[2 - 2] as a professional cook and baker i know
[2 - 3] a lot of things that are definitely true
[3 - 5] about biscuits for instance biscuits are
[5 - 8] always nice and buttery
[8 - 11] a good biscuit is a flaky biscuit
[11 - 13] if you don't use a super low protein
[13 - 16] flour your biscuits will bake up tough
[16 - 17] okay who's doing that
[18 - 20] anyway one truth that cannot be refuted
[20 - 21] is that to make good biscuits you have
[21 - 23] to keep all of your ingredients nice and
[25 - 28] cold okay okay i get it i was wrong about all
[28 - 35] okay okay i get it i was wrong about all of that man that's annoying
[36 - 36] look the truth is some biscuits don't
[36 - 39] contain butter at all others are better
[39 - 41] made with a higher protein flour and
[41 - 43] some instead of having flakiness trade
[43 - 46] on an almost cake-like tenderness and as
[46 - 48] we'll learn in this episode sometimes
[48 - 50] heating things up is better than keeping
[50 - 52] them cold the world of biscuits is
[52 - 54] surprisingly complex and varied hard and
[54 - 56] fast rules break down quickly as we move
[56 - 58] between biscuit styles but we have to
[58 - 60] get our bearings somehow what if i told
[60 - 63] a tale of two biscuits one would be the
[63 - 66] flakiest tallest most ultra butteriest
[66 - 69] biscuit you've ever seen and the other
[69 - 71] the easiest to make plushies most tender
[71 - 73] biscuit you've ever laid eyes on those
[73 - 76] two styles of biscuit ultra flaky versus
[76 - 78] ultra tender and cakey couldn't be more
[78 - 79] different and yet their ingredient lists
[80 - 82] start out remarkably similar each begins
[82 - 84] with three cups of all-purpose flour and
[84 - 85] then incorporates roughly equal amounts
[85 - 88] of sugar baking powder baking soda and
[88 - 90] salt let's do a quick rundown on each of
[90 - 92] these ingredients first up flour now
[92 - 94] we're using an all-purpose flour for
[94 - 95] both of these recipes but the
[95 - 97] traditional choice for biscuits is a low
[97 - 99] protein all-purpose flour that is also
[99 - 101] bleached lower protein plus bleaching
[102 - 103] means a flour that has really low gluten
[103 - 105] forming potential and that leads to
[105 - 107] baked goods that are really tender and
[107 - 108] have less rise and lift but here's the
[108 - 110] thing there's more than one way to make
[110 - 112] a tender baked good and extreme
[112 - 114] tenderness isn't always best depending
[114 - 116] on the biscuit style next up is sugar
[116 - 118] now sugar is obviously sweet but the
[118 - 120] amount we're using in these recipes is
[120 - 122] so little you wouldn't even notice it so
[122 - 124] why include it at all well sugar's
[124 - 126] primary function in these biscuits is to
[126 - 128] improve browning as we talked about with
[128 - 130] cauliflower brussels sprouts and burgers
[130 - 133] better browning equals better flavor
[133 - 135] next is baking powder now baking powder
[135 - 137] contains baking soda which is alkaline
[137 - 139] plus at least one acidic ingredient when
[140 - 142] dry the baking soda and acids remain
[142 - 144] separate and totally uninterested in one
[144 - 146] another but just like with gremlins when
[146 - 148] you get them wet they multiply wait
[148 - 150] that's not right when they get wet they
[150 - 152] react and create carbon dioxide which
[152 - 154] leavens the biscuit so for adding baking
[154 - 156] powder which contains baking soda and we
[156 - 157] know that that combination is already
[158 - 159] giving lift to the biscuit why are we
[159 - 161] adding additional baking soda well that
[161 - 163] additional baking soda will actually
[163 - 165] raise the ph of the dough and all those
[165 - 167] delicious browning reactions happen
[167 - 169] faster at higher ph so we add baking
[169 - 171] soda and we get better browning the
[171 - 173] baking soda also seasons the biscuits
[173 - 175] directly the slightly salty savory taste
[175 - 177] of baking soda is a key component in
[177 - 179] things like pancakes and you guessed it
[179 - 181] biscuits if it wasn't in there you would
[181 - 184] notice and finally salt that's there
[184 - 186] entirely for seasoning and a little bit
[186 - 187] goes a long way if however you're
[187 - 189] interested in seeing me eat an entire
[189 - 191] spoonful of salt i do highly recommend
[191 - 193] my video on how to make sea salt
[193 - 195] so far our tale of two biscuits sounds
[195 - 197] an awful lot like a tale of one biscuit
[197 - 199] which is still a tale i would tell just
[200 - 202] doesn't have quite the same panache well
[202 - 205] fear not things are about to diverge and
[205 - 209] get really really dramatic
[209 - 211] to help me tell the rest of the story
[211 - 213] i've invited two baking pros to join me
[213 - 215] in the kitchen cook's illustrated deputy
[215 - 217] food editor andrea geary and cook's
[217 - 219] illustrated senior editor andrew
[219 - 222] janzigian each brings with them decades
[222 - 223] of recipe development and baking
[223 - 226] experience and their own recipes let's
[226 - 228] go to the kitchen andrew will be making
[228 - 230] his ultimate flaky biscuits and andrea
[230 - 232] will be making her easiest ever biscuits
[232 - 235] first up ultra flaky andrew before we
[235 - 237] start baking let's look at some stats
[237 - 239] andrew's got all those dry ingredients
[239 - 241] that we just talked about in one bowl
[241 - 242] and into it he's creating two sticks of
[242 - 245] slightly frozen butter why frozen grated
[245 - 248] butter so that the pieces of butter stay
[248 - 249] individual in the inside the dough so
[250 - 251] that the layers will form and it'll get
[251 - 253] real flaky basically a biscuit will bake
[253 - 255] up flaky when sheets of dough are
[255 - 257] separated by sheets of fat i could say
[257 - 259] the same thing about a croissant or even
[259 - 261] puff pastry and that makes sense in each
[261 - 263] instance we're talking about lamination
[263 - 265] which is a fancy term for basically
[265 - 266] sandwiching layers of fat and dough
[266 - 268] together in a croissant the lamination
[268 - 270] is extensive and done with meticulous
[270 - 272] care to ensure ultra thin layers of both
[272 - 275] dough and fat biscuit lamination is a
[275 - 277] much more rustic affair for super flaky
[277 - 279] biscuits we add grated butter and then
[279 - 281] roll and fold the dough until that fat
[281 - 283] is distributed in layers now he adds
[283 - 285] chilled buttermilk now the water in the
[285 - 287] buttermilk will hydrate the flour and
[287 - 289] get some crucial gluten formation going
[289 - 291] then he dumps the dough onto the counter
[293 - 295] this looks really dry this is actually
[295 - 297] gonna come together into a biscuit dough
[297 - 299] yes all thanks to folding a little bit
[299 - 301] like laminating yeah it's exactly like
[301 - 303] lemonade this is basically
[304 - 306] married to a croissant
[306 - 308] okay cool yeah andrew rolls the dough
[308 - 310] out into a rectangle and then folds it
[310 - 311] up like a business letter he then turns
[312 - 314] it 90 degrees and repeats that and
[314 - 316] repeats that and repeats that and
[316 - 319] repeats that that's five sets of folds
[319 - 321] but just look at that transformation
[321 - 323] after a quick chill he uses a sharp
[323 - 325] floured knife to trim the dough and then
[325 - 327] cut it into nine beautiful beautiful
[327 - 331] squares then we bake these off and just
[331 - 332] look at those layers
[332 - 334] we gotta do one of those like gratuitous
[334 - 337] pan up shots all the way yeah that's
[338 - 340] nice next up is andrea and the easiest
[340 - 343] next up is andrea and the easiest biscuit recipe you'll ever see but first
[344 - 346] andrea set out to make the easiest ever
[346 - 348] biscuit and that meant two things first
[348 - 350] it had to be a drop biscuit a drop
[350 - 352] biscuit means the dough is wet enough
[352 - 353] that it can be scooped straight from the
[353 - 355] mixing bowl and dropped onto the baking
[355 - 357] sheet no rolling folding or cutting
[357 - 360] required and second it had to be a cream
[360 - 362] biscuit instead of cutting in cold
[362 - 364] butter and then adding in cold milk or
[364 - 366] buttermilk you sub in one ingredient
[366 - 368] heavy cream which contains about 36 fat
[368 - 371] and 57 water that's one ingredient that
[371 - 373] provides all of your fat and water
[373 - 375] requirements so this is kind of a drop
[375 - 378] biscuit and a cream biscuit so together
[378 - 380] it's a dream biscuit so the first step
[380 - 382] is andrea takes that heavy cream and
[382 - 383] throws it in the microwave for about a
[383 - 386] minute on high power and wait a minute
[386 - 387] i thought we're supposed to keep
[387 - 388] everything nice and cold for these
[388 - 390] biscuits for this recipe you actually
[390 - 393] warm up the cream because this is both
[393 - 396] our fat and our liquid so here's the
[396 - 399] thing cream might look like a liquid but
[399 - 401] when it's cold the butter fat in it is
[401 - 403] solid if you add enough cold cream to
[403 - 405] make a droppable dough the biscuits will
[405 - 407] look fine before they go in the oven but
[407 - 409] once all that butter fat melts in the
[409 - 411] heat of the oven your biscuit flattens
[411 - 415] out into a pancake looking biscuit thing
[415 - 416] the microwave step brings the cream up
[416 - 418] to about 95 degrees which melts that
[418 - 421] butter fat it makes the cream more fluid
[421 - 423] now that she has her warm cream just
[423 - 425] check out how easy and fast this is
[425 - 426] check out that gorgeous browning and
[426 - 429] that tender plush interior whether you
[429 - 432] go ultra ultra flaky or super easy and
[432 - 434] tender i think we can all agree that
[434 - 438] this is definitely how to eat biscuits
[441 - 444] [Music] so are you flaky or easy i mean your
[444 - 446] so are you flaky or easy i mean your biscuit preference
[446 - 447] let me know in the comments and don't
[447 - 449] forget to subscribe we'll see you next