Shortcake
- 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, plus a little more for greasing the pan
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting your hands and the board
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- Baking Sheet
- Measuring cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Fork
- Paring Knife or 8-inch Serrated Knife
- Kitchen Timer
- Pot Holders
- Turn the oven on to 450F.
- Make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
- With your fingers or a paper towel scoop up a little vegetable shortening and grease a baking sheet.
- Put the 1 cup flour in a large mixing bowl.
- Add 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons sugar.
- Use a fork to stir the ingredients around 5 or 6 times so theyre well mixed.
- Measure out 3 tablespoons of shortening and add to the bowl with the flour.
- Flour your hands, then turn the shortening around in the flour to make it less sticky.
- Break the shortening into 4 or 5 small pieces and roll them around in the flour mixture to coat them so they are easy to handle.
- With your fingers, lightly rub the shortening and flour together for about a minute to make little lumps: Plunge your fingers into the bowl and take up a small amount of flour and shortening, rubbing the mixture between your thumbs and fingers and letting the flour and shortening, now lumped together, fall back into the bowl.
- Repeat, lifting the loose flour up to the top with your hands and rubbing shortening into it to make more lumps.
- Work lightly.
- When most of the flour and shortening is combined in little lumps, you have mixed enough.
- Add the 1/2 cup milk to the flour and shortening mixture.
- Stir the dough with a fork.
- It will be sticky.
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour on a large board or counter top.
- Spread the flour in a circle.
- Flour your hands again, then scoop the dough out of the bowl and put it onto the floured board.
- Knead the dough about 10 times: Press down on the dough with the palms of your hands, pushing it away from you.
- Fold the dough back toward yourself, then give it a quarter-turn.
- Sprinkle a little more flour over the dough if it gets too sticky to handle easily.
- Keep pushing, folding, and turning the dough 10 times.
- Pat the dough into a square about 5 inches on each side.
- Keep the edges as thick as the middle so the shortcakes will bake evenly.
- Cut the square into 4 equal square biscuits.
- Place the shortcakes on the baking sheet about an inch apart.
- Put the baking sheet in the middle of the oven.
- The shortcakes almost always take 15 to 18 minutes to bake, but set the timer for 12 minutes, and when it goes off, start checking them.
- If they have already turned golden brown on top, they are done.
- If not, let them bake a few more minutes.
- Use pot holders to remove the baking sheet from the oven.
- Let the shortcakes cool before serving them.
vegetable shortening, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, baking sheet, measuring cups, measuring spoons, mixing bowl, knife, kitchen, holders
Taken from www.cookstr.com/recipes/shortcake (may not work)