Biscuits
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shortning
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
Sift together dry ingredients except for baking soda. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk. Cut in shortning with a pastry blender, knives or your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk mixture and stir until just mixed. Turn out on floured board and knead about 10 times. Roll dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
If you don't have buttermilk, use plain milk, 3 tsp. baking powder and no soda.
For dumplings or drop biscuits, add a little more buttermilk or milk to make a stiff dough.
Easy Biscuits
Add enough heavy cream to self-rising flour to make a stiff dough. Roll out or drop as above. Makes great dumplings for chicken and dumplings.
(I'm not really here. A friend who edits a weekly newspaper guilted me into proofreading because she has several people out. I need to sit down with these large pages and a red pen.)
(edited to make sense)