Recipe: Biscuits and Basic Pan Gravy - Big Batch Biscuits, Ranch-Style Angel Biscuits

Biscuits and Basic Pan Gravy - Big Batch Biscuits, Ranch-Style Angel Biscuits
rec.food.cooking/Lori Hodge (1998)

I suggest using a baking powder biscuit with gravy, because it is denser, but I'm including recipes for both baking powder biscuits and yeast biscuits. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Big Batch Biscuits
Makes about 40 biscuits

3 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups half-and-half

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl.

Cut in shortening, using pastry cutter or two knives. Add cream. Mix lightly. Put on lightly floured board and knead a few times. Roll out to 5/8-inch thick and cut with small biscuit cutter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown.

Ranch-Style Angel Biscuits
Makes about 20 biscuits

1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup buttermilk

Soften yeast in lukewarm water and set aside. Sift dry ingredients together, cut in shortening. Then add milk and softened yeast and mix well.

Store in refrigerator until 1 hour before baking. Roll out dough 1/2 inch thick and cut out using a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until light brown.

Now, as for the gravy, if you want plain white gravy, prepare the following recipe using some kind of meat drippings (bacon) adding butter if necessary to yield necessary amount. We like to brown a pound of bulk sausage (Jimmy Dean HOT! if possible) and use the pan drippings for the gravy, adding the sausage back to the gravy when the gravy's done.

Basic Pan Gravy:

4 tablespoons pan drippings
3 tablespoons flour
2 1/4 cups milk (use whole milk for this one)
salt & coarsely ground black pepper to taste

If you're using sausage, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces, until done. Remove sausage from pan.

Pour off all but 4 tablespoons of pan drippings. Blend in flour, stirring constantly over medium heat until bubbly. Stir in milk, salt and pepper.

Continue cooking and stirring, scraping bottom & sides of skillet, until gravy thickens and bubbles, about one minute.

Add cooked sausage if desired.