What makes biscuits rise?
Baking Powder and Baking Soda are both leaveners and when activated create carbon dioxide which produces the rise. Baking Soda aka sodium bicarbonate has been commonly used for 200 years and works by simple chemistry. It’s reaction is immediate, but does not continue once the biscuits are in the oven. Ironically Baking Powder is the main ingredient in Baking Soda, but baking powder also includes an acid or two. Double acting baking powder is the perfect one for biscuits because it has the immediate acting acid as well as the heat activated acid. In order to use baking powder alone you have to use way too much and it dries out the dough. So finding the perfect combination of baking powder and baking soda is the key to tall and fluffy biscuits.
PERFECT TALL & FLUFFY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
2 cups flour + 1 cup flour
1 tablespoon double acting baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons butter, diced
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Spray a 9 inch cake pan with PURE.
- In a food processor pulse dry ingredients several times to combine.
- Add butter pieces scattered over dry ingredients and pulse until crumbly.
- Transfer to a medium bowl.
- Stir in buttermilk. (Dough will be wet and lumpy).
- Spray a 1/4 cup measure with PURE.
- In a mixing bowl add the remaining 1 cup flour.
- Drop the dough 1/4 cup at a time into the flour.
- Shape into 12 balls. Shaking off excess flour.
- Arrange balls (9 around the perimeter and 3 in the center) in the pan.
- Brush tops of dough with melted butter.
- Bake 5 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees.
- Bake another 15 minutes.
- Cool 2 minutes.
- Invert biscuits into a clean towel, turn right side up breakaing them apart and cool another 5 minutes.
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