Why Are Southern Biscuits Different?

There are many theories about why Southern biscuits are different (ahem, better) than other biscuits—richer buttermilk, more butter, better grandmothers—but the real difference is more fundamental.

Southern biscuits are different because of the flour most Southerners use. My grandmother swore by White Lily flour. She used it in her chicken and dumplings, her cheese straws, and you better believe she used it in her biscuits. But why is it better? Besides being founded in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1883, White Lily makes better Southern biscuits for several reasons.

They're More Tender

According to their website, White Lily flour is made from 100 percent soft red winter wheat, which has less gluten, the protein that is so problematic for folks with celiac disease. It’s grown in the eastern half of the United States, but farms are concentrated along the Mississippi River and along the Eastern seaboard, from Georgia to Maryland.

Back to that gluten—it’s responsible for giving baked goods their chew, so the lower gluten content of flour made from soft red winter wheat means that biscuits made with it are more tender than those made with other flours that aren't.

They're More Fluffy

White Lily flour is sold in taller bags than their competitors, because it is pre-sifted and therefore has more volume than unsifted flour of the same weight. Because it’s pre-sifted, you may need to use a little extra in your recipes—about 2 tablespoons more per cup, according to their website. The sifting results in smaller particles of flour, which hydrate faster, and ultimately result in fluffier baked goods.

They're Taller

Put on your science hat—things are about to get nerdy up in here!

Southern biscuits made using flour made from soft red winter wheat are taller because of the lower protein content of the flour. According to Science Direct, the amount of protein is inversely proportional to the volume of the baked good.

For you non-scientists like me, here’s a translation: The less protein in the flour, the taller the biscuit. And while many biscuit recipes (including our favorite Buttermilk Biscuits) yield tall biscuits due in part to a technique known as lamination, where the butter-flecked dough is rolled and folded like a letter several times to create layers, the height can come at a cost if you use high-protein flour. The extra rolling and folding that lamination requires develops the gluten, which can yield a tall, but tough biscuit if the protein content is high.

If you don't have a bag of White Lily in your pantry, don't panic—your biscuits will still be delicious. But give it a try next time you're at the store—we bet your biscuits will be better because of it!