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.