Biscuits and I have a complicated past. They are one of few foods that I have literally made over and over again with countless failures. Failures no more!
I’ve had some success with drop biscuits and had a winner in the taste department, but I could never make a biscuit that really looked and tasted like a good old fashioned southern one. A lot of times the end result was always closer to a hockey puck than anything you’d want on your breakfast table. Until today that is!
My mom the biscuit aficionado has told me for years that over-mixing was probably the culprit. So I’ve experimented with handling the dough less and less over time, and I have FINALLY come up with with a method that works for me. The trick is all in barely even mixing the dough together once the liquid gets added. I’ve also switched to whole wheat pastry flour, which works so much better in things like biscuits. Theses are still rustic looking, but they are a true traditional biscuit that doesn’t disappoint. Instead of hockey pucks, this morning we enjoyed soft, flaky, tender, buttery, delicious biscuits!
- 1 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 t. salt
- 1 t. sugar
- 1/4 t. baking soda
- 1 T. baking powder
- 6 T. cold butter
- 1 c. buttermilk (or plain milk combined with a couple teaspoons of vinegar)
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Pulse together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a food processor.
- Cut the butter into cubes then add it to the food processor, pulsing until the butter is in pea sized pieces.
- Remove the mixture to a bowl and stir in the buttermilk, mixing only a few times JUST until it starts to become a dough.
- Liberally flour your hands and a cutting board and gently pat the dough out flat.
- Fold the dough over on itself and pat flat 4 or 5 times (this will help give you flaky layers but you don’t want to use a rolling pin or be too rough flattening the dough).
- Pat the dough out to about 1 1/2″ thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut 8 biscuits from the dough.
- Grease a baking sheet and arrange the biscuits so that they are all slightly touching each other.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the biscuits are a nice golden brown on the top and bottom.
- Serve warm!
These were the perfect canvas for a little extra butter and a drizzle of raw honey. And of course I ate one half with the cranberry apple butter I made last week. Divine.
We had a fabulous Hallowsgiving celebration with my family yesterday and I look forward to sharing it with you tomorrow! In the meantime Jason and I are trying hard not to eat this entire pan of biscuits all by ourselves…
-Lauren
P.S- I now have ‘Pin It’ buttons on all my pictures and have inserted title descriptions to make them more Pinterest friendly. If you like this post please share it! 🙂
2 Responses
Matt @ Runner Savvy
Drooling!
I went to school in Alabama so I appreciate a good biscuit 🙂
Photography guy
You photograph it so beautifully!