Giant Biscuit Recipe Hoe Cake

SOUTHERN HOE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425. Pour a thin layer of oil to cover the bottom of an eight-inch round cake pan and place it in the oven to heat.
• Cut shortening into the flour well. Pour milk in and stir until wet.
• Pour into the well-heated pan and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes or until browned.
• Invert onto plate.

GIANT BISCUIT RECIPE (HOE CAKE)

Steps:

• Turn oven on to 425 degrees.
• Put oil or bacon grease in a 8" or 9" baking pan - I prefer to use my cast iron skillet or a stoneware pan, but a cake or pie pan works, too.
• Place the baking dish in the oven while you mix up your batter.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter in to the flour mixture.
• Stir in milk just until the flour is moistened. Do not over mix!
• Remove hot baking dish from oven and quickly pour batter in to the dish.
• Return to oven and bake until browned, about 15-20 minutes.
• Remove cake from oven and invert on to a serving platter.

J.P.'S BIG DADDY BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
• Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat or roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.

DADDY'S IRON SKILLET HOE CAKE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• 2. Melt butter in the bottom of 10-inch iron skillet while oven is preheating. Be careful not to burn your butter.
• 3. Mix flour, buttermilk, ½ cup softened butter and baking soda together. Spoon batter into hot skillet. This batter will be thick like a drop biscuit batter. Smooth out the best you can but don't worry about it not being smooth. Brush melted butter on top of hoe cake.
• 4. Bake for 20 minutes or until top of hoe cake is golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve with syrup and butter.

HOECAKE ~ WEST VIRGINIA STYLE

Steps:

• 1. Stir all the dry ingredients together, then add the crisco. Mix it together with a pastry cutter or a big fork, like the meat fork* from my tableware set)that is never used except when I'm cooking. *It's the giant fork on the left in the picture.
• 2. When you have something resembling small gravel, slowly add the milk, stirring unti it makes a soft dough.
• 3. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, if it's not non-stick. Pour the biscuit dough onto the sheet.
• 4. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour so it won't stick to your hands, then pat the dough fairly evenly to about 1/2" or so.** **This will raise, but if you like a thicker biscuit or if you've doubled the recipe, take a sharp knife and divide the dough lengthwise, then separate the halves. Mom also made a few shallow cuts across the dough to allow it to cook evenly.
• 5. Bake at 425 degrees F for about 8 minutes, then check for doneness. The hoecake should be golden brown & done on the bottom. Depending on how thick you made it, it might be done or it might need another few minutes. Just watch it carefully so you don't overcook it, which would dry the hoecake out. (If you do, just add LOTS of butter and no one will notice. Don't ask me how I know this.)
• 6. Remove the hoecake from the oven when it's ready and put it on a cooling rack, just long enough to cool it so you don't burn your fingers as you break off the pieces. Silly JAP photo settings would only show about 3/4 of the hoecake. Imagine it about 25% bigger...
• 7. Now the fun part... A traditional hoecake sandwich would be stuffed with whatever was left over from supper the night before or breakfast that day. Fried ham & tomato sandwiches are a personal favorite. Or, as seen here, a hoecake to go along with the final tomato from the garden, with butter & a few drops of honey. =^..^=

HOE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease a well-seasoned cast iron skillet with the shortening, and place it in the oven as it heats.
• Whisk together the flour and milk in a bowl, to make a thick but still runny batter.
• Remove the hot greased skillet from the preheated oven, and quickly sprinkle a pinch of garlic salt over the bottom of the skillet. Immediately pour in the batter, and sprinkle the top with a pinch of garlic salt.
• Return the skillet to the oven, and bake in the preheated oven until the cake has risen and the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes.