Anyone have The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations from Two Great American Cooks?

Yes I have it (or course I have it).

And the recipes are good. I consider Edna Lewis just a good old fashioned cook like my grandmother except she has truer recipes than my grandmother's a little bit of this and a handful of that. Scott brings a little more flair and modernism to things. But most of the recipes are pretty traditional Southern fare.

 
The recipes remind me a lot of mom's...that I don't have written down

Things I grew up on, or made by heart back before I thought I couldn't make any of the heart attack on a plate food any more (around the time I joined Gail's). Now, I don't recall many of those recipes and mom's memory isn't likely to recall, so...these looked good.

 
Also, White Lily Flour...do I need to try to hunt this down?

They are pretty insistent upon it in the book. We don't get it out here in the west, but I've heard a store on the way to SF might have it - for about $7ish/5lb bag.

(Could this the reason when I tried to make biscuits I failed so bad I've feared/never tried them again?)

 
Did they say what kind because...

In this book they use bleached Gold Medal for their general AP use like yeast breads and rolls because it had a moderate 10% protein.

White Lily* AP at 8-9% for biscuits/cakes

and unbleached AP such as KA at 12% for basic pastry dough.

Growing up we always used GM, now I always use KA and have noticed a difference when I didn't.

*They also mention WL is low in gluten and they've found some gluten intolerant types to be able to eat food prepared with WL. That could make a big difference for some.

 
I've used White Lily (liked it, made from "soft wheat") here's a little more info:

Soft winter wheat is a variety of wheat that has low protein content and low gluten content. It is the type of flour recommended for cakes, biscuits and quick breads. White Lily® Flour is lower in protein content because the soft wheat is pure-- not blended with hard wheat. Hard wheat has a much higher protein content and gluten content.

In October 2006, The J.M. Smucker Company announced it had acquired the White Lily brand from C.H. Guenther & Son, Inc., parent company of The White Lily Foods Company. This acquisition did not include the Knoxville, TN mill, which was closed in 2008.

In 2008, White Lily flour production was moved to Ohio, the number one producer of soft winter red wheat. It is also where The J.M. Smucker Company is headquartered. The Ohio milling facility is a fifth generation family milling operation which has served as a secondary miller of White Lily flour for generations.

 
Oddly when seaching I found there used to be Lily White Flour, don't know if it's the same

company. When I searched for White Lily locally looking for where to buy, I found there was a mill here in 1854 "producing the then-famous 'Lily White Flour.'" I couldn't find if there was a connection between it and White Lily.

Were you able to source it locally in LA or did you get it from the internet?

 
I just looked up the biscuit recipe from the above book and I think . . .

If you are using her recipe but the weather is not humid you will need more buttermilk, maybe a couple of tablespoons.

When I bake biscuits, always buttermilk biscuits, I find that I get a better rise if I make a wetter dough. You don't want it pourable, but you for sure need it wet, wetter that I think the above dough would be. And don't over handle it. I don't even roll my out any more, I just pat them out evenly and then cut with a biscuit cutter. Since the dough will be wet, don't be afraid to use plenty of flour on the board and on the dough itself to knead (gently, gently about 5 times) pat it out and then cut.

And PREHEAT your oven well! If you have a baking stone,heat it while preheating the oven, place your pan/tray of biscuits on it to cook. Good spring in the oven when well preheated and cooked on a HOT stone.

 
I think the WL makes a difference. I used to ask DH to bring it back to me when he went to FL

he'd bring it back on the plane inside his golf bag. smileys/bigsmile.gif

It makes the very best high, fluffy biscuits.

 
Thanks for the tips. I wonder about baking powder. Until recent years I used a double acting such

as Clabber Girl but switched to Rumford which is single acting. Does that make a difference? What do you use? My biscuits are barely taller when I take them out than when I put them in. I do the other stuff, ie sharp cutter and no twisting. I will make sure the oven is hot, I think mine runs slow and lower than indicated. And I also use buttermilk with baking soda. Any help appreciated. They taste great, just don't rise.

 
In the book they advocte strongly for making your own REC: Baking Powder

In fact they do go on about it in several places to make your own.

Baking Powder
Distressed by the chemical additives and aftertaste of commercial "double-acting" powders, Miss Lewis years ago starting making her own baking powder - a traditional mixture of cream of tarter and baking soda. When I first used her formula (from her books, before we met), I couldn't taste any difference. Soon though I realized that muffins and quick breads made with aluminum-sulfate-based powders left a metallic "tingle" on my tongue. Today, I make up a batch of this powder every week for use at the restaurant and bring a jar home for Miss Lewis. We recommend it for all recipes here (in the book). If necessary, you can substitute commercial baking powder in equal amounts.

1/2 C Cream of Tarter
2T Baking Soda

Sift all of the ingredients together 3 times, and transfer to a clean tight sealing jar. Store at room temperature away from sunlight for up to 6 weeks.

 
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