Susan's Angel Biscuits

This Angel Biscuits recipe needs a light touch by the baker/cook if you want your biscuits praised by each person who is lucky enough to eat one fresh from the oven.  What I mean by light touch is to handle the ingredients with gentle mixing.

Tip:  Before I put my Angel Biscuits in the oven, I dust dry flour over the top of each unbaked biscuit just before I put it in the hot oven.  This gives your homemade biscuits an unmistakable homemade look.  My Grandma Holcom and my Grandma Shook McGee both did this to nearly all their yeast baked breads.

Angel Biscuit Ingredients

• 1 pkg Dry Yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups buttermilk

• 5 cups flour
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup cold shortening

First thing to do is sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda).  Next, go ahead and mix the yeast and warm water so it gets a nice start going and set it in warm area close by.

Now comes the 'gentle touch' part: cut the cold shortening into the sifted flour mixture.  I emphasis this part because it took me years to be able to cut in the shortening so perfectly that my biscuits actually float in the air.  I'm not bragging -- but practice does make perfect biscuits.

The flour/shortening mixture should be crumbly, like small peas.  At that point, blend in your yeast mixture and add the buttermilk.  Mix all together until moist. 

Now you can put the biscuit dough in the icebox until you're ready to bake a batch.

Getting Biscuit Dough Ready for the Oven

Heat oven to 375 degrees.


Take out a hunk of biscuit dough and roll it out on a floured board to desired thickness (I use 1/2" thickness).  Use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out biscuits.  Place on lightly greased baking flat.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Test a biscuit at 10 minutes and bake longer if necessary.
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No Electricity -- Cook on Wood Cook Stove

Pioneer living involved cooking on a wood stove for most women.   I have been without electricity (living out in the countryside) enough times to know I want a nice little wood stove available in my kitchen to use when all other resources are unavailable. 

I want a wood cook stove that looks just like the photo on the left.  It would warm the house, do all necessary cooking and baking, warmer for bread above the stove.  I love it.

I use all cast iron pans, skillets, and baking pans so I'm ready to go!  Let me know if any of you see a stove like this one.  I am a real pioneer cook and I want to be prepared for all events.
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Brine CuredPickles

When I was a little girl living in way out in the country outside Lawrence, Kansas, I always knew that I could reach into the giant crock jar on our back porch and pull out a big whole pickle at any time.  I do not remember my siblings and I so much as rinsing our hands before reaching in the crock for the pickles.  I don't remember us even thinking we should rinse our hands.  The hardest part of getting a pickle was lifting that heavy crock lid off.

Those were the best pickles I have ever eaten in my whole life to date.  My grandmothers, both of them, had crock pickles also but they kept theirs in their cellars, along with bushels of apples, sacks of potatoes, shelves of canned vegetables and fruits in Mason jars, jams, jellies and sacks of nuts.  I don't remember one time with either grandma when I saw her sitting in her rocker but that she wasn't shelling nuts, crocheting, or doing something productive with her hands.

Brine Pickles

Gently wash cucumbers -- don't bruise them.  Get an estimate on how much the cucumbers weigh. Put the cucumbers in your crock and cover with a 10% brine solution.  The best temperature for brining pickles is in the 80 F degree range. 

Brine Solution: 1 cup salt to 2 quarts water.  

To test if your brine is right put a fresh egg in the solution and if it floats, your brine is at 10%.

Now weight the cucumbers down with a plate or something else that works for you.  That's all you can do now.  The following morning, however, add 1 cup of salt for each 5 pounds of cucumbers.  This is important because it maintains the brine solution at 10%.  Also note that it is best to add that salt on top of the plate weighing down the cucumbers and let it dissolve there; otherwise, it will sink to the bottom of the crock and will form too strong a brine down there.

You'll need to remove the scum when it forms on top of the brine.  This is another important step:  if the brine is not removed it will destroy the acidity of the brine and your pickles will be spoiled.

At the end of a week and for the next 5 weeks, add 1/4 cup salt for each 5 pounds of cucumbers.  Remember, add salt on top of the plate weighing them down so it doesn't sink too fast. Let the fermentation (bubbles forming) continue for about 4 weeks.

If you like real crisp pickles, add some grape leaves or cherry tree leaves.  Some women back then also used alum or lime.  Not any of those are necessary for crisp pickles if you follow the procedure properly.
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