At Mother's in New Orleans, a restaurant famous for great biscuits, chef-owner Jerry Amato doesn't experiment with new recipes. The one he has used for 60 years calls for vegetable shortening, buttermilk and all-purpose flour. The secret is proper handling of the dough and controlling oven temperature. Buttermilk gives a good consistency to the dough. You don't have to work it so hard, and that's the key.
Water makes the dough too thin, which requires more handling.
For the daily output of 600 biscuits he uses a mixer. Watch the oven temperature. A slow oven won't cook the insides or brown the tops. Amato bakes the biscuits at 375F, which produces the right color and crispness. But such products don't always work in many recipes.