Many years ago my Grandma and Grandpa gave all their kids and grandkids a binder containing my Grandma’s favorite recipes. I’ve been sharing a few of them here and there, like this recipe for Denver Chocolate Cake, and this week I want to share her recipe for yeast raised biscuits, aka Angel Biscuits

These are aptly named. They are light and airy enough to float right off your plate and PERFECT for Strawberry Shortcake.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ rebeccablackwell.com

I’ve played around with my Grandma’s recipe and what you see here is different from hers, both in technique and the ratio of ingredients, but the idea is the same. Also, this recipe makes a lot less. Her recipe made 2 1/2 dozen and I figure few of us have need of baking that many biscuits in one go.

Her recipe called for vegetable shortening so one of the first experiments I did with this recipe is to swap it out for butter. The resulting biscuits had more flavor, but lacked the light, airy texture and didn’t rise as well. I’ve settled on half vegetable shortening and half butter, which produced the best of both worlds - a texture worthy of the name Angel and a rich, buttery flavor.

I also used a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour to cut back on the amount of protein in the dough. This created an even more tender crumb. You could also use white lily flour, which only contains about 9% protein (all-purpose flour contains about 11% protein, cake flour has about 7%).

Her recipe calls for allowing them to rise for an hour and a half at room temperature and baking them on a baking sheet. I opted to proof the dough in the refrigerator and then bake the biscuits cold in a cast iron pan. This helped the biscuits rise much higher and made them extra fluffy.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ rebeccablackwell.com

Recipe: Angel Biscuits

This recipe was originally published on rebeccablackwell.com. For more information, please see the original recipe: Angel Biscuits

• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast (rapid rise is also fine)
• 1 1/2 cups of cake flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup butter - plus more for brushing over the tops of the biscuits
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Pour the water into a small bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar and the yeast. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes at which point the the yeast should be active and creamy.
2. Add both flours, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.
3. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and add it to the bowl of the food processor along with the shortening. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add the yeast mixture and the buttermilk and pulse just until the mixture starts to come together into a dough.
5. Scrape the mixture into a bowl (it will be very wet and sticky), cover the bowl, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 24 hours).
6. When you’re ready to bake, smear the inside of a cast iron pan with vegetable shortening.
7. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead a few times just until it forms a smooth, cohesive dough. Add as much flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking to everything, but no more than what is necessary.
8. Pat or roll it out into a rectangle that’s about 1-inch thick. Fold one side of the dough to the center, then fold the whole thing over again, like you're folding a letter.
9. Give the dough a quarter turn and roll or pat it out into a 1-inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding process, give the dough a quarter turn, and then repeat the folding process once more.
10. Roll or pat the dough back out into a 1-inch thick rectangle and use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. (Don’t twist the biscuit cutter; this will prevent them from rising as high) Reroll the dough as necessary, cutting out biscuits until you have 7 - 8 large biscuits or 12 - 14 smaller ones.
11. Place them close together in the cast iron pan so their sides are touching. (As they bake they will press into each other and that will help them rise higher.) Cover with plastic wrap and put the pan in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes.
12. Heat the oven to 400 degrees, brush the tops of the biscuits with about 1 tablespoon of melted butter and place the pan in the oven. Bake for 10 - 16 minutes, depending on the size of the biscuits. When done, the tops will be a light golden brown and will appear set, not doughy.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ rebeccablackwell.com

Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Ice Cream

The main reason why I am including a biscuit recipe in the middle of a heat wave is for strawberry shortcake.

Angel biscuits are PERFECT for strawberry shortcake. We ate these on a 95 degree day and I’m not sure anything has ever tasted sweeter.

1. Make a batch of Angel biscuits and let them cool.
2. Slice some strawberries and any other kind of berry, or any kind of fruit, and add them to a bowl. Sprinkle in a tablespoon or so of sugar, toss everything around, and let them sit until the sugar has dissolved and there is some juice in the bottom of the bowl (about 20 minutes).
3. Cut the biscuits in half, spoon on some berries, a scoop of ice cream, more berries, the other half of the biscuit, another scoop of ice cream, and more berries.

For more of my recipes, visit alittleandalot.com and ofbatteranddough.com.

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