On Fri, 8 Aug 2014 16:09:19 +0000 (UTC), John Gordon
> wrote:

>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?

It's the butter.

Betty Botter bought some butter;
"But," said she, "this butter's bitter!
If I put it in my batter
It will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter
Will but make my batter better."
Then she bought a bit of butter
Better than the bitter butter,
Made her bitter batter better.
So ´twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

Doris