How to make PURPLE Ribbon bisuits

[facshmec]

:lol:

To make great biscuits use 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 pastry flour. Your biscuits will be light, rise high and taste delicious. Make sure to cut cold fat(I use butter Crisco ) into flour with a pastry blender.

I use a generic recipe with milk or buttermilk, baking powder, Crisco and flour.

Everyone will wonder why your biscuits raised so high and taste deliciously different

[Antilope]

Bread flour has a protein level of about 12%, all purpose flour has a protein level of 10% and pastry flour has a protein level of 8%. By mixing bread flour with pastry flour, you end up with a flour protein of 10%, the same as all purpose flour. So why not just use all purpose flour and save the extra expense?

White Lily all purpose southern soft flour has a protein level of 8 or 9%, but it’s not available in all areas. It makes the best biscuits. A good homemade substitute is to mix 1/2 Gold Medal All Purpose Flour (10.5% protein) with 1/2 Pillsbury Softasilk Bleached Cake Flour, (6.9% protein). You end up with a low protein flour blend (8.7% protein) very similar to White Lily all purpose flour and excellent for biscuits, pastry, cookies, etc.

[Antilope]

Supermarket Wheat Flour Types and Gluten Content for U.S., Canadian, Australian and U.K. Flour
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Some have probably seen this posted before but for those that haven’t seen it, here’s a chart I put together of U.S. supermarket wheat flour by type and protein / gluten content. Most of these flour brands are available at U.S. supermarkets:.
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U.S. WHEAT FLOUR TYPES AND BEST USES:
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Wheat Flour Protein:
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-Protein levels range from about 7% in pastry and cake flours to as high as about 15% in high-gluten bread flour.
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-Protein percentage indicates the amount of gluten available in the a given flour. Gluten is the substance which develops when the flour protein, which occurs naturally in wheat flour, is combined with liquid and kneaded.
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-Because gluten is able to stretch elastically, it is desirable to have a higher gluten flour for yeast-raised products, which have doughs that are stretched extensively; like pizza, most yeast breads, and bagels.
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-For cakes, pie crusts, cookies, biscuits, pancakes, waffles and pastry to be short and crumbly or tender, a lower protein flour is better. Also, in higher gluten flours, the gluten can overpower the chemical leaveners like baking powder or baking soda, causing the final baked goods to not rise as high.
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-Hard winter wheat, mainly grown in the north, has a higher protein and more gluten, 10% to 13%.
Most northern and national brand all-purpose flours, bread flour and high-gluten flour is made from hard winter wheat.
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-Soft summer wheat, mainly grown in the south, has a lower protein and lower gluten, 8% to 10%
Most cake, pastry and southern all-purpose flour is made from soft summer wheat.
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Bleaching flour does a couple of things, it whitens the flour and it also alters the flour protein causing it to form weaker gluten. Most cake flours are bleached.
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Bleaching cake flour changes how it absorbs fats and liquids, affecting the crumb of the cake for the better. Bleaching also weakens the flour gluten and lower gluten makes better cakes.
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In all types of wheat flour, freshly ground flour has to be aged for a time or it will have poor baking characteristics. Instead of waiting, mills can bleach the white flour, which accelerates the aging process and it can be sent to market sooner. Also, it does whiten the flour.
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But some people say they can taste the bleaching chemicals in the baked cake.
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According to Wikipedia, these chemicals are used as flour bleaching agents: benzoyl peroxide, Calcium peroxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Chlorine, Chlorine dioxide, Azodicarbonamide, Atmospheric oxygen.
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Using chlorine, bromates, and peroxides to bleach flour is banned in the EU. The bleaching of flour is also banned in Australia.
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FLOUR PROTEIN BY TYPES AND BRANDS (retail flour):
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CAKE FLOUR - 7% to 9.4% protein
Best Use: cakes, blending with national brands all-purpose flour to make pastry flour or Southern flour substitute.
-King Arthur Queen Guinevere Cake Flour, 7.0%
-King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour Blend, 9.4%
-Pillsbury Softasilk Bleached Cake Flour, 6.9%
-Presto Self Rising Cake Flour, 7.4%
-Swans Down Bleached Cake Flour, 7.1%
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PASTRY FLOUR - 8 to 10% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, pastries, pancakes, pie crusts, waffles.
-Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 10%
-Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 10%
-Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 10%
-King Arthur Unbleached Pastry Flour, 8%
-King Arthur Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 9%
-Robin Hood Best For Cake & Pastry Flour 10%
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ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, SOUTHERN - 8 to 9% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, muffins, pancakes, pie crusts, quick breads, waffles.
-Martha White Bleached All-Purpose Flour, 9%
-White Lily Bleached All-Purpose Flour, 8 to 9%
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SELF-RISING FLOUR (flour, baking powder, salt) - 7.4 to 10.5% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, pancakes, muffins, quick breads, waffles.
-Gold Medal Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 10.5%
-Hudson Cream Self-Rising Flour 10%
-King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour, 8.5%
-Martha White Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 9.4%
-Pillsbury Best Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 9.7%
-Presto Self Rising Cake Flour, 7.4%
-White Lily Bleached Self-Rising Flour, 8 to 9%
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ALL PURPOSE BAKING MIXES (flour, shortening, baking powder, sugar, salt) - 6.25 to 12.5% protein
Best Use: biscuits, cookies, coffee cakes, pancakes, quick breads, pastry, waffles
-Arrowhead Mills All Purpose Baking Mix, 12.5%
-Bisquick Original Baking Mix, 7.5%
-Hudson Cream Biscuit Mix 10.5%
-Jiffy All Purpose Baking Mix, 6.25%
-King Arthur Flour All Purpose Baking Mix, 10%
-Pioneer Original Baking Mix, 7.5%
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INSTANT FLOUR 10.5 to 12.6% protein
Best Use: thicken gravies, sauces, and soups without lumps.
-Gold Medal Wondra Quick Mixing Flour, 10.5%
-Pillsbury Best Shake & Blend Flour, 12.6%
-Robin Hood Best For Blending Flour 13%
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ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, BLEACHED & UNBLEACHED, NATIONAL BRANDS - 10 to 11.5% protein
Best Use: makes average biscuits, cookies, muffins, pancakes, pie crusts, pizza crusts, quick breads, waffles, yeast breads.
-Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour, 10.5%
-Hodgson Mill All Purpose Unbleached White Flour 10%
-Hudson Cream Flour Short Patent Flour 10%
-Pillsbury Best All-Purpose Flour, 10 to 11.5%
-Pioneer All-Purpose Flour, 10%
-White Wings All-Purpose Flour, 10%
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ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, NORTHERN, BLEACHED & UNBLEACHED - 11.5 to 13% protein
Best Use: cream puffs, puff pastry, yeast breads, pizza crusts.
-Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached White Flour 11.7%
-Five Roses All Purpose Flour, 13.0%
-Heckers and Ceresota All-Purpose Flour, 11.5 to 11.9 %
-King Arthur All-Purpose Flour, 11.7%
-Robin Hood Original All Purpose Flour 13%
-Rogers All-Purpose Flour, 13.0%
-Wheat Montana Natural White All-Purpose Flour 13%
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BREAD FLOUR - 11.7 to 13% protein
Best Use: traditional yeast breads, bread machine, pizza crusts, pasta.
-Gold Medal Better For Bread, 12%
-Hodgson Mill Best For Bread Flour 13%
-Hudson Cream Bread Flour 13%
-King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour, 12.7%
-Pillsbury Best Bread Flour, 12.9%
-Robin Hood Best For Bread Homestyle White Flour 13%
-White Lily Unbleached Bread Flour, 11.7%
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DURUM WHEAT (Semolina) 13 to 13.5% protein
Best Use: Pasta.
-Hodgson Mill Golden Semolina & Extra Fancy Durum Pasta Flour, 13.3%
-King Arthur Extra Fancy Durum Flour, 13.3%
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WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR - 12 to 16% protein
Best Use: hearth breads, blending with other flours.
-Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour 12%
-Bob’s Red Mill Organic Hard White Whole Wheat Flour 11.7%
-Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour, 13.3%
-Hodgson Mill Old Fashioned Whole Wheat Flour 10%
-Hudson Cream Whole Wheat 13%
-King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour, 14%
-King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour, 14%
-Pillsbury Best Whole Wheat Flour, 12.9%
-Robin Hood Whole Wheat All Purpose Flour 13%
-Robin Hood Best For Bread Whole Wheat Flour 13%
-Wheat Montana Prairie Gold Flour 100% Whole Wheat 16%
-Wheat Montana Prairie Gold Hard White Spring Wheat 16%
-Wheat Montana Bronze Chief Whole Wheat Hard Red Spring 16%
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HIGH-GLUTEN FLOUR 14 to 15% protein
Best Use: bagels, pizza crusts, blending with other flours.
-King Arthur Organic Hi-Gluten Flour, 14%
-King Arthur Sir Lancelot Unbleached Hi-Gluten Flour, 14.2%
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VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN FLOUR, Bread-making Supplement - 65 to 77% protein
Best Use: Added to raise gluten. Adds extra gluten to low-gluten whole grain flours, such as rye, oat, teff, spelt, or buckwheat.
-Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 65.0%
-Bob’s Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 75.0%
-Gillco Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 75.0%
-Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 66.6%
-King Arthur Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, 77.8%
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Retail Flour Companies - Brands:
-Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, Milwaukie, Oregon -Bob’s Red Mill
-C.H. Guenther & Son Inc, San Antonio, Texas - Pioneer Flour, Pioneer Baking Mix, White Wings Flour
-General Mills Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Bisquick, Gold Medal Flour, (sold US Pillsbury Flour , retains Pillsbury frozen goods)
-Hain Celestial Group Inc, Boulder, Colorado - Arrowhead Mills
-Hodgson Mill Inc, Effingham, Illinois - Hodgson Mill
-J.M. Smucker Company, Orrville, Ohio - Martha White Flour, Pillsbury Flour, Robin Hood Flour, White Lily Flour
-King Arthur Flour Company, Norwich, Vermont - King Arthur Flour
-Reily Foods Company, New Orleans, Louisiana - Swan’s Down Cake Flour, Presto Self Rising Cake Flour
-Stafford County Flour Mills, Hudson, Kansas - Hudson Cream
-Uhlmann Company, Kansas City, Missouri - Heckers Flour, Ceresota Flour
-Wheat Montana Farms, Three Forks, Montana - Wheat Montana
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Australian Flour Protein / Gluten Content
I am also attempting to put together a list of Australian retail Flour. The data for this incomplete list is from Australian supermarket websites and the protein / gluten data comes from nutritional labels posted on the supermarket websites (usually given as protein grams per 100 grams of flour):
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Australian Flour Protein
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-White Plain Flour
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Allied Mills Plain Flour 9.5%
Anchor Lighthouse Plain Cake Biscuit & Pastry Flour 8.7%
Anchor Lighthouse Pasta & Noodle Flour 9.6%
Anchor Lighthouse Bread & Pizza Flour 11.5%
Coles White Plain Flour - 10.1%
Coles Organic Plain Flour - 10.8%
FBW Plain Flour 10.1%
Healthy Baker Plain Flour - 9.7%
Macro Organic Plain Flour 11.4%
Millers Foods Plain Flour 9.0%
Wallaby Bakers Plain Flour 11.9%
White Wings Plain Flour - 10.1%
White Wings Organic Plain Flour - 10.8%
Woolworth’s Homebrand Plain Flour - 10.9%
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-Wholemeal Plain Flour
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Coles Wholemeal Plain Flour - 11.2%
Four Leaf Wholemeal Flour 13.0%
White Wings Wholemeal Plain Flour - 10.8%
Woolworth’s Homebrand Wholemeal Plain Flour - 11.2%
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-White Self Raising Flour–Wheat Flour, Raising Agents (salt is not added to Australian self raising flour)
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Anchor Lighthouse Self Raising Biscuit Flour 8.3%
Coles White Self Raising Flour - 9.8%
Coles Organic Self Raising Flour - 9.8%
Healthy Baker Self Raising Flour - 9.5%
Macro Organic Self Raising Flour - 9.8%
White Wings Cake Grade Self Raising Flour - 10.4%
White Wings Self Raising Flour - 10.0%
White Wings Organic Self Raising - 9.8%
Woolworth’s Homebrand Self Raising Flour - 10.4%
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-Wholemeal Self Raising Flour–Wheat Flour, Raising Agents (salt is not added to Australian self raising flour)
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Coles Wholemeal Self Raising Flour - 11.3%
Four Leaf Wholemeal Self Raising Flour 16.2%
White Wings Wholemeal Self Raising Flour - 10.5%
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‘00’ Flour
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Alpine Special White ‘00’ Flour - 11.5%
Anchor Lighthouse Pasta & Noodle Tipo ‘00’ Flour 12.0%
La Molisana Type ‘00’ Flour - 11.5%
Laucke Type ‘00’ Special White - 10.5%
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• Instant Flour
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  White Wings Gravy Flour - 10.5%
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  Spelt Flour
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  Ceres Organics Wholemeal Spelt Flour 13.3%
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UK Flour Protein / Gluten Content
I am also attempting to put together a list of U.K. retail Flour. The data for this incomplete list is from UK supermarket websites and the protein / gluten data comes from nutritional labels posted on the supermarket websites (usually given as protein grams per 100 grams of flour):
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----UK Supermarket Wheat Flour----
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-PLAIN FLOUR-
Allinson Nature Friendly Plain Flour 10.0%
Asda Plain Flour 10.3%
Be-Ro Plain Flour 10.2%
Homepride Plain Flour 10.3%
McDougalls Plain Flour 10.4%
Odlums Cream Plain Flour 10.8%
Odlums Organic Plain Flour 10.1%
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-STRONG WHITE BREAD FLOUR-
Allinson Strong White Bread Flour 12.1%
Allinson Oatmill White Bread Flour 13.7%
Allinson White Seed & Grain Bread Flour 11.5%
Allinson Bakers’ Grade Very Strong White Bread Flour 13.9%
Allinson Premium Bread Flour 13.9%
Asda Strong White Bread Flour 11.5%
Hovis Super Strong Premium White Bread Flour 12.8%
Hovis Strong White Bread Flour 12.0%
Sainsbury’s Strong White Bread Flour 13.4%
Waitrose Strong White Bread Flour 12.9%
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-STRONG WHOLEMEAL BREAD FLOUR-
Allinson Premium Wholemeal Very Strong Bread Flour 13.8%
Allinson Seed & Grain Bread Flour 11.8%
Allinson Wholemeal Seed & Grain Bread Flour 14.6%
Wright’s Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour 12.7%
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-SAUCE FLOUR-
Easy to use flour for sauces, gravies and thickening. Also for low fat recipes.
Carrs Sauce Flour 9.3%
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-WHOLEMEAL PLAIN FLOUR-
Abbey Stoneground Wholemeal Flour 11.5%
Allinson Wholemeal Plain Flour 11.9%
Carr’s Wholemeal Flour 15.2%
Odlums Stoneground Coarse Wholemeal 10%
Tesco Strong Stoneground Wholemeal Flour 13.7%
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-SELF RAISING FLOUR—Wheat Flour, Raising Agents (salt is not added to UK self raising flour)
Allinson Nature Friendly Self Raising Flour 9.9%
Homepride Self Raising Flour 9.4%
Homepride Extra Fine Self Raising Flour 9.4%
McDougalls Supreme Sponge Premium Self Raising Flour 8.0%
McDougalls Self Raising Flour 9.9%
Odlums Self Raising Flour 10.6%
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-WHOLEMEAL SELF RAISING FLOUR—Wheat Flour, Raising Agents (salt is not added to UK self raising flour)
Allinson Wholemeal Self-raising Flour 11.9%
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McDougalls 00 Grade Premium Flour 11.0%
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[Antilope]

I just found a biscuit recipe that uses bread flour and pastry flour. It is in the book “Professional Baking” by Wayne Gisslen, so there must be a good reason for mixing the two flours. Maybe, even though they are mixed, they each add their own unique qualities to the biscuit dough. These are American Southern Biscuits (a quick bread similar to scones) not British biscuits (cookies).
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Here is the recipe

[b][i]Biscuits I - from Professional Baking 4th edition

1 1/2 cups Bread Flour (200g)
1 1/2 cups Pastry Flour (200g)
1 1/4 tsp Table Salt (8g)
1 2/3 Tbsp Sugar (20g)
2 1/3 Tbsp Baking Powder (24g)
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp Shortening and/or butter (140g)
1 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp Milk (266g)

Scaling Approximately 1 lb (450g) per dozen 2-inch biscuits
(This recipe will make about 24 - 2-inch biscuits)

Procedure—Biscuit Method

1. Scale (measure) all ingredients accurately.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl.

3. Cut in the shortening, using the paddle attachment or the pastry
   knife attachment; if you prefer, cut in the fat by hand, using a
   pastry blender or your fingers. Continue until the mixture
   resembles a coarse cornmeal.

4. Combine the liquid ingredients.

5. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Mix just until the ingredients
   are combined and a soft dough is formed. Do not overmix.

6. Bring the dough to the bench and knead it lightly by pressing it out
   and folding it in half. Rotate the dough 90 degrees between folds.

7. Repeat this procedure about 10 to 20 times, or for about 30
   seconds. The dough should be soft and slightly elastic, but not
   sticky. Overkneading toughens the biscuits.
   The dough is now ready for makeup.

Makeup of Biscuits

1. Roll out the biscuit dough into a sheet about 1 ⁄ 2 in. (1 cm) thick, being
   careful to roll it evenly and to a uniform thickness.
   Biscuits approximately double in height during baking.

2. Cut into desired shapes.
   When using round hand cutters,cut straight down.Do not twist the cutter.
   Space the cuts as closely as possible to minimize scraps. Reworked scrap
   dough produces tougher biscuits.
   Cutting into squares or triangles with a pastry cutter knife eliminates
   scraps that would have to be rerolled. Roller cutters also eliminate or
   reduce scraps.

3. Place the biscuits 1 ⁄ 2 in. (1 cm) apart on greased or paper-lined baking
   sheets. For softer biscuits without crusty sides, arrange the units so that
   they touch each other; these must be broken apart after baking.

4. If desired,brush the tops with egg wash or milk to aid browning.

5. Bake as soon as possible.

Baking (in a pre-heated oven)
425 F (218 C) about 15 - 20 minutes (biscuits are done when they reach 190F [87.7C] internal temperature)

Variations
Changes in the basic procedure produce different characteristics
in the finished product:

1. Using slightly more shortening and cutting it in less—only until
   the pieces are the size of peas—produces a flakier biscuit.

2. Omitting the kneading step produces very tender, crusty biscuits,
   but with less volume.

Variations

Buttermilk Biscuits
Use buttermilk in place of regular milk

Cheese Biscuits
Add 90g (3 oz) grated cheddar cheese
to dry ingredients[/i][/b]

[Sandra22]

thanks for your detailed info about flour kinds i got a lot information really helpful

[Antilope]

@Sandra22

thanks for your detailed info about flour kinds i got a lot information really helpful

You’re welcome.

There are so many brands and types of wheat flour available, I was confused by it. That’s why I looked into the subject and came up with the list.

[vistech]

very nice i like your recipe good job but have you any pics plz share with thanks

[facshmec]

thanks for the great flour post and the recipe. There must be something about the pastry flour that makes them Blue Ribbon! Will try to order the Professional Baking book. I like recipes that measure by weight.

Thanks again

[Antilope]

@facshmec

thanks for the great flour post and the recipe. There must be something about the pastry flour that makes them Blue Ribbon! Will try to order the Professional Baking book. I like recipes that measure by weight.

Thanks again

Save some money and buy a used copy of the book at Amazon. I got one for about $ 5.00.

[john3322]

dear antilope, your Purple Ribbon biscuits recipe is so easy. i make biscuits with your recipe and enjoy the biscuits

[Antilope]

@john3322

dear antilope, your Purple Ribbon biscuits recipe is so easy. i make biscuits with your recipe and enjoy the biscuits

Glad you liked the recipe, but I can’t take credit for it. The recipe originally comes from the book “Professional Baking” by Wayne Gisslen.

[Christien]

Found lots of purple ribbon biscuits recipes here and will definitely try them. Will share best recipe after trying all!
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