Angel Biscuits

I think it's a characteristic of childhood to love eating bread. Every big dinner—Christmas dinner, Sunday dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, Easter dinner—I always tried to chow down as much as possible on the rolls, the bread, the starch. I love bread! My young relatives are the same way—the mothers at the table always have to curb their children's bread intake: "John, haven't you already had five biscuits?" Children rarely listen to the exhortations of their parents to not eat as much bread as they do, so I say that you should at least make bread that deserves the dozens of helpings. Angel biscuits are exactly as they sound: angelic.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 package of dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 5 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 cup of vegetable shortening
• 2 cups of low fat or nonfat buttermilk

Begin by proofing the yeast. Proofing the yeast is one of the most important steps, and you need to do it before you come to the point in the recipe when you actually need the yeast: the yeast needs to be ready. Proofing the yeast is incredibly easy: you first need the warm water. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, add a bit of sugar, and then give the yeast at least five minutes to activate. Lightly spoon the flour into the dry measuring cups, and then level the flour with a knife. Proceed to combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. You might want to use a wire whisk to adequately mix the dry ingredients together.

The next step is to cut in the shortening. Cutting in the shortening means to mix the shortening in with the dry ingredients. You can do this in a couple of different ways: you can either use knives to cut in the shortening (use two knives to slice the shortening into small pieces, or you can use a pastry cutter (this is easier because all you have to do is put the cutter in, twist it around the shortening, thus mixing the shortening in with the rest of the dry ingredients). Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles course meal. Add the yeast, and then add the buttermilk. Stir the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients to make a dough. Cover the dough and chill it for at least one hours.

After the dough is finished chilling, knead the dough lightly and roll or pat it to about a half an inch in thickness. Then use a circular cookie cutter to cut the biscuits out. Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet, and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake the biscuits for about 13 minutes or until they are light brown on top. Do not overbake. Now you have the m most angelic biscuits you will have ever tasted—they're amazing and your children will love them!