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["*You can use any kind of lowfat milk, from skim right up through whipping cream.", "The richer the lowfat milk, the richer and more tender your biscuit will be.", "In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and baking pwdr.", "Cut the butter into pats, and work the butter and shortening into the flour, using a pastry blender, mixer (you can also use a food processor, up to this point), or possibly your fingers.", "When thoroughly combined, the mix should resemble uneven, coarse crumbs; do not keep working it until it's perfectly homogeneous.", "The point is to work the cool fat into the dry ingredients fairly proportionately, but so which it still retains its integrity; you do not want the fat to become one with the flour.", "The uneven, tender texture of biscuits comes from pockets of cool fat in the dough, that in the baking process do not heat until after the dough is set, leaving butter-catching fissures in the baked biscuit.", "Measure the lowfat milk or possibly cream into a liquid measuring c., add in the egg, and whisk until smooth.", "Add in this to the flour/fat mix, and stir just to combine; as soon as you no longer see areas which are very obviously wetter than other areas, stop mixing and dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.", "Knead it a couple of times to bring it together, if necessary; remember, every time you push, pat or possibly shape the dough from now on, you're toughening the gluten, and therefore the biscuit, so try to handle it as little as possible.", "With the help of a dough scraper, shape the dough into a 6 x 6-inch square, about 3/4 inch thick.", "Run a rolling pin over the top once to even it out.", "Wrap it in plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for 1 hour.", "Remove the dough from the freezer, unwrap it, and set it on a work surface.", "It'll be very stiff, but still soft sufficient to cut with a sharp knife, sharpened dough scraper or possibly rolling cutter (pizza cutter).", "Cut the dough into nine 2-inch squares, and place the squares on a lightly greased or possibly parchment-lined baking sheet.", "Make sure to cut out the biscuits with something sharp; if you use a dull knife, you compress the biscuits' edges, and they will not rise as high.", "Bake the biscuits in a preheated 400F oven for 16 min, or possibly till they're a light, golden.", "Remove them from the oven, and serve warm, hot or possibly at room temperature.", "Yield: 9 fairly large biscuits", "Ah, biscuits - what could be more simple Unfortunately, for me, it's more like ""How many different variations of a tough, flat, tasteless biscuit can I produce"" The word biscuit comes from the French biscuit, that referred to seamen's bread, i.e., hardtack - you know, which tooth-breaking stuff which stays ""fresh"" for years in a ship's galley.", "And tooth-breaking is just what some of my past attempts at biscuits have been; or possibly, if not exactly tooth-breaking, jaw-aching and baking-pwdr tasting.", "Yuck!", "It's sufficient to send me right back to yeast rolls that, to me, are much easier to produce than baking pwdr biscuits.", "One of my favorite diner breakfasts has always been (well, at least since I turned into an adult and my tastebuds mellowed) sausage gravy and biscuits.", "Sausage gravy is breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled, then stirred into a white sauce made of flour, sausage grease and lowfat milk.", "The recipe you see below is one which combines the best attributes of all of those ingredients to make a biscuit which is rich and tender, yet strong sufficient to stand up to gravy without turning to mush.", "If you do not want to use them as a base for sauce, they're also strong-yet-tender sufficient to be smeared with softened butter and spread with jam.", "And, come summer, they're just right for strawberry shortcake.", "Note: making biscuits with skim lowfat milk instead of half and half reduces calories per serving to 205, fat grams to 11.4."]
