Call it Bisquick®, Jiffy® mix, biscuit mix, baking mix, or what have you, it all amounts to the same thing. The one thing all of these have in common is that they all represent a very basic pantry staple designed to speed dinners and baking and make our lives easier. In this harried day and age, we’re all for that, right!?
What we’re NOT all for is overpaying for our baking needs. Baking from scratch is, for 
sure, the cheapest and most wholesome way to go, and the easiest way to control what goes into your food. Unfortunately it’s not always the fastest or most convenient. And unfortunately we pay a lot for anything that is deemed convenient in the grocery stores. It makes it tough to balance a family budget.
So what if I told you you could make your own homemade Bisquick; you’re own all purpose baking mix that can be used for a range of recipes, meals and treats for a fraction of the cost and with an investment of only a few minutes of your time?
Honestly, once you learn how to make Bisquick on your own, you’re not likely to go back to overpaying for undersized boxes of the stuff in the store. I promise it’s not at all hard and it will not take you long. A big batch with this faked Bisquick recipe only takes about 20 minutes to make (and I’m being generous here–in 20 minutes you’ll have it mixed and packaged and be on to a nice batch of warm biscuits, ready for the honey and butter).
How To Make Bisquick ®
It’s not hard to find a baking mix recipe online or even in some cook books. I’ve been through a few goods ones but this is one I have tried, prefer, and know that it meets all my requirements for an all purpose baking mix:
- It is affordable and cheaper than buying boxed mixes
- It is simple to make
- It requires few ingredients
- It stores well
- It is versatile and can be used to make many things (in future posts we’ll see just how versatile it can be–so do follow along and come back often!)
So without further ado here is my preferred recipe; print and use it well and often:
Homemade Baking Mix Recipe
- 20 Cups All-Purpose Flour (equivalent to a 5 pound bag)
- 2 Tablespoons Salt
- 7 Tablespoons Sugar
- ⅔ Cup Baking Powder
- 2 Cups Lard or Shortening
- Combine and mix through all dry ingredients in a LARGE bowl (even a roasting pan works well, or large Tupperware--just leave yourself room to work).
- Add lard (or shortening) to the mix.
- Cut lard into the mix until thoroughly combined and you have only about pea-sized pieces of shortening throughout.
- (This is not nearly as bad as it sounds like it would be to do; using a pastry cutter or mixing with clean hands works well; you could also do 2-3 cups of dry mix and about ½ cup of lard at a time in a food processor, pulsing to combine, then mix the final batch all together and stirring well to distribute).
- Store in air-tight container and use as you would a brand-name baking mix.
(*I use lard because it is stable at room temperature and I believe in using the most natural products I can, including animal fats. However, I’ve recently learned that only store-bought lard is shelf stable [because it is hydrogenated :(]. The “real thing”–lard rendered without manipulation or additives, mostly only available now if you render your own lard at home–is not shelf-stable. You can still use it and I will do so as soon as I’ve made a batch of my own homemade rendered lard [coming soon!]; but I will keep the mix in the refrigerator and freeze any extra. Vegetable shortening could also be used and will make the mix shelf-stable at room temperature. Just remember that if you use a fat/shortening that normally requires refrigeration [like butter], your mix will need refrigeration as well.)
And that, folks, is all there is to it. Once done simply store in a sealed container (I usually use half-gallon mason jars [Half Gallon Wide Mouth Canning Jar (Set of 6)]
or a large Tupperware cereal container [Rubbermaid Home 1777195 Cereal Keeper]). Store as usual and use at the same measurement for any recipe that calls for Bisquick, all purpose baking mix, biscuit mix, etc. And do keep coming back as I’ll be sharing some great recipes for this mix in the future!
(Bisquick® is, of course, a name-brand and is a registered trademark of the General Mills company.)