Preheat oven to 425F. You will need a large baking sheet of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans.
In large bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, and sugar until completely mixed. Drop in shortening and work into dry ingredients, using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips, until you have a fine, irregular mixture of small crumbs resembling fresh bread crumbs.
Add milk all at once and stir briskly with a fork just until dough holds together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough about 12 – 14 times – usually less than 1 minute – just until it is soft, smooth, and no longer sticky. Pat into an 8-inch square about ½ inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut dough into sixteen squares, or use a floured 2-inch round cutter to make round biscuits. If you made round biscuits, press scraps together and repeat until done.
If you want soft, flaky biscuits, place them touching one another in the ungreased pans. If you want browner, crustier biscuits, place them at least 1 inch apart on the ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 15 minutes, until puffy and brown. Serve piping hot.
Originally Submitted
12/5/2010
0 Out of 5 from
0 reviews
You can add this Baking-Powder Biscuuts recipe to your own private DesktopCookbook.