Did you use self-rising flour?

Yes. My dog could have made better biscuits than the ones I made.

Have you used crisco any time recently? It’s not at all what it used to be, and a lot of people have stopped using it because of too many failures.

I never use self-rising flour so can’t comment on that part, but you really can’t make better biscuits than ann_t’s recipe:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5599158/ann-t-best-biscuits-ever#n=14

What??? Why is AnnT banned????

I just experienced the same. Simple search to her biscuits to link. (s*it.) blank.

1.did check you oven temperature to make it was correct by using an oven thermometer.

2. did you check to see if the flour was expired.(most likely cause)

I suggest you use Alton Brown's biscuits recipe instead.

I forgot to say that as far as the problem with butter sticking to the grater mentioned in the other thread, oddly enough when I just pulled the butter right out of the fridge and didn’t bother to chill the grater, it worked fine, although it seems against common sense that it should be better that way.

ETA I just took another look at your recipe and it looks to me like those biscuits aren’t even supposed to do much rising. Look at the picture. It you’re supposed to start with dough nearly an inch thick to get those, rising is clearly not a big part of the plan. So I think it’s also partly just a poor recipe.

Here's one version of AnnT's biscuits:

Ann T's Folded Biscuits

Country Biscuits

2 cups of flour

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening, lard, Crisco or butter (I use butter)

1 cup of milk (cream) or buttermilk if using buttermilk add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda)

Optional. Add a little sugar if you prefer sweet rather than savory.Mix the flour with the baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter/shortening until it resembles coarse meal. Stir milk or cream in to flour mixture.

Tip: An easy way to cut the butter into the flour is to use a box grater. The large side of the grater makes the perfect size pieces of butter.

Mix quickly with fork just until dough starts to come together. Tip out on to lightly floured surface. (Will look shaggy) Using hands gently pat mixture to flatten. Now fold dough like an envelop. Turn and fold again. Do this at least three to four times. The dough is now ready to roll out. This whole step should only take 30 to 45 seconds. Do not over-handle. (Folding forms layers which makes for a very flaky biscuit).

Pat out to about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut with biscuit cutters and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Brush biscuits with a little milk or cream and bake for approximately 12 to 15 minutes at 450°F.

TIP: Using your thumb push a little dent into the middle of the biscuit. This helps the biscuit rise straight and prevents it from tipping over as it rises.

If making cheese biscuits add the mustard and cayenne to the dry ingredients and add the cheese after the shortening has been cut into the flour.

Other Options:

You can use any favourite cheese. Gorgonzola and other blue cheeses are wonderful with the addition of black pepper. Cheddar cheese is good with chives or green onions. Sometimes I add dry mustard and cayenne pepper. Or bacon or ham.

NOTE: If you like the tops to stay soft, dip the biscuits, top side down into melted butter.

http://www.thibeaultstable.com/2012/07/buttermilk-biscuits-for-breakfast.html

What??? Why is AnnT banned????

There are some vengeful people in the Hot Topics forum.

It makes sense that the baking powder/soda has discharged. It's been in my refrigerator for a couple of months. I guess I can reconstitute the flour by adding powder/soda or just use it for pizza. Pizza don't care if it's flat as a board! I was actually thinking that the flour feels soft, kind of like Double O. I will try Ann's biscuits; they sound good.

The idiot c'est moi!

I looked at the package of flour to find it's expiration date and noticed that the said flour was NOT self rising. No wonder the biscuits didn't rise...lol. I did have a package of Martha White flour which is self rising and I should have used that for the biscuits. DUH!

I bought the White Lily to use for a pizza experiment. It's labeled as a soft winter wheat flour and soft flour and pizza go hand in hand so I thought I would try it.

FYI: White Lily used to be The biscuit flour. However, in 2008, the company was sold to Smuckers and has lost some of its reputation. See this NY Times article. It certainly should still make decent biscuits. Glad you figured out the problem.

However, I think you are wrong about soft flour being used for pizza although high protein flours are indeed usually from winter wheat. I would keep the White Lily for 'biscuits, cakes and pies' as stated by Martha White, another southern flour promoted by the famous bakers Mr Flatt and Mr Scruggs.

I'm glad you figured out the problem, but I still think that recipe is for "I'm too busy to measure anything and this is better than nothing" biscuits. Would you rather have biscuits that look like this:

or this?

OK, writers block, now you are just being just plain mean....tempting me with those gorgeous biscuits...lol. I wish I had take a picture of mine. They were so pathetic.

I'll let you know how the pizza turns out, chas. I could definitely be wrong but I do love experimenting. I do have a go-to pizza crust recipe, but you never know if there's a better one out there. In my next life, I want to work at America's Test Kitchen.

Thanks for the link to Flatt & Scruggs. I used to love those guys.

Yeah; goodness gracious, too bad you left out the 'Hot Rise'.

A standard pizza recipe is like a basic French Bread recipe (flour, water, yeast and salt) with the addition of olive oil. I suspect good pizza is more in the hands of the baker than the ingredients.

Hot Rize is on deck! I just need to figure out what to make with the biscuits.

Truth is I have never made biscuits from scratch (I won't count last night's fiasco).

Many times I have lost track of all the things I want to make but I believe I bought the Martha White self rising flour to make a copycat version of the Red Lobster cheddar garlic biscuits. One can buy the boxed mix in the supermarket but it is $$.

If you can get King Arthur flour, that works better than anything else.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 1/2 cups self rising flour (I use King Arthur)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup PLAIN Crisco (not butter)

1 cup whole milk buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425*. Cut Crisco into flour with a pastry cutter or fork until well mixed. Add buttermilk and stir.

Turn out onto floured surface and pat out, turn in half, flip, pat out, and turn bottom half over. Pat out and cut with biscuit cutter. Place in pan sprayed with Pam. Reform leftover dough and cut rest of biscuits. I form the last biscuit by hand. You can do them all by hand if no cutter.

Bake about 10 to 15 minutes.

1. You can cut recipe in half. You can also take out of oven after they are just done, but not brown, and freeze after they are cool.

2. To use regular flour, 2 1/2 cup plain flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt.

3. We like to butter our biscuits after they are cooked and do not like butter in the dough. If you want butter in the dough, use 1/2 cup unsalted butter, omit Crisco.

4. The lard you get in the grocery stores now is not the same as old fashioned lard. If you have a source for real fresh lard, you can use 1/2 cup lard instead of Crisco or butter.

5. Keep your hands well floured and also dust a small amount on top of dough and under dough as you turn. Keep a light hand, you are not kneading yeast dough. Dust the cutter with flour, also. The first biscuits after I got married in 1970, you could of used for hockey pucks, lol. He ate them anyway!

King Arthur is my go to flour. I always have it on hand. But, is there a substitute for Crisco? I use so very little and it goes rancid in my cupboard.

Use the butter option or buy the Crisco sticks. The sticks cost more per pound, but they are very easy to use. It would be cheaper than throwing it away. I also found Crisco in tiny cans last year.

jerzeegirl....LOL! Glad you figured out what the problem was...no wonder they didn't rise!

LOL! Now, you see, I use King Arthur for most of my white flour uses, but never for biscuits or cakes. We all have different opinions. The truth is that any flour will make a decent biscuit, but you might need a little more liquid or a little less fat, so the best recipe is the one that works for you. :)

You remind me of my improvisational cake story. When I lived abroad a friend taught me to bake cakes without recipes. Then a roommate asked me to make a recipe for her, but it came out as a wonderful kind of one step fruit topped bar and nothing like the cake it was supposed to be. I finally figured out that I'd forgotten the baking powder. I changed the "recipe" for improvisational cake, which is flour, sugar, eggs, butter, BP, flavoring (anything you like), all in proportions that you're accustomed to for cake. If it looks like cake batter and tastes like cake batter, IF you don't forget the baking powder, it's cake batter. Bake it. It doesn't really matter if you use one or two spoons of baking powder, half a cup of sugar more or less, two or three eggs, up to a cup more or less of flour, but don't forget the baking powder. :)

Then again, there's the band named after the flour: Hot Rize

I always use King Arthur, too, but my options here are limited.

Martha White must have been something else! pillog, I love your experimental cake story.

I chickened out on the experimental pizza tonight. I couldn't bear the thought of dealing with another failure so I used KA AP and KA Bread is a 50/50 ratio and it came out magnificent!I I'll use the White Lily for those Garlicky Cheese Drop Biscuits that I am dreaming about.

Wow, AnnT! I can't believe she'd be banned. I just looked at Hot Topics for the first time in years. Boy, nothing would make me hang out there. Though I guess it's useful for keeping acrimonious discussions away from here.

Maybe Hot Topics got to be like Twitter, where you get banned if the head of it doesn't approve of you.

But, I've gotten her Cream Cheese Danish to look almost as good as hers and everyone loves it.

Mine don't look as good as hers, but I'm sure they taste just as good and that's the most important thing. ;)

Beautiful!