Angel Biscuits

I have a new favorite recipe for Angel Biscuits.  The old one was good, but this one from King Arthur Flour is better. Unlike normal biscuits where cold fat is cut into butter to produce flaky biscuits, this recipe calls for ingredients that are at room temperature (so they’ll react with the yeast).  Once the yeast has done its job of raising the biscuit dough, the risen dough rounds are then frozen so that the cold butter can re-solidify in the dough and produce even more flakiness when baked.

If you don’t have an extra hour to freeze the risen dough, the biscuits still bake up nicely.  They’re not the tallest biscuits in the world, but their texture is extremely light.

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Angel Biscuits

A light and tasty biscuit made with yeast. The brand of flour may affect how much liquid you need, so start with the lower amount and add more milk as needed. Regular milk and buttermilk both work, but buttermilk adds a bit more flavor.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time12 mins

Total Time32 mins

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Servings: 16

Author: Cookie Madness

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups 11.5 ounces or 325 grams all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons 24 grams sugar
• 2 teaspoons of quick rising yeast
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons room shortening 48 grams
• 4 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter cut into pieces (56 grams)
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons room temperature milk I used to use buttermilk, but had better results with regular milk and switched

Instructions

• Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.
• Scatter the shortening and butter over the dry mixture, and with a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the fat into the flour mixture until crumbly (or process until crumbly).
• Add 3/4 cup of milk and stir to make a soft dough. Add the remaining milk only if the dough seems very dry. Empty onto a floured surface. Pat into a 1 inch thick slab.
• Using a 2 inch cookie cutter, punch out as many circles as you can.
• Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap or foil and let sit for 1 hour to rise.
• Put the risen dough rounds in the freezer for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Arrange frozen dough rounds on a baking sheet and bake from frozen for 16-18 minutes or until golden.
• Brush tops with melted butter and serve.

Notes

If you are using White Lily flour, you may need to use a little over 2 3/4 cup to equal 11.5 oz of dough.