I feel like making biscuits again so I'm gonna drop my recipe, along with how I've modified the preparation for myself.
Firstly, the original recipe came from an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats. But I altered the recipe to make cheesy garlic biscuits (like the Red Lobster ones a friend of mine was obsessed with when I lived in El Paso... but better, IMO)
Cheesy Garlic Biscuits
Dry Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
(Garlic salt often has a bit of sugar and parsley also, hence the addition, but if you don't have any you can just add an additional 1/8 - 1/4 each of garlic powder and salt, as you like)
Fats Ingredients
2 Tablespoons cold butter
2 Tablespoons shortening
1 1/2 Cups shredded cheese
Wet Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk, chilled
(I don't keep buttermilk on hand, but you can substitute 1 cup milk + 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, or just use regular milk. The more fat the better, but if I'm low on milk I mix up some dry milk and use that and it's fine. Baking with dry milk hides the taste, as opposed to eating it straight with cereal or something.)
Preparation
Mix together the dry ingredients. I measure mine into my food processor with a regular mixing/chopping blade, and pulse it a couple of times with the lid on to mix it.
Measure in your butter and shortening. I drop mine into the processor a tablespoon at a time. If you're going to mix by hand you might want to portion them out smaller.
Blend the dry ingredients with the butter and shortening. If blending by hand, do it quickly so the fats don't start to melt too much. You can also use a pastry blender or a fork. I just use my food processor on high for 30-60 seconds until they're incorporated (with a towel over it to block flour dust). Texture should be sort of like damp sand.
Add your cheese and mix it in. If using the food processor, this is when I dump my mixture into a big bowl (preferably one with a wide bottom, as I do my kneading in the bowl).
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
Pour in most of your measured milk. You don't always need the full cup, depending on your region, elevation, and humidity.
Stir the milk into the dough (you can use a fork or other utensil or your hands). Stir until it just comes together. Add remaining milk as needed. The dough will be very sticky.
Now is when you're supposed to turn it out onto a floured surface, dust the top with flour, and fold/knead gently 5 or 6 times. However, I knead it right in the bowl, and only about 3 or 4 times, because my shaping method involves more kneading. Too much kneading will make them more chewy than flaky. I start with less than 1/4 cup flour for kneading, and sprinkle more as needed, just until the dough is fully formed and not sticky.
Next, if you're rolling them out you make the dough about an inch thick and cut biscuit shapes. I've never had a biscuit cutter so I used to cut squares with a pizza cutter. Now, though, I simply divide the dough into even balls by halves and then halves again until I have 8 (or 16 for mini biscuits) and then pat them into 1-inch thick biscuit shapes.
Put them on a prepared pan so that they just touch. If you want flat tops, press a little indent in the centers of the tops with your thumb, otherwise they will dome more rusticly. I usually put a thin pat of butter on the tops at this point, but you don't have to.
Bake in a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until tall and light gold on top (golden brown if you did butter tops). The recipe calls for 450°F, but I do 425° now in Indiana.
