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Camp Biscuits

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21/2 cups flour, teaspoon salt, table spoon baking powder mixed dry together 2/3 cup butter, oil,lard,bacon grease, as handy cut in, milk a bit to make stiff paste, then
1) flour fingers, break off egg sized bits drop in Dutch oven bake 15-30 min depending on temp
2) roll out 1/4 inch thick, butter side, fold and roll out again, butter fold and repeat four or five times, cut round shapes from folded and bake.
3) make sure you dough is very stiff, add extra flour as needed pinch off egg sized and drop in boiling water, boil about 30 min. Boiling stew or soup is good as water
4) make a patty and fry in lightly greased pan
5) roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut squares out and deep fry
6) with thick meat stew of some sort, roll out 1/4 inch butter and fold three or four times then top across stew, bake until brown.
Same dough, taste a little different eash way cooked. Add raisins and a little sugar nutmeg or cinnamon to the boiled ones and it’s a good desert
 
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My issue hasn’t so much been the recipe as much as the altitude. They’re great at 4500 ft like hockey pucks at 9000. I use a cast iron Dutch oven and charchol.

Ah well you probably don't use a mix, but if you do, you have to use flour and baking powder, rather than Bisquick or Self-Rising Flour or a pre-made mix...this is true for other baked goods too like Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.

Here is a link to King Arthur Flour about baking at higher altitudes and you need to adjust your amount of baking powder, and baking time. Since you mentioned "hocky puck" that leads me to think you need baking powder adjustment and liquid adjustment, since you're not getting enough gas bubbles to leaven the biscuits.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html

LD
 
Also too much handling for the altitude. Too much handling makes for tough biscuits. Best I ever saw made, the dough could flow like lava. smacking down on one side made a ripple that ran to the other side. That lady sure knew how to make them. My daughter married into a Southern family that meets for breakfast every Sunday morning. She is still not allowed to make the biscuits because she doesn't have the knack.
 
Also too much handling for the altitude. Too much handling makes for tough biscuits. Best I ever saw made, the dough could flow like lava. smacking down on one side made a ripple that ran to the other side. That lady sure knew how to make them. My daughter married into a Southern family that meets for breakfast every Sunday morning. She is still not allowed to make the biscuits because she doesn't have the knack.
Based on this my dough is waaay to dry...
 
The Englishman in me isn't all that fond of Southern style biscuits. Biscuit recipes in my recipe file range from cookies to English muffins, but I did have one plain recipe. Just cook it in a dutch oven instead of a conventional one.

4 cups flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening or lard (I like butter flavored Crisco)
2 cups buttermilk
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Cut in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly. Slowly stir in the buttermilk. Turn dough out on a floured surface and roll it to a 1/2" thickness. Cut out biscuits and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 deg F for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 12 biscuits.
 
You think it needs more acid ?
Hmm, How about citric acid ?

You got me thinking, I must have at least a dozen different acids in the kitchen.:eek:
 
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Had a buddy years ago, from up New England somewhere, maybe New Hampshire who raved about "cream" biscuits. No baking soda or baking powder but cream of tartar. Also had to be made with buttermilk. I did not think they were any great shakes, but as I grew up, biscuits came from a card board roll that you smack against the counter to open. I do love light fluffy southern biscuits.
 
I was digging though my recipes and found this recipe and remembered this thread.

Biscuits recipe for stove top biscuits.

2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons butter
cold water
combine dry ingredients and cut in the butter until mealy then add enough water for dough to come together and be sticky. roll out on board and cut out biscuits with a glass. add butter to hot cast iron pan on medium heat and place biscuits in pan then cover with a lid. cook for about 7 minutes then flip biscuits over and cook to brown the tops. (about another 4 minutes)
Yummy.
 
Biscuits recipe for stove top biscuits.

2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons butter
cold water

At altitude, which is the OP's problem, you might substitute buttermilk (an acid) for the water. You'd get a faster reaction from the soda and the powder that way, and a more complete action. You might, however, find you need to make "drop biscuits" instead of "cut biscuits".

For those that aren't aware of the difference, you take a large wooden spoon and dredge up a portion of the dough with the spoon, then drop that portion into whatever you're using to bake the biscuits in, and repeat. Then bake. The ending biscuit has a rough "top". The trick is spacing them out about a half-inch, while at the same time getting them pretty uniform. The idea is to handle the dough/batter as little as possible as more handling = more gas escaping thus less rise when baking.

Cut biscuits you use a biscuit cutter, could be a dedicated circle of tin, could be a glass. I've seen in a few places "square" biscuits. The cook being in a hurry, simply makes the dough, rolls it out to the proper thickness, and with experience can get the dough rolled out into a rough square, then quickly cuts the dough with a knife into smaller squares which are then placed on the baking sheet or in the Dutch Oven and baked into biscuits. This saves time in that when you use a round cutter, you then take the leftover dough, smoosh it [techinical term :D ] into a ball, roll it out, and repeat the cutting process. With a big batch of dough this might be done two or three times, overhandling the dough. ;)

Square cut biscuits work fine in camp, especially if you are in a hurry and have left your cutter behind. Good biscuits are good, with the shape not impacting the flavor.

LD
 
You could also use acidulated milk/half&half (a little vinegar or lemon juice added) instead of buttermilk.
 
My issue hasn’t so much been the recipe as much as the altitude. They’re great at 4500 ft like hockey pucks at 9000. I use a cast iron Dutch oven and charchol.

I guess I missed that post. I don't think leavening is your problem, I think it is moisture. Things dehydrate very quickly at high altitude. Try making them with a wetter dough.
Because there is less air pressure at high altitude, gas produced by leavening is produced more easily and is more voluminous. you might need less baking powder.

You may also need to lower the baking time or temperature, because water boils quicker at higher altitudes, the water is driven off quicker making hockey pucks.
 
Man...you guys sure know how to complexicate sumptin simple.
How I do it in camp and always get requests for another batch.
Self rising flour, a cold brewed beer, like Coors. That's all. Mix and knead a little, let set near but not close to fire to get warm and rise. No set amount of time. When it looks ready pull little balls off it and plop into hot grease (I used Crisco). Watch till brown. Take out and serve.
 
Baking is more about technique than it is ingredients. The ability to judge temperature, hydration etc.
IMO, biscuit dough should have a lot of hydration and minimal mixing to reduce gluten development. The dough should have the feel of a mostly full ziplock bag full of water. it should feel as if it wants to slide through your fingers when you pick it up, but doesn't. It should be sticky dough before you flour it. When cutting push straight down with the cutter and do not rotate the cutter. Rotating the cutter will hamper rising.
Technique is a difficult thing to teach on paper.
 
At altitude, the water evaporates much too quickly as the boiling point of water is lowered. Baking at altitude is a skill that living here in the lowlands of Missouri I have not acquired.

What changes need to be made for cooking at altitude?
 
At altitude, the water evaporates much too quickly as the boiling point of water is lowered. Baking at altitude is a skill that living here in the lowlands of Missouri I have not acquired.

What changes need to be made for cooking at altitude?
That was my original inquiry. Though that has not really been answered I have learned much.
 
Now that you know what altitude is doing, it's time to go to altitude and do some baking.
 
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