50 have signed up to attend Old Fashioned Beaten Biscuit Workshop at Christian Church Saturday afternoon

By Taylor Norberg

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Photo via Midway Christian Church website

If you’re interested in learning the art of making Southern-style beaten biscuits, this Saturday just might be your lucky day.

Weisenberger Mill, the Holly Hill Inn and the Midway Nursing Home Task Force are sponsoring an "Old Fashioned Beaten Biscuit Workshop" at the Midway Christian Church Fellowship Hall this Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. 

Midway’s master beaten biscuit maker, Charles Logan, is conducting the workshop for all registered participants. The Rev. Heather McColl, pastor of the church, said Wednesday they have 50 registrants. plan on accepting 50 to 55 registrations and had 47 confirmed attendees as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Beaten biscuits are a classic Southern food that dates to the 19th Century. They are made a little differently than traditional biscuits and their name derives from the unique method in which they are made. Years ago in a time where yeast was scarce, the dough would literally be beaten with a hard object against a hard surface in order to make the dough rise.

“They would take a paddle and beat the dough and beat the air out of it,” Logan explains, “It’s practically the same recipe, the difference is, you try to get the air out of the dough.” The dough is originally made from flour, salt, sugar, lard and cold water.

Logan, a Midway native, says he first heard of beaten biscuits when he and his wife moved to their current home in Midway in 1951 and has been making them according to his recipe for about 25 years.

“The elderly couple next door would make them and sell them to folks around town,” Logan said. “Customers would come pick them up on Saturday mornings, and they would hand some out to our kids, and they really enjoyed them, so eventually we learned the recipe.” Logan has made his biscuits for local events such as bake sales and fundraisers.

For years Logan has been collecting Biscuit Brakes, the special machine used to make the biscuits, and he is thought to be one of the few remaining sources who know how to make the classic biscuit.

A table-top machine has been donated for the event and will be auctioned off in a silent auction on Saturday. Proceeds and donations will go to The Homeplace at Midway, the senior living community with nursing facilities that is under construction across Stephens Street from Midway College.

For more information or to register, call Midway Christian Church at 859-912-4102 or email office@midwaychristian.org.