It’s 4:30 pm on a Monday, and Carla Hall is full of energy and sass. Immediately after shaking hands with the Delish team, she’s walking up and down the kitchen in her blush pink (and leather!) apron as if she’s on a runway. And although we’re just one appointment in her crazy busy day (she’s going to sign copies of her new cookbook next), she seems genuinely PUMPED to bake us biscuits.
“I am a biscuit whisperer,” she says, and I, along with everyone on the kitchen team, couldn’t agree more. Her biscuits are hands-down the best I’ve ever had and will now be my go-to. They were also infinitely better than Popeye's, KFC's, and Chick-Fil-A's. (We, including Carla, taste tested them all side by side.) After inhaling about three and bombarding her with a ton of questions, here are all the tricks I learned from the cookbook author and chef.
1. Aerate your flour.
She swears it's necessary. We prepped Carla's ingredients for her, and immediately upon handing her the bowl of flour, she asked who measured it and if it had been aerated it first. (Luckily our test kitchen assistant Makinze Gore was ON IT.) Whisking and fluffing the flour first incorporates air so that you don't risk packing too much flour into your measuring cup, which can lead to dense biscuits. She also wants you to spoon the flour into the cup—not scoop!
2. Grate frozen butter.
Her motto: Mo warm, mo problems. Carla tosses a stick of frozen butter in flour, dusts her grater with flour, then grates it. I was floored. There was no buttery mess on her hands nor any butter build up on the grater. If you've ever grated butter, you know how messy it can get. The problem? Your warms hands. And tossing everything with flour is the simplest, most genius tip.
3. Don't skip the shortening.
As appealing as an all-butter recipe is, Carla swears that shortening is absolutely necessary for a crispy top and bottom. Your biscuit can be flaky as hell, but it means next to nothing if it doesn't have a nice crust.
4. Grease your surface before flouring.
One problem that happens often when rolling out any kind of dough is that you end up inadvertently adding too much flour to the dough. Her solution: Grease your working surface with cooking spray and dust it with flour. The flour sticks to the surface, prevent everything from sticking, and won't end up in your dough.
5. Dust biscuit cutter with flour.
It's her secret for a lot of things! The flour helps prevent dough from sticking to the biscuit cutter, therefore ensuring clean slices. Twisting the biscuit cutter can pinch the edges and prevent the biscuits from rising properly.
After stamping out the biscuits, Carla also flips the biscuits onto the baking sheet so that the pinched side is up. I think it's for better rising and that perfect flat biscuit top? But honestly, I'll just do it because Carla told me to.
You can find this recipe and other insanely delicious comfort food from Carla's new cookbook Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration.
