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["Robert Walton" <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

I like this thread. Good biscuits are important.

The buttermilk is acid, you add soda to the flour, the reaction
between the acid buttermilk and the soda make the biscuits rise.  Same
thing happens in buttermilk pound cake or pancakes. The self rising
flour already has baking powder, but you need the soda with
buttermilk.

Do they sell Southern Biscuit flour (that's the brand) where you live?
It is a good flour. I don't use self rising.

I have two jars of goat milk from this evenings milking sitting out to
culture. I use cultured milk in place of buttermilk, you can start the
culture with cheese culture or store bought buttermilk. Makes a better
product than what is bought in the store.

IMO, you cannot make good biscuits without lard. I have no qualms over
eating lard from the hogs I raise.

Like James said, you want everything including your bowl and utensils
cold. Cold fat makes flaky biscuits.

Rob - Va



On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 6:25 PM, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
> So what is the difference that buttermilk makes?  It is just that the
> cultures provide a bit of extra leavening as well as a bit of sourness?
> Does it make sense that recipes that use self rising flour use sweet
> milk and those with AP flour use buttermilk?
>