This year, I'm on a biscuit quest

It's hard to even be able to hold your head up as a Southern cook when you can't make biscuits. And I can't. I make such horrible hockey-puck-like biscuits that the Hawkeye kindly told me in our first year of marriage how much he loved those biscuits that came in the can. Ya'll. Biscuits in a can are meant for things like monkey bread and wrapping around cocktail smokies. But my poor husband, for almost fifteen years, has been stuck with them.

However. I am determined that this is the year I learn to make real, bona-fide buttermilk biscuits. So I've been trying recipes, even one that was in our old church cookbook (church cookbooks are the best when you are a Baptist - all of those ladies cook!) that had yeast. They weren't it -- they tasted too much like rolls -- although the Hawkeye did like them, the boys did not.

So, this is the best recipe that I've come across - bonus points because it uses oil instead of shortening (the Hawkeye needs to watch his cholesterol)!

2 cups self-rising flour
3/4 - 1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp baking soda

Mix oil and buttermilk; add to dry ingredients. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

To the best of my knowledge so far, part of my problem has been that I rolled out my biscuits too thinly and didn't have a real biscuit cutter. Also, I mixed them too much. Really, the secret seems to be in just barely combining the ingredients, kneading a couple of times on a floured surface, and roll out and cut. So, I've solved those problems and these biscuits are really pretty good. This makes 6-8 biscuits for me.

However, if you have any hints on making those really fluffy, 3-4 inch thick biscuits, I'd love to hear them. Or actually, the Hawkeye and the boys would love to hear them. Since I'm on a quest and all. And they've suffered through some yucky biscuits, people.