When flour is mixed with water gluten is formed. Gluten is what traps the gas in the baked goods. The more the flour is mixed and kneaded, the more gluten is formed.
Biscuits need to be tender, ergo a shorter knead time is required so they do not become too tough with too much gluten formation.
Tenderness is also achieved by using butter and shortening. Butter helps with the flavor and shortening helps with the tenderness.
One of the ingredients that makes up baking powder is baking soda. The soda helps to brown the biscuits as well as make bubbles in the chemical reaction.

There are several varieties of flour. All have within them the ingredients that will produce differing amounts of gluten. It depends on what you are trying to bake as to which variety of flour you will choose.
Biscuits, in order to keep them tender, should really be made using pastry flour. Pastry flour is hard to find, so a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour should suffice for the pastry flour. But using all-purpose flour is just fine too and you need to be careful not to over-knead the dough. It will result in tough biscuits.

So..............

Tenderness is choice of flour and fat and amount of kneading.
Baking powder is used to create rise and browning.
Temperature, we haven't talked about that yet, activates the baking powder as well as sets the dough trapping the bubbles inside the biscuit. A higher heat works better.
Milk helps with tenderness.
Salt and sugar helps with flavor.

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frankieanne 8 years ago said:

Pso is the baking chemistry king in this group!
I don't know anything at all about baking so I Googled cream of tartar. According to what I read, cream of tartar plus baking soda equals baking powder which is already in this recipe. Cream of tartar is an acid and activates baking soda as pso said. Baking powder is a mix of the two (as he also said) and that is why you hardly ever see cream of tartar called for in a recipe today.
It also helps egg whites fluff up better when whipped.
I also read somewhere else that it will make pastry puff up, but maybe that depends on what else is in it.
So, it seems out of place here.
But - as pso's pictures prove - something sure made those things rise up high!
Perhaps the cream of tartar mixed with the baking powder makes for higher rising? Doubling the cream of tartar doubles the rise?

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pointsevenout 8 years ago said:

Alkaline and acid and PH scale are more difficult to explain without getting technical.
How 'bout an analogy.
WATER..............Hot and Cold
Hot water can be hot enough to burn you.
Cold water can be cold enough to burn you.
When you mix them, the result is lukewarm water.

If I were to make a linear scale, hot would be on one end and cold would be on the other end with various degrees of hot and cold in-between the two polar opposites.

PH stands for percent hydrogen. Some smart scientific guys figured out how to set up a linear scale with all things alkaline on one end and all things acid on the other end with various degrees of alkaline and acid in-between. The mid point in the scale is called neutral, just as lukewarm water would be the center of the hot and cold scale.
Alkaline can burn you and acid can burn you. When the two are mixed and after the chemical reaction, the substance is now more neutral.

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pointsevenout 8 years ago said:

Frankieanne.

I suspect the recipe is more alkaline than what the baking powder can handle. So the extra cream of tartar acts upon the excess alkaline stuff and makes more carbon dioxide bubbles, which makes for a higher rise.

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pointsevenout 8 years ago said:

FYI:
Cream of tartar is barrel scrapings from wine casks.
Sometimes tartaric crystals can be found in grape jelly.

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bakerme 8 years ago said:

Thanks, Points. I think ;)

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lumpygravy 8 years ago said:

Wow PSO ! So much info for my little pea brain . I am NOT a baker , and this clarified the process a little . Not sure I can remember all of that , but , thank you so much . Makes a little bit more sense now . Good grief , I always hated chemistry , but it is also very interesting to me . One day I hope to be a decent baker .

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bakerme 8 years ago said:

You can do it, Lumpy! Just find a recipe that catches your fancy and follow it to the letter. Baking is a science, whereas you can be more open to ingredients and ingredient amounts with cooking. That being said, science was never my strong suit, either, so all I really want are good recipes, photos to go with them so I know what they're supposed to look like, and clear instructions. Here is an easy recipe to get you started. It's my pumpkin bread recipe that I posted as bestcooker (before I changed my name to bakerme). 'Tis the season for all things pumpkiny :) One baking tip that's very important is to measure your flour carefully. Don't pack it in the cup or you'll end up with too much. Just carefully spoon it in and use a straight edge to scrap off the excess. Again, you can do it!!!
Pumpkin Bread

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lumpygravy 8 years ago said:

Thank you for the words of encouragement , Bakerme . I bookmarked your pumpkin bread , and will give a try .

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