Besides the flour being too glutenous like pie crusts you don’t want to overwork it. Working the dough too much will cause it to be tough. Also the butter or lard needs to be in there like pockets, not a homogeneous mixture. This is also like pie crusts. The flaky texture comes from the fat melting away into the surrounding dough leaving behind voids.<p>You really only want to work the ingredients with a fork or dough cutter till combined and no more.<p>If the overly glutenous flour is a fact of bad biscuits i wonder if adding a little rice flour could help or other gluten free flour.<p>sincerely,<p>a northerner who likes pies and biscuits