Do you ever just get a craving for a biscuit? I’m not talking about one of those store-bought things, (my husband calls them pop-ups) though some of them taste really good. I’m talking about a bonafide homemade biscuit made with your own two hands. I had such a craving this morning and just had to make some.
Now, I’m not one to keep actual buttermilk on hand because I’m not one to drink it, but I like using it in my biscuits. To get around having to go buy some every time I want to have biscuits, I use a substitute. I add one Tablespoon of white vinegar to a cup and fill the rest of it with whole milk. I mix it a little bit, set it in the fridge, and lo and behold five to ten minutes later, I have buttermilk.
Now, while the milk is chilling, I mix the dry ingredients. I use two cups of all-purpose flour, three teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I put all of this in my hand sifter and sift it into a plastic bowl.
When I had to take Home Ec in high school, my teacher would have us use a pastry blender to cut the shortening into the flour. Now, I prefer to use a grater and grate in one stick of frozen unsalted butter. Every time I take a stick out of the freezer, I put another in so I always have one frozen and ready to go. You can do this on a separate plate if you want to, but I just grate it into the bowl with the flour.
Use your clean hands to mix this together. Add in your buttermilk, and either use your hands or a spoon to just get everything mixed together. The dough will be a little sticky. Pour this out onto a lightly floured surface and pat out into a rectangle like shape. It doesn’t have to be exact.
At this point, I fold one end toward the middle, then fold the other end onto the top so you have three layers of dough. I did something different this time and actually took a knife and cut this smaller rectangle into two pieces…just chop it in two from the top down. I placed one half on top of the other half and patted out into a rectangle again and repeated the process one more time. When I patted out a larger rectangle for the third time, I left the dough about 3/4 to one inch thick and cut out my biscuits. Don’t twist your biscuit cutter. Go straight down and straight back up.
I put these bad boys on a cookie sheet and put them in a preheated oven at about 425 degrees. Some people only go to 400, some to 450…it’s whatever works for your particular oven. 425 works for mine. Ten to fifteen minutes later, or whenever they are golden brown and not doughy inside, they are done. Go ahead and brush those tops with melted butter. Don’t be shy.
You might go ahead and cook some sausage for your biscuit, or maybe some country gravy, possibly a breakfast pork chop or a grilled chicken fillet, but today, I had a hankering for a bacon, egg, and cheese.
Oh. My. Word. You’ll have to excuse me. I’m going to need a bib for this.
What about you? What’s your go to recipe for biscuits?