Basic Dry Mix for Baking

BASIC DRY MIX

10 cups Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking powder
4 tsp. Sea Salt or iodized Salt
2 cups Shortening (like solid Crisco)
½ cup powdered milk

Divide this mixture into two large bowls and with your hands crumble everything up until nice granules form. You want to achieve the texture of course crumbs. Place large amounts in plastic bags and keep in a cool place for up to 6 weeks. Longer if you refrigerate. Use in the following Recipes. Each batch Yields about 13 cups

Pancakes: 2 ¼ cups "Basic Dry Mix," 1 egg, 1 cup milk stirring only long enough to be damp. You want to achieve a medium batter. Check to see if you need more milk or mix.
Pour scoopfuls onto a greased frying pan and fry until nicely browned. Turning only once when the top is bubbly. Yield 8-10 pancakes.

Biscuits: 2 ½ cups of "Basic Dry Mix," 1/3 cup of milk. Mix long enough to make a decent biscuit dough. Turn out onto a floured counter board and Here’s a judgment call: add more milk or mix to pat out into a circle.
Now cut with a 2" circle cutter and place each onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 350* for about 10-14 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve with butter and honey. You also might like to make a chicken cream sauce to pour over the top of a biscuit for a lovely dinner idea. With a salad on the side.

Pecan sweet rolls: 3 cups "Basic Dry Mix" adding ½ cup sugar. On a floured board, pat out thinly into a rectangle shape. Spread out melted butter or margarine. Then sprinkle a mixture of sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecan nuts.
Begin rolling up the dough covering the sweet mixture. Seal the edges. Cut into 2" slices and place them onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 350* for 10-14 minutes until nicely browned. Ice while still warm and sprinkle chopped pecans over the top.

Surprises: 2 ½ cups of "Basic Dry Mix," 1/3 cup of milk. Mix long enough to make a decent biscuit dough. Flour you hands and taking about 1 tbs. of dough make a 1" ball. Make a hole and poke "one" of the following inside: Pitted olives, chunks of cheese, or hot dog slices seasoned with a dab of mustard.
Seal up the edges, roll into sesame seeds and bake at 350* for about 10 minutes for some nice warm appetizers, or snacks.

Muffins: 3 cups of "Basic Dry Mix"1/4 cup Sugar or honey, 1 egg and 1 cup of milk. (At this point you could add ½ cup of one of these: chopped raisins, apricots, apples, pineapple, coconut etc…) Stir long enough to we. Here’s a judgment call: add more milk or dry mix to create a nice muffin batter.
Fill muffins pans ¾ full of batter and bake 375* for about 15-20 minutes until nicely golden browned. Yields about 12 sweet muffins.