Here is my biscuit recipe along with some technique notes.
277g all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
6T butter (cold) sliced thin off the stick
2T butter, melted in small pan, low heat
Mix dry ingredients
Rub sliced butter into dry mixture. Mixture should be sort of crumbly looking with no butter chunks remaining. Idea is to rub butter onto flour grains. Use your fingers.
Add about 177 g of milk. Start with about half to wet mixture. Add remaining while mixing. Goal is to get a slightly sticky mass of dough. It may take slightly more or less milk, seemingly dependent on the initial hydration state of the flour. I keep my flour in the freezer so it is stored in a close to 0% humidity environment. Cold is also good as you don’t want the butter melting.
Technique note: Take a minimalist approach to mixing, just as much as necessary to get mix wetted and milk incorporated. Mixing drives gluten formation and too much is bad. A bit too much means the biscuits won’t rise well and be slightly tough. A lot too much will result in an Elly May biscuit that neither Jethro nor your dog will be able to eat.
Turn the slightly sticky dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface. You don’t want to add a lot of extra flour to the mix but some is required. Flour your fingers and press the dough out flat, about 1inch thick.
Not sure how to describe this part exactly. Fold the dough from the sides into the center then from front edge and rear edge to center. Four folds total. Flip over, press out about 1in thick again and repeat the folding process. Don’t fold much more than this, gluten formation is still an issue.
Flip over again and press out to about 1inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter or knife to cut biscuits. This recipe makes about 7 biscuits for the size I cut them. You need sharp cut edges, this facilitates rising. Don’t use something dull like a drinking glass as this crimps the edge and messes up the rise.
I place the biscuits in a 9 inch cast iron skillet for cooking. Brush the melted butter onto the top surface.
Bake 450 °F for 17 min (my oven). May need to adjust time and or temp slightly for your oven. Time will be less if you put them on a cookie sheet, maybe more like 14 or 15 min. Chill time before cooking is a good thing. Anywhere from 15 min or so to overnight will firm up the biscuits and may give a better rise. At any rate it doesn't seem to hurt.
Give it a try and post some pics. It really is more technique than ingredients and I think I more or less captured it.
