I have never really been into making my own biscuits, rolls, and breads. I never grew up with them on the dinner table ever. And after life lived with my parents, I discovered canned biscuits. And goodness, are those easy! But soooo not good for you. Now, one of my goals this year was to start making more things at home. So far, I've conquered several salad dressings, seasonings, BBQ sauce, and pesto. Next up are breads. And to be totally honest, I've never done well with yeast breads, so I figured I'd start easy and go with biscuits because, well, they don't have yeast :)
Let me just say, that why haven't I made biscuits sooner?!?!? So easy. So yummy.
You know that feeling when you take a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven, and you just know that the absolute best time to have one is when that cookie is just cool enough that it won't fry your taste buds off? These biscuits almost give you that same feeling. Flaky and perfect with a little dab of butter that melts instantly because they are still warm. And because they don't have chocolate chips that means they're better for you right?? So, it doesn't matter that you just ate half of them. Not that I know what that is like. For cookies or biscuits.....
Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4" cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450˚ F. Line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or a couple butter knives or food processor), cut* cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal texture**. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix in the buttermilk until just combined. It is very important to NOT over mix your dough. Over mixing will create tough biscuits instead of nice flaky biscuits. Using your hands, shape dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Again using your hands, flatten dough into a 1/2" thick circle. Cut out biscuits using a biscuit cutter (a glass would work too). Place biscuits onto prepared pan approximately an 1' apart (I fit 12 biscuits per sheet). Gently ball up the scraps and repeat until you can't cut out any more biscuits. Discard the tidbit of remaining dough. Place one baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Tops of biscuits should just be turning light brown. Cool slightly and serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an air tight container for a couple days.
*Cutting in butter is a technique that "cuts" the butter into small pieces while coating the butter in flour. I personally prefer using a pastry blender for this process, but I know it can be achieved with two butter knives, a food processor, or even a hand mixer.
**Coarse meal texture indicates how small your flour-covered-butter-pieces should be. Coarse meal usually means the butter should be smaller than a pea, kind of looks like coarse bread crumbs. Bon Appetit has a great picture of what coarse meal looks like, if you want something to compare to.
Source: Adapted from Baking Illustrated
Let me just say, that why haven't I made biscuits sooner?!?!? So easy. So yummy.
You know that feeling when you take a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven, and you just know that the absolute best time to have one is when that cookie is just cool enough that it won't fry your taste buds off? These biscuits almost give you that same feeling. Flaky and perfect with a little dab of butter that melts instantly because they are still warm. And because they don't have chocolate chips that means they're better for you right?? So, it doesn't matter that you just ate half of them. Not that I know what that is like. For cookies or biscuits.....
Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4" cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450˚ F. Line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or a couple butter knives or food processor), cut* cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal texture**. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix in the buttermilk until just combined. It is very important to NOT over mix your dough. Over mixing will create tough biscuits instead of nice flaky biscuits. Using your hands, shape dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Again using your hands, flatten dough into a 1/2" thick circle. Cut out biscuits using a biscuit cutter (a glass would work too). Place biscuits onto prepared pan approximately an 1' apart (I fit 12 biscuits per sheet). Gently ball up the scraps and repeat until you can't cut out any more biscuits. Discard the tidbit of remaining dough. Place one baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Tops of biscuits should just be turning light brown. Cool slightly and serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an air tight container for a couple days.
*Cutting in butter is a technique that "cuts" the butter into small pieces while coating the butter in flour. I personally prefer using a pastry blender for this process, but I know it can be achieved with two butter knives, a food processor, or even a hand mixer.
**Coarse meal texture indicates how small your flour-covered-butter-pieces should be. Coarse meal usually means the butter should be smaller than a pea, kind of looks like coarse bread crumbs. Bon Appetit has a great picture of what coarse meal looks like, if you want something to compare to.
Source: Adapted from Baking Illustrated
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