RISE SOUTHERN BISCUITS RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
• Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)
• Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Steps:

• (Important note: You may substitute 2 1/2 cups buttermilk for the milk/vinegar mixture.)(Important note #2: If you use salted butter instead of shortening/lard, decrease the amount of salt you add.)Preheat the oven to 475 F.In a measuring pitcher, combine milk and vinegar. Stir together and set aside for 10 minutes. Note: You can use 2 1/2 cups buttermilk instead of the milk and vinegar if you have some on hand.In a large bowl sift together the flour and salt. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the lard (or butter or shortening or both) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring gently with a fork or wooden spoon until it all comes together. Flour the surface, then turn out the dough and knead 10-15 times, adding a little flour so it's less sticky. Roll out dough to 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick and use a biscuit cutter to cut medium to small circles. Place on a baking sheet 1/2 inch apart and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and immediately brush on melted butter. To die for!***Baking time will vary depending on the size of the biscuit cutter you use. I made mini biscuits, which took about 9 to 10 minutes. Larger biscuits will take longer, so keep an eye on them as they bake.