It's all in the flour.

Byline: Deborah S. Hartz Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Anyone who grew up in the South can tell you that Southern biscuits are soft, feathery and ethereal. Drenched in butter and slathered with peach preserves or sopping up molasses or red eye gravy, they are a delight.

Then how come newcomers to the area borrow time-tested recipes only to create biscuits that resemble hockey pucks?

It could be the flour.

If you are a Yankee who buys flour up North or national brands, you are using a high-protein flour, said Shirley Corriher, a food chemist we visited in her hometown of Atlanta.

Flour milled in the South is made from soft winter wheat that has a low protein content. Up North, flour is made from hard red spring wheat, which is high in protein.

So what difference does that make?

Corriher explained: When you add water to flour and stir, two proteins in the flour - glutenin and gliadin - grab hold of the water and to each other to form elastic sheets of gluten. The more protein in the flour, the more water it will hold, the more gluten will be formed and the more elastic and tougher the dough.

Gluten is necessary for yeast-raised products such as bread. The yeast forms carbon dioxide bubbles in the dough that expand and stretch the gluten, causing the loaf to rise.

But when you leaven baked goods such as biscuits with baking powder or baking soda, gluten can actually interfere with the delicate bubbles that should cause the dough to rise. Thus, for biscuits and quick breads, you want a softer dough made from a low-protein flour.

But how can you tell the protein content of flour?

You can't. At least not by by looking at the label on the sack.

Instead, you have to trust brand names. Look for Martha White or Lily White brands. Or, you can substitute a mix of one part cake flour and one part national brand bleached all-purpose flour. If you need to make it self-rising, add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder per cup of mixed flours.

Now, if you want to try your hand at making the perfect Southern biscuit, forget all the rules you learned about kneading and cutting and follow Corriher's recipe for Touch of Grace Biscuits. She developed it only after many years of watching her grandmother make feathery biscuits. Don't worry that the dough is very soupy. It's supposed to be.

TOUCH OF GRACE BISCUITS

2 cups self-rising White Lily flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening

1 1/8 cups buttermilk 

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Spray an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix self-rising flour, sugar, salt and baking soda until blended. Cut in vegetable shortening with a pastry blender or work in with fingertips until lumps are no larger than small peas. Stir in buttermilk and let stand 2 to 3 minutes. Dough will be very wet and soupy.

Pour all-purpose flour onto a plate. Flour hands well. Scoop up about 2 tablespoons dough into flour. Sprinkle more flour over dough. Gently pick up a clump of dough and shape into a soft round by passing dough from hand to hand, shaking off excess flour.

Place shaped dough in middle of prepared pan. Dough will spread out. Shape 9 more biscuits same way and place around edge of pan. Brush tops with melted butter.

Bake in preheated 475-degree oven 18 to 25 minutes or until biscuits are evenly golden brown. Cool slightly in pan before serving. Makes 10 biscuits.

NUTRITION INFORMATION PER BISCUIT: 204 calories; 5 grams protein; 7 grams fat; 30 grams carbohydrate; 7 milligrams cholesterol; 473 milligrams sodium.