Until watching Brenda Gantt’s biscuit making video recently, I was perfectly happy with my biscuits. Today, I’ve been obsessing about how I could get White Lily self rising flour. I checked their website to see where I could buy it within 50 miles of here. Nowhere! I can buy it in Lake Charles, LA or Owensboro, KY according to the website. Walmart’s website shows it for $2.78 for a 5 pound bag but they are out and may have been out for quite a while or . . maybe they ran out yesterday and that’s the price it will be when they get more in stock. I can’t wait. I have to have it NOW.
Vince and I had this discussion:
Vince: What’s so great about White Lily flour?
Me: I don’t know but everything I’ve read today says it’s the best.
Vince: Your biscuits are great. I love your biscuits.
Me: Maybe they could be better.
Vince: What difference does it make if they’re already really good?
Me: Because I’ve gone over that cliff and I HAVE to get some White Lily self rising flour to try.
Seriously, I found this article on Cooking on the Side. She has a lot of recipes that look good but it looks like the blog is no longer being updated. Anyway, I printed that biscuit recipe, which looks very similar to Brenda Gantt’s recipe.
Several sellers have it on Amazon but it’s pretty expensive.
I found it online but to get a decent price, I had to get 8 bags and the bleached was on sale. I would have preferred unbleached but for this batch, bleached will have to work. I’ll use it for cookies during the holidays too so I didn’t mind buying 8 bags of it. There will be some biscuit and cooking baking in my future!
Donna says
Want me to get you some and send it to you. We have it in Alabama. I use it all the time. My favorite flour but I use plain instead of self rising. I’d be glad to send you some at least enough to try it and see if you like it. Just send an address and how much you want.
Judy Laquidara says
Thank you! I did order some to try. Hopefully I can get it somewhere closer eventually.
Liz A. says
I found this interesting article while looking up White Lily flour. According to this it’s not necessarily the flour that makes the biscuit so great. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/19/686579106/is-the-power-of-the-flour-really-the-secret-to-baking-the-perfect-biscuit
Judy Laquidara says
I read the article but I disagree. I do believe a great biscuit can be made with about any flour but with bread making, I’ve seen the difference flours can make. There is a difference in great and awesome. I do agree that there are many preferences. Some like a denser biscuit, some like a fluffy biscuit. To say gluten and protein count in the flour don’t make a huge difference has me rolling my eyes. I have probably six different type flours I use regularly and they all make a difference. Vince may not even notice if I use my favorite pie crust flour for English muffins, but I notice.
I also agree that full fat butter and buttermilk make a difference.
Bridget says
The flour DOES make a difference. So does the full fat butter and buttermilk.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s my feeling too. It’s like making a green bean casserole. Add all the other ingredients in there and no matter which beans you use, it will be a tasty casserole but, some beans are stringy, some are mushy, some have less flavor or a totally weird texture. The ingredients on most everything matter and something like biscuits where there are three or four ingredients, every one matters.
Phyllis says
Do you watch Brenda Gantt’s videos? I am southern and older than she is, but I had never heard of keeping a bowl of flour and doing the biscuits in it and keep reusing it. Were you aware of that method?
Judy Laquidara says
My grandma did it that way but she made biscuits every day. On Saturday, she would make extra dough and use up all the flour, sometimes even adding a little more fresh, and she would either use leftover meat to make fried meat pies or fruit to make fried fruit pies. On Sunday, she’d start over with a fresh batch of flour.
Cindy F says
I’ll be curious to see what you think of the White Lily flour. I had watched Brenda’s video awhile back and marveled at how she keeps her flour. I don’t have that flour and have yet to make the biscuits. I did go out and get the Pioneer baking mix awhile ago and still need to make the biscuits you recommended. We don’t eat a lot of biscuits but we have some honey from a friend and that’s worthy of good biscuits! PS…I think flour brands matter. 🙂
Susan Nixon says
LOL, have you considered seeing a doctor? You’ll have to tell us if you can tell a difference. =)