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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I know all of you biscuit makers are laughing.  'Tis okay. ....:)

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:
> > > I never knew that bowl makers were so unique.
> > Don or James or anyone else on the list...what can you tell me
> > about bowl adzes? (I can't say that<g>) We have a big lathe, but I
> > want a rectangular or oval bowl, I think.
>
> Oval, but not rectantular.  And a lathe is useless for anything but
> salad bowls.

I knew that, but what I wasn't sure about was whether round bowls were
used more for biscuits than oval bowls.  I use my bread machine for 98%
of all kneading work(I actually can't think of a recipe that I hand
knead anymore), but since biscuits generally aren't kneaded, I thought
maybe a more round bowl would be in order. I read that the bowls were
rectangular, trenches, because you would work/knead the dough to the
right then to the left.
> The type of vessel you are describing is properly more of a
> 'trencher' than a bowl.

Right, but is that more for loaf breads or biscuits?  I know not these
things, just making assumptions.


> One consideration is that very hard wood is difficult to turn into a
> bowl. It tends to check and crack.  Best woods for biscuit trenchers
> is poplar and gum, the latter being arguably the best.
>
> The adze is OK for this work, but far better is a scorp.  There are
> scorps available just for bowl making.

I'll look at that.  I've never heard of a scorp. Thanks for the lead.

> > > This guy makes shallow bowls.  I read that they should be 4"
> > > deep.  Is
> > that to insulate yeast breads?  Why would I want either a shallow
> > or a deep bowl?
>
> For biscuits, as already commented upon, you don't want to do a lot
> of mixing and no kneading, so a very shallow vessel is best.

Ok, so by that we forget trenchers.
> The master bisucit makers of bygone days, a glimpse of which I was
> afforded from their nearly centigenarian hands was this:  making
> biscuits for a large family every day, they had a huge covered tub
> that held the bisucit flour, at east 25 lbs if not more.   Each
> morning they would send a child to count heads to see who had shown
> up at the house late to spend the night, and then they would make a
> little crater in the middle of the tub and put in the lard and 
> buttermilk and levening and mix that in lightly and lift the whole
> dough out of the tub without leaving any bits behind.  This went on
> the floured board and was cut into biscuits.

Is it better to make sure the shortening/lard is very fine and crumbly
or would that be working it in too much?  How 'fine' should it be?  I
have a 'cut in' tool (I don't know the official name for it)-should I
use that to get a finer, more even 'crumb' or stay with a fork and leave
the 'crumbs' of uneven size?  If the crumb is too small is that what
makes the biscuits flatter?

> Or else the  dough was mixed a bit wetter and then spooned onto the
> biscuit pan to make enormous "cat's head" biscuits.

My stepmother made cat heads.  I'm gonna try that, too.  Thanks.

--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda
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