Easy Does it

• One of the secrets to making tall fluffy biscuits is a light hand when it comes to mixing and kneading the dough. The goal is to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible, which is best done using a fork rather than a spoon, or even the best cooking tools you were born with -- your hands. Toss the dry ingredients around until they are completely blended, and then work the butter in with a pastry blender or two sharp knives. Blend the liquid in lightly but not so thoroughly that the dough becomes too wet and rubbery. It should still have a few lumps in it, which allow air in.

Doing What's Kneaded

• When it's time to dump the dough out for kneading and cutting, go easy on the flour you dust your board or counter with. Even this amount worked into the dough can toughen it and produce hard, dry biscuits that didn't rise like you hoped they would. Again, a light touch is called for here as you work in just enough flour to remove the stickiness and make the dough easy to handle. Roll or pat it out gently, again using only enough flour so it doesn't stick to the work surface.

The Cutting Edge

• While the word "biscuit" immediately conjures up an image of a puffed and golden round, they don't have to be. Biscuits can be any shape you want them to be, including rectangular, which gives them a more rustic appearance and produce no waste during cutting. If you insist on the round shape, be sure that your cutter is very sharp. Otherwise, a dull edge only depresses the dough, and it may not rise as well. If you don't have a sharp cutter, consider rolling the dough out into a rectangle or square and using a very sharp knife to cut the biscuits into squares or triangles that are 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick. This produces the cleanest cut and does not flatten the dough.

To the Letter

• Be sure to follow the recipe to the letter when making biscuits, which includes making sure that the butter or lard and the milk or buttermilk are cold. Room-temperature ingredients won't blend in as well and may weigh the dough down. If a recipe calls for butter, shortening or lard, don't substitute oil or melted butter. Instead, use a biscuit recipe that calls for oil, as it has been developed for that particular type of fat. Baking your biscuits at the high heat stated in most recipes means they will take roughly no more than 20 minutes to bake. Keep checking them, and remove them as soon as you see that golden brown color that indicates they're done.