1. Stir it up. Stir the ingredients with a spoon until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms. If the dough is too soft to handle, stir in 2 to 4 tablespoons of additional Bisquick.
2. Knead it. Sprinkle a surface with Bisquick and roll the dough in Bisquick to keep it from sticking. Dipping your fingers into a little Bisquick will also keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Then shape the dough into a ball, and knead it gently about ten times. Kneading helps develop the structure of the biscuit so they don't crumble and fall apart.
3. Roll the dough. For nice-looking biscuits and even baking, roll the dough about 1/2 inch thick. Here's a clever trick for rolling dough to the right thickness every time: Use two sticks, 1/2 inch thick and about 14 inches long, as a guide. Place the ball of dough between the sticks, and roll the dough to the thickness of the sticks.
4. Cut it out. Cut the dough with a round biscuit cutter dipped in Bisquick, pushing the cutter straight down through the dough. If you twist as you cut, the biscuits may be uneven. Cut the biscuits out of the dough as close together as possible. After cutting as many biscuits as possible, lightly press-don't knead-the scraps of dough together. Roll or pat the remaining dough until it is 1/2 inch thick, then cut. These biscuits may look slightly uneven.
5. The sheet is important. Place the biscuits about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Shiny aluminum cookie sheets of good quality produce the best biscuits. If the cookie sheet is brown, black or darkened from a buildup of fat, the bottoms of the biscuits will be darker in color. Reducing the oven temperature to 400° may help. Also, be sure to place the cookie sheet on the center oven rack. That way, the biscuits will brown evenly on both the top and bottom.
Why are my biscuits heavy and why didn't they rise?
o Not enough Bisquick or too much liquid.
o Too little or too gentle kneading.
o Dough stood too long before baking.
Why are my biscuits tough and hard?
o Too much Bisquick or not enough liquid.
o Dough overmixed or kneaded too much.
o Oven too hot.
o Baked too long.
From "Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook." Text Copyright 2000 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
