What ingredient is crucial in achieving the flakiness in biscuits?

The ingredient that plays a crucial role in achieving the flakiness in biscuits is shortening. When making biscuits, the technique involves cutting fat, like shortening, into the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder). This process creates small, thin layers of fat that, when baked, generate steam. The steam expands and causes the layers to separate, leading to the desirable flaky texture.

Shortening has a unique ability to remain solid at room temperature, which is important for this process. As the biscuits bake, the solid fat melts and releases steam, enhancing the biscuit's rise and flakiness. This is a key aspect of creating tender, flaky layers that are characteristic of a good biscuit.

Other ingredients like water, flour, and sugar contribute to the overall structure, moisture, and sweetness of the biscuits, but they do not directly create the flaky texture in the same way that shortening does.