What To Do If Your Biscuits Are Falling Apart
American biscuits, unlike their European cookie counterparts, are a breakfast staple when the weather turns cool and the holidays are near. And while you could pick up one of the many canned biscuits available, a big batch of fresh biscuits is easy to whip up when you need a homemade breakfast fit for a crowd.
Some of the most common mistakes everyone makes when baking biscuits harken back to the earliest days of the baked good. These buttery goods used to be known as "beaten biscuits" in the late 1800s for their hard and dry consistency, while the pairing of biscuits with sausage gravy was birthed out of economic hardship, explains The Washington Post. The country has come a long way since then. Apart from transforming the original biscuit into a softer and flakier bread, people now go out of their way to celebrate and promote National Buttermilk Biscuit Day on Instagram every year.
Still, if you've had trouble perfecting your biscuit recipe, you're not the only one, notes Reddit. One common problem with biscuits is that they end up falling apart when formed or break easily after baking. So, what steps can you take to ensure your next batch of biscuits isn't a crumbly mess?
Fat and moisture are crucial components in biscuit texture
If your biscuits are turning out dry and crumbly, there are a few things worth checking to ensure a fail-proof baking process. The first issue could be the amount of fat you're using, or perhaps you're not using the right kind of fat. If you tend to use shortening or margarine as opposed to butter, Quaker suggests using alternatives with at least 70% fat. And when cutting the fat, make sure you don't cut the pieces too small; otherwise, the small flecks of fat can create minuscule air pockets that turn into crumbs.
Fat aside, a common solution to crumbly biscuits is to cut back on the measured amount of dry ingredients. According to Quaker, you should be scooping flour gently with a spoon instead of sticking your measuring cup directly into the bag, which can lead to compacted mis-measurements. Alternatively, you may need to add more buttermilk, which was the proposed solution for one Reddit user's dry biscuits. According to the Baking Kneads blog, over-baking is also a common culprit for dry, fragile biscuits. In order to avoid over-cooking, you should remove your biscuits from the oven before they turn golden brown so the insides don't become dry.
If you're feeling risky, you can try adding mayo to your biscuit recipe. But if you'd rather play it safe, consider trying one of these solutions to fix your biscuit woes.