Why Most of America Is Terrible at Making Biscuits

>>> Crumbly pizzas are not a thing.

It's actually a thing. You should try making one.

I don't think this numbering system is specific to Germany, it is also used in Poland so it must be European thing. What's more even in smaller stores you can get at least two varieties.

Edit: the systems seem to differ modulo specific numbers, but principle is the same

Even pretty small grocery stores will have unbleached flour and the confusingly named "bread flour".

>waffels

Your German-ness is showing in this misspelling here.

I've run into the opposite problem. Most grocery store baguettes I've found have been too soft, almost like hot dog buns.

Baguettes are supposed to be made with high-protein wheat / bread flour. Proper Southern Biscuits are supposed to be made with low-protein flour.

I'm somewhat surprised: in my grocery store, there are "cake flour", "bread flour", and "all purpose flour" in the flour section. It only took a brief search to learn the difference (and which had higher or lower protein counts).

Further research (actually book: "On Cooking"), describes the uses of each flour. In effect: high-protein causes gluten formation, which is necessary for a proper "doughy" bread like Baguette, but is counter-productive for southern-style biscuits.

Possibly, but people are pretty aware of the flour difference. Even back in the 60s Julia Child mentioned it in her cookbook (Relevant TV episode: https://youtu.be/9iH3hjDUhWw)

I suspect the real difference is in the customers. I've heard people arguing over which bagels or donuts are superior, but I've never heard such a conversation for baguettes.

I suspect that's mostly due to par baking, since a lot, arguably most, of the grocery store baguettes are pre-made, par baked, and shipped frozen. They're then baked again in the store, which often leaves them soft and chewy or rock hard, depending on how they're baked a 2nd time around.

Lots of dough conditioners are also common, which helps make them soft. Often too soft, in fact, so they overcook them.

I was also going to mention this: cake flour for it's low protein levels. In determining what you're cooking/baking, the brand matters far less than the actual type of flour.

Cake / 'biscuits' (my idea of a biscuit is a solid thing to dip in tea, how British of me, but anyway) flour: about 8-9g of protein per 100 grams of flour.

All-purpose flour: 11-12 grams of protein per 100 grams of flour.

Bread flour: 13-14 grams of protein per 100 grams of flour.

'Pastas' vary a lot. Italian-style uses high-protein durum wheat, which is about 14g/100g. On the opposite end, Chinese jiaozi (steamed/boiled dumplings) use low-protein content (8-9g/100g) to give a very smooth texture.

I'm curious if flour in the US is sold with such nutritional labeling: protein, carbohydrate, fat, salt, etc, measurements per standardised measure (in the EU and much of the world, this is per 100g)?

Yes. See Southern Kitchen.[1]. What matters is the protein content.

- White Lily flour - 9% protein.

- Hard wheat flour - 12% protein

- Cake flour - 6% protein

An equal mixture of cake flour and hard wheat flour is apparently good for biscuits.

Wal-Mart sells the stuff for $0.51/lb, but they're out of stock right now.

[1] https://www.southernkitchen.com/articles/eat/why-southerners...

There's also pastry flour, which is in between cake flour and AP flour in terms of protein content.

Indeed: here's a recipe and discussion of protein levels from 11 years ago that talks about White Lily and how to substitute a mix of cake flour and bread flour (and what amounts of baking powder and soda to add to become "self-rising")

http://pinchmysalt.com/how-to-make-the-best-buttermilk-biscu...

The lard from traditional "lard" hogs that most of those old recipes were written towards is not the same chemical composition of lard rendered from today's meat hogs. Not a knock against your recommendation of bacon grease...lard hog lard was healthier and had a lower melting point.

similar to scones, but they have a much different consistency. generally softer and more moist

To add further confusion to the mix, we reserve cookies for a specific type of biscuit in Britain. They're only the slightly chewy, rather than crisp crunchy biscuits. :)

Watching the great british bakeoff I am constantly amazed at the variety of baking recipes brits have.

The article confused me at first because of this. I saw a scone not a biscuit. I make chocolate biscuits on regular basis - this fact alone would have horrified some and delighted others.

Southern biscuits aren't homogenous like scones are. A big part of the appeal is the interleaved layers of fat and dough which result in a flaky product. Scones are more crumbly.

King Arthur is what my wife, mom and grandmother use. (We're in Houston area)

A few years ago I spent some time learning to make breads and similar baking. Hobbyist level stuff. King Arthur was recommended brand. I have made biscuits once but found it difficult to get them light and airy. It wouldn’t surprise me if the White Lily brand is just phenomenally better for biscuits, for some reason related to the plants used or production process.

I think you mean skeptical, but correct me if I'm wrong!

Baking powder and/or baking soda need to be added to biscuit dough to make biscuits rise.

Self rising flour is sold premixed with some baking powder, but I tend to add an extra half teaspoon of baking powder per cup of self rising flour when I make biscuits or pancakes with it.

All purpose flour doesn't include any baking powder or baking soda.

I've always had good results just using the recipe from the back of the Clabber Girl bakung powder tin. I've found making fluffy biscuits has more to do with how you cut in the butter and work the dough than much else.

Soft wheat flour is easy to find. It is available as cake flour in any grocery store.

ftfy:

TLDR: you must use a soft wheat flour such as White Lily, Martha White, or Southern Biscuit. Here's a URL where they make/show biscuits made with all 3 brands:

https://www.wired.com/2012/05/best-biscuit-flour/

TLDRSQUARED: Order of best taste: Southern Biscuit flour, Martha White flour, and White Lily flour (last).

First: most common baking recipes use all-purpose flour, which is around 10% protein. This type of flour is widely available and is best for most cookies, quick breads, some types of cake, pancakes, waffles, etc. It's also acceptable for enriched bread doughs (because gluten development is going to be inhibited anyway) and for fatty/laminated doughs like typical pie crust or puff pastry (for basically the same reason).

Bread flour is 14-16%. It will be explicitly called for if necessary. It's more of a specialty product, but it's often available in grocery stores. You'll mostly find it in more 'artisan' bread recipes, especially lean European-style breads like baguettes, ciabatta, etc. Works fine for enriched bread as well -- probably better, but not so much that I'd run out and buy it if I was out if I had AP flour on hand. Useless/counterproductive in basically everything but bread.

Cake flour is a low-protein (8% or less) flour that is more finely milled and is usually bleached. It's suitable for cakes and for biscuits of the Southern variety.

Finally, self-rising flour is usually an all-purpose flour that has baking powder (chemical leavening) mixed in. This makes it more convenient to use for a lot of common American baked goods -- pancakes, waffles, and biscuits, in particular. But it also is unnecessary/harmful if you're using a recipe that doesn't call for baking powder. ('Pancake mix' is similar, but it also contains baking soda and sugar. Just add milk and eggs.)

That was long, sorry. Regarding your second question: jam is a common topping for biscuits, but clotted cream is not a commonplace food in the US. (More's the pity.) One would usually butter a biscuit before adding jam. Or honey, if you're me. Or sausage gravy.

Okay, but the Brits have systematically forgotten to pronounce the letter "H" in front of words except when it comes in front of "herbs", of all things. I dunno if we can trust you guys on matters of language!

And we wish you'd learn that not every Latin-derived word with a long "e" spelled it "oe" or "ae". And that you'd stop insisting on "dual carriageway" as a term for roads that have only ever existed in the age of internal combustion. And that you'd learn what a jumper actually is. And how to pronounce the letter "r". And that you'd understand that if you've "lost a stone" it means a jewel fell out of your ring, not that you're on a diet. And for that matter, that you'd pick a system of weights and measures and stick to it. And that you'd clarify whether there is in fact any type of food in existence that cannot somehow be classed as "pudding".

And... well, shall we go on?

British biscuits are closer to the original biscuits. The word biscuit means "twice cooked" (cuit is still French for cooked). This refers to the kind of biscuits that were taken on ships. They are made by first making a big cake, then chopping it up and cooking the pieces a second time to dry them out.

Such biscuits are still popular with Afrikaaners in South Africa.

Cook and cake have the same origin. Cookie just means "little cake" and therefore is completely correct in the way Americans use it. It just has a different origin to biscuit.

That article goes a bit overboard. Yes, we call a different thing biscuits. (I like our way, honestly, but then, I grew up with that.) What the article declares as "this is gravy, America" is what Americans call gravy. The white stuff, served atop biscuits is also gravy, usually disambiguated by calling it "country gravy". It's mostly a southern thing; my SO from New England gave it a good "WTF is that." the first time I ordered it and she saw it. (I may have ordered it specifically to see it get that reaction, but also b/c it's good.)

But even in the south, we put normal, brown gravy on, e.g., turkey. Country gravy is different and goes well with different things, like chicken-fried steak. (And now I leave you to Google what that is. ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_fried_steak )

And don't get me started on the places that serve abnormally shaped, completely unseasoned, deep-fried tater-tots as "hash browns". Ugh.