Edna Lewis’s Biscuits
Updated Jan. 15, 2026
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Ingredients
- 3cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1scant teaspoon salt
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- 4teaspoons Royal Baking Powder, or make your own (see Tips)
- ⅔cup lard
- 1cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk (see Tips)
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
226 calories; 12 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 4 grams protein; 208 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Take a large bowl, sift into it the measured flour, salt, soda and baking powder. Add the lard, and blend together with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture has the texture of cornmeal.
- Step 2
Add the milk all at once by scattering it over the dough. Stir vigorously with a stout wooden spoon. The dough will be very soft in the beginning but will stiffen in 2 or 3 minutes. Continue to stir a few minutes longer.
- Step 3
After the dough has stiffened, scrape from sides of bowl into a ball, and spoon onto a lightly floured surface for rolling. Dust over lightly with about a tablespoon of flour as the dough will be a bit sticky. Flatten the dough out gently with your hands into a thick, round cake, and knead for a minute by folding the outer edge of the dough into the center of the circle, giving a light knead as you fold the sides in overlapping each other.
- Step 4
Turn the folded side face down and dust lightly if needed, being careful not to use too much flour and cause the dough to become too stiff. Dust the rolling pin and the rolling surface well. Roll the dough out evenly to a ½-inch thickness or a bit less. Pierce the surface of the dough with a table fork. (It was said piercing the dough released the air while baking.)
- Step 5
Dust the biscuit cutter in flour first; this will prevent the dough sticking to the cutter and ruining the shape of the biscuit. Dust the cutter as often as needed. An added feature to your light, tender biscuits will be their straight sides. This can be achieved by not wiggling the cutter. Press the cutter into the dough and lift up with a sharp quickness without a wiggle. Cut the biscuits very close together to avoid having big pieces of dough left in between each biscuit. Trying to piece together and rerolling leftover dough will change the texture of the biscuits.
- Step 6
Place the biscuits ½ inch or more apart on a heavy cookie sheet or baking pan, preferably one with a bright surface. The biscuits brown more beautifully on a bright, shining pan than on a dull one, and a thick bottom helps to keep them from browning too much on the bottom. Set to bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 13 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let them rest for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.
- Sift together 2 parts cream of tartar with 1 part baking soda. It leaves no chemical or metallic taste.
- If regular milk, which Edna Lewis referred to as "sweet milk," is being used, omit the baking soda and use 1 cup regular (sweet) milk since it is more liquid than sour buttermilk.
Private Notes
Comments
I fell in love with true southern cooking while living in Augusta, Georgia. The southern cooks there would only use the soft wheat flour that is a product of the south -- White Lily and Martha White being the only two I know of. I have found this to make a huge difference in my biscuits and would never use the white or unbleached AP flours so readily available on our northern shelves.
King Arthur makes a self-rising flour that is made from soft wheat. I have had great success using it for making biscuits (I add no baking soda or other leavinging).
The lead-in notes to the recipe have a helpful suggestion: "Be sure to use homemade baking powder, which you can make easily by sifting together 2 parts cream of tartar with 1 part baking soda. It leaves no chemical or metallic taste."
I was a pastry chef for 18 years and these are the best biscuits I’ve ever made. The homemade baking powder is well worth making. I wish I could post photos—they came out gorgeous and were delicious with both jam/butter and sausage gravy.
As a Southern cook and a fan of Southern food I figured I should give these biscuits a try. White Lily flour was easy to buy at my local grocery but I am going to work on finding a source for leaf lard; I used the basic product from the grocery as well as pre-made baking powder. These were very good and got an enthusiastic reception from dinner guests. They were also delicious the next morning split and toasted. With homemade blueberry jam! I still think I can perfect this recipe by obtaining the exact ingredients recommended.
If you are making this recipe, please do not take the "Tips" too literally. They say: "...omit the baking soda and use 1 cup regular (sweet) milk since it is more liquid than sour buttermilk." I think "omit the baking soda" is ONLY meant to pertain to the recipe ingredient portion because I made them today without any baking soda anywhere and they were (a) sour (b) like little anchors