Since we don't want no whopping biscuits out of a tube for our gravy.
Set up for dutch ovens but can be baked in a regular oven.
Baking Powder Biscuits
(And Similar Quick Breads Including Fry Bread)
A common and quick camp bread, plus the basic recipe can be baked as a flat loaf for Pan de Campo, a taller loaf is often called Bannock in Canada or Damper in Australia. Make it flat and round and cut it into triangles and call it scones or use a pan that makes triangles.
This can also be flattened out and made into fry bread, recipes vary as to tribal affiliation and region, but most are just a variation of this.
Biscuits, like most baking in dutch ovens, work best in the shallow oven.
10 inch shallow oven
Makes 8-12 biscuits depending on size 2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt
OR
2 cups self-rising flour
3/4 teaspoon to 3/4 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
2tablespoons of lard/bacon fat OR 3 tablespoons of butter or vegetable shortening
¾ cup of milk (more or less)
1/3rd teaspoon vinegar ( any kind and optional)
For 12 inch shallow dutch oven Makes 12-16 biscuits depending on size 3 cups flour
3teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt
OR
3 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
3 tablespoons of lard/bacon fat OR 4 tablespoons of butter or vegetable shortening
1 cup cup of milk (more or less)
½ teaspoon vinegar ( any kind and optional)
14 inch shallow oven
Makes 15-25 biscuits depending on size 5 cups flour
5 teaspoons baking powder 3 teaspoon salt
OR
5 cups self-rising flour
3 teaspoons to 3 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
5 tablespoons of lard/bacon fat OR 8 tablespoons of butter or vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cup of milk (more or less)
1 teaspoon vinegar ( any kind and optional)
16 inch oven
Makes 25-35 biscuits depending on size 8 cups flour
8 teaspoons baking powder 5 teaspoon salt
OR
8 cups self-rising flour
5 teaspoon to 5 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
8 tablespoons of lard/bacon fat OR 10 tablespoons of butter or vegetable shortening
2 cup of milk (more or less)
1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar (any kind and optional)
Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the butter/lard. Add vinegar, then the milk, and stir with hand, just enough to mix well, adding a bit more milk or flour to get slightly sticky soft dough. (If using canned milk and the can is empty, just add a bit more water.) Working it beyond what is needed with toughen the final product, stir as little as possible.
The vinegar is not there for taste, it won't be noticed, it's to keep the gluten from forming long strands that toughen the biscuit, the same thing is often done with pie crust.
Cut Biscuits: Roll the dough or flatten with your hands to between
½ inch to 1 inch thick, cut the desired size with either a biscuit cutter or an empty can. Place on the bottom of the oven and bake 10-15 minutes or till golden brown at 425-450F.
Cathead Biscuits: A common old west term for a biscuit formed with the hand instead of rolled and cut, often bigger and thicker than a cut one, hence the term, depending on the size, these will need to bake longer than the smaller cut biscuits.
Drop Biscuits: Use the above recipe but increase the milk by about 25% to make a wet dough. Use a tablespoon, fill it to heaping with the softer dough and drop them in the bottom of the oven and bake as above. These also tend to be thicker and need a little extra baking time over a thinner cut biscuit.
Once we decide on the method, we are going to used to form
our biscuits, then we need to have our dutch oven ready and lightly greased. As the biscuits are formed, we, just add them to the dutch oven we will be using, some like to preheat the oven, I don’t.
Most recipes will say to bake biscuits around 425F or even 450F. This is fine if you are good at regulating the heat and there are not distractions. (One must remember those charts for charcoal are still only a guide.) By dropping down to the 350F-375F or our
medium oven range, it will take longer to bake but the chances of burning the bottom is less. Almost every time that foods
are burned in a dutch oven it is on the bottom. The bottom heat is not as forgiving as top and when trying to run the higher heats, the 1/3rd on the bottom is often too hot. If you want to run at a higher heat to finish faster, the method I mentioned above when you get
bottom heat and put it on a warm, dry spot works great. the bottom up to temperature and then remove the oven from the coals.