The other day I had a hankering for biscuits, so I whipped some up (recipe
is from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"):

2 cups flour
1 scant tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
5 Tbsp butter
7/8 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt

I didn't have any buttermilk or plain yogurt on hand; the recipe says to
add another tsp of baking powder if you use regular milk, so I did that.

The raw dough tasted fine but the baked biscuits were, frankly, awful,
with a very bitter aftertaste.

I have made this recipe before with good results, so I wondered what had
gone wrong. I checked expiration dates on the ingredients and found that
the baking powder was six months past its date, so I assumed that was the
problem.

Next evening after stopping at the store to buy fresh baking powder
(aluminum-free) and baking soda, I made another batch of biscuits, and
was very surprised when they turned out much the same as the first batch.
The bitter taste was less pronounced, but still very noticeable.

Finally I gave up and tried a different recipe with less baking powder
and soda: (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chef-jo...milk-biscuits/)

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
7 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup cold buttermilk

These turned out very nicely, to much rejoicing.

But my question is, what went wrong with the first two batches? As I said
I have made that recipe before and the biscuits were just fine, and I
looked online and found many testamonials from others who have also used
it. Does it have too much baking soda? Is 4 tsp a reasonable amount?

Thanks,

--
John Gordon Imagine what it must be like for a real medical doctor to
watch 'House', or a real serial killer to watch 'Dexter'.