The Biscuit Making Myth You Need To Stop Believing
If you were asked to prepare a menu for a traditional Southern meal, you might include fried chicken, collard greens, homemade macaroni and cheese, and, of course, a pitcher of sweet tea. As for the carb of choice? While cornbread is a popular pick down South, there's arguably an even better choice: Fluffy buttermilk biscuits slathered in melted butter. If you aren't convinced, consider this survey by General Mills Foodservice, which reports that 76% of Americans feel happy when they're eating biscuits.
As delicious as they are, biscuits are notorious for being particularly difficult to make. It seems that every cook — whether it's Grandma or a professional chef — has strong opinions on how to make the perfect biscuits at home, from the type of flour you should use to making sure your butter is frozen. Fortunately, there are some rules that you actually don't have to follow the next time you want to bake a batch of biscuits. Here's one that you can break — and that will make the process a lot less laborious.
You don't have to make them by hand
There's one camp of people who swear that the trick to making the perfect buttermilk biscuits is doing the entire process (from start to finish) by hand. Sounds tiring, right? Luckily for anyone who prefers convenience, that's not necessarily the case. According to Southern Living, it's perfectly okay to get some help from a few tools you likely already have in your kitchen. You can use a food processor to mix together the butter with the dry ingredients and save your arm the ache of constantly stirring. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to help break up the butter if necessary. Just be careful not to overprocess your dough; otherwise, your biscuits won't be as tender and flaky.
Other foodies and bloggers agree that there's no harm in using a food processor to make biscuits. In fact, some say that not only does it make it easier, but it also leads to better biscuits. "Using a food processor makes for a more tender biscuit, because you aren't handling the dough as much. A few pulses, and you have biscuit dough," one reviewer at Just a Pinch wrote.