ANGEL BISCUITS

This is a picture of my mother's sister, Mildred. The picture was taken during World War II in Washington D.C. where she worked. She met her husband Harry (the Greek Lemon Chicken Soup is from Harry) there and moved to Kentucky where she lived this rest of her life.

Mildred gave me a Kentucky cookbook in the 1970s and that is where I found the angel biscuits recipe that follows. It has become a tradition in my family, always served at holidays such as Thanksgiving. It makes a great breakfast biscuit and it is great with country ham, butter and marmalade.

This recipe is a good substitute for dinner rolls and easier to make. The dough can be taken out of refrigerator in portions for a particular serving. It doesn't require a rising and seems to rise higher in the oven after a couple days in the refrigerator.
~

Angel Biscuits
~
1 package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 cups flour (I prefer unbleached and the best unbleached is King Author)
3/4 cups shortening (I use 1/2 unsalted butter and 1/2 Crisco)
2 cups buttermilk
~
Dissolve yeast in water and set aside. Combine sugar, salt, baking powder and soda, sprinkle over flour and mix well with a fork or sift together. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until shortening is well blended. Add yeast and buttermilk (start with 1 3/4 cups of buttermilk, add more as needed) mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. This will be a wet sticky dough, don't over handle. Place dough in greased bowl and turn to grease all sides, cover and refrigerate. If you plan to make a few days ahead, I suggest you put the dough in a 2 gallon Ziploc bag or divide into two 1 gallon Ziploc bags, this will keep the outside from drying out, you still should first put in a greased bowl to grease sides. (The dough could be baked after first making, but I always make ahead, because it is easier to handle after refrigerated.)
~
To make biscuits, take out the amount of dough required. Roll dough about 1/3 inch thick, cut with a biscuit cutter and place on lightly greased pan.* Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees. A convection oven will bake the biscuits far more evenly.
~
This recipe will make 2 to 3 dozen biscuits depending on size of biscuit cutter.

*There are two ways to bake these, set apart on baking sheet or place in a cake pan, close together. This depends on your preference, the sheet method will give you a crusty side biscuits, ideal for ham biscuit or in a cake pan for a higher, fluffy biscuits with soft sides.