To get the best results form your biscuits, we have a few tips and tricks to aid the process.
Snapping Butter: Snap butter with your fingertips to break it up and mix into flour to get the best consistency for biscuit dough. A food processor will work if you are in a hurry, but it is best to use your fingers. The small pieces of butter aerate the dough to make the biscuits rise. Before snapping, make sure your hands are cold. If necessary, dunk warm hands in ice water and dry them before immersing into the butter and flour mixture.
Try to incorporate butter into the dry ingredients as fast as possible, and start turning the mixture over with both hands in a snapping motion using all of your fingertips and thumbs. If your hands warm up, dunk them in ice water again. Snap until your pieces of butter are about pea-size, and butter is equally covered in flour. Be careful not to overdo it. It’s better to have some larger pieces than overworked.
Working the Dough: Pat dough out with your fingertips instead of using a rolling pin. Biscuit dough is already stiff and using a rolling pin will toughen it even more. Rolling also makes your biscuits flatter.
Cutting Biscuits: When cutting biscuits, push the cutter into the dough using a straight up-and-down motion. Twisting the cutter in the dough will cause biscuits to come out lopsided.
Brushing with Melted Butter: Use a pastry brush to lightly paint the top of each unbaked biscuit with several swipes of melted butter.
Biscuit Placement: The choice is yours. When you space biscuits apart (left), you’ll get crisp sides with tender insides. Place them next to each other (right), and you’ll get biscuits that bake up nice and high (they use each other to climb!) with tender insides.
