Kitchen Experiments: What Flour Makes The Best Biscuits? (2024)

FAQs

Kitchen Experiments: What Flour Makes The Best Biscuits? ›

White wheat in general is around 9-12% protein, while the hard reds are 11-15%. As far as brands of flour, White Lily “all-purpose” flour has been my go-to for biscuit making. It's a soft red winter wheat, and the low protein and low gluten content keep biscuits from becoming too dense.

Cake flour will give you a lighter, fluffier biscuit, but the outer crust won't have as much bite to it. Conversely, all-purpose flour will provide more bite, but it'll be a drier, less airy biscuit. The solution: Use half cake flour and half all-purpose flour.

Use flour with low protein content

To make extra tender biscuits, you don't want to develop a lot of gluten. Flours with a higher protein content develop gluten more readily. To get the soft biscuits you're after, Catherine recommends using for an all-purpose flour with a small amount of protein.

Can I use all-purpose flour? Yes, the biscuits will be denser, and you will need to add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt for each cup of flour. But using White Lily self-rising flour or pastry flour combined with the mentioned baking powder and salt will give you the best results.

Plain flour is an all-purpose flour with a lower protein and gluten content. This makes the flour softer and ideal for cakes, pastries, thickening sauces, and biscuits.

Here's the Reason Biscuits in the South Really Are Better

The not-so-secret ingredient they rely upon is soft wheat flour. Soft wheat thrives in temperate, moist climates like that of the mid-Atlantic, so cooks in those areas have had access to its special flour for a long time.

Baking soda is a much more powerful leavener than baking powder, about 3-4 times as strong. That is why you will notice that recipes usually call for a small amount of baking soda, typically ¼ teaspoon per 1 cup of flour.

*Substitute buttermilk, light cream, or heavy cream for the whole milk, if you prefer; use enough of whatever liquid you choose to bring the dough together readily, without you having to work it too much. The higher-fat liquid you use, the more tender and richer-tasting your biscuits will be.

As a general rule, don't use self raising flour if there is another leavening agent called for in the recipe such as yeast or baking soda.

Unlike plain flour, self-rising flour already comes pre-mixed with a fixed distribution of salt and a raising agent out of the box. Generally, self-rising flour also has a lower protein content, so it's often used in recipes that benefit from being lighter and more tender, like biscuits.

Why is White Lily flour best for biscuits? ›

Milled from 100% soft red winter wheat, White Lily^® Flour is finer in texture with a lower protein content, which makes for fluffier biscuits, the softest cookies, and the most tender cakes.

If a cake calls for self-raising flour and you only have plain flour then you will need to add a raising agent to make the recipe work. The easiest raising agent to add is baking powder (or 'baking soda' as it is known in some parts of the world).

Self-Rising Flour: Flour to which baking powder and salt have been added during milling. Long a Southern staple, self-rising flour is generally made from the low-protein wheat traditionally grown in the South. It's best for tender biscuits, muffins, pancakes and some cakes.

Unlike plain flour, self-rising flour already comes pre-mixed with a fixed distribution of salt and a raising agent out of the box. Generally, self-rising flour also has a lower protein content, so it's often used in recipes that benefit from being lighter and more tender, like biscuits.

The bread flour is necessary because, for flaky layers, you need more gluten, or protein, in the biscuits. Some shortening is used for more tender biscuits; since these biscuits are handled more, they need a different fat combination to make sure they aren't tough. Bread flour biscuits require an especially light hand.

Ultimately, the flour you choose to bake with is entirely up to you. Bleached and unbleached flours can both be used interchangeably in any recipe without a major discernable difference.