Praisesong Biscuits

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson includes this wonderful recipe. She shares it with TABLE readers.

I have been baking biscuits all my life, in search of the perfect recipe for decades. I tried for years to make them like my grandmother’s, but she never wrote down her recipe (of course). So, this recipe is mine. I think it’s just right—at least it seems to be the one my family likes best.

Tips for the Getting Biscuits Just Right

An ideal biscuit has a slightly crisp crust paired with a tender softness inside and can hold up to jelly or gravy or a small piece of meat for a tasty morsel of a sandwich. The key to tender biscuits is not to mess with the dough too much. I like to see bits of butter in it, so the biscuits bake up with tiny pools of buttery goodness inside. This recipe is from Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, which celebrates Black family recipes throughout history, particularly from the Appalachian region, famous for its biscuits. Though everyone has their own recipe, this is a simple and enjoyable one with something for even the pickiest eater.

Praisesong Biscuits

---

• Author: Crystal Wilkinson
• Yield: Makes eight 3-inch biscuits 1x

Print Recipe

Description

Everybody loves biscuits.

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 to 2¼ cups self-rising flour, plus more as needed
• 4 tbsp (¼ cup) vegetable shortening, at room temperature
• 4 tbsp (½ stick) cold salted butter, plus more for serving
• 1 cup whole milk

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. Place a rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour with the shortening and use a pastry cutter or two forks to blend them into a coarse meal.
3. Cut the cold butter into pea-size pieces. Add them to the bowl and stir to coat with the flour, then pour in the milk, using a fork to stir the mixture into a soft, shaggy dough. Add a bit more flour, as needed. Do not overmix.
4. Generously flour your work surface and your 3-inch round biscuit cutter (or inverted glass). Transfer the dough there and knead it six times—only adding a little more flour, as needed, to keep it from being too sticky and just to keep it workable.
5. Gently pat or roll out the dough to a thickness of about ½ inch. Use the biscuit cutter to cut straight down, without twisting, to form a total of 8 biscuits. Gently reroll the scraps to use all the dough.
6. Place the biscuit rounds on an ungreased baking sheet, close together but not touching. Brush off any excess flour. Bake on the middle rack until lightly browned on top and bottom, 12 to 15 minutes.
7. Butter the biscuit tops and serve hot.

Reprinted with permission from Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson copyright Ó 2024.  / Photographs by Kelly Marshall copyright 2024. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition