CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
I was asked to copy this recipe here, from the Hive. It's my family recipe for buttermilk biscuits.
CleverBiscuits
Ingredients:
4 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder [1]
1 teaspoon baking soda [1]
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, frozen solid
2 cups cold buttermilk [2]
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F / 220 degrees C.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt together into a large bowl. Using a box cheese grater, grate the stick of frozen butter directly into the flour mixture. [3] Work the butter into the flour with your fingers, flattening it out and rubbing it all together until it's the consistency of I dunno, rolled oats.
Add the buttermilk all at once and mix it for a few seconds until it's moistened but not quite fully mixed. (Don't worry, you finish mixing it on the countertop.) Then turn it out onto a lightly-floured countertop and pat it out into a rectangle. Cut it in half, press it back out into a rectangle, cut it in half, press it back out into a rectangle...you will need to do this about 3 times, maaaaaaybe 4, just until the dough comes together and you've built up a good number of layers.[4] Don't overdo it or your biscuits will be tough.
Finally, pat it out into one last rectangle about an inch thick, and cut it into squares. [5][6] Place each square on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced about an inch or two apart. Brush with butter or bacon fat, and then bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
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1. Baking soda and baking powder both lose their punch once it's exposed to air. If your leavening agents were opened more than 3 months ago, you might need to double the amounts listed.
2. I don't usually have buttermilk in the fridge, so I use a substitution that my grandma taught me. Put 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup, and then fill it to the 2-cup mark with milk. Use it in place of the buttermilk.
3. It's easier to grip if you coat the frozen stick of butter with the flour from the bowl first.
4. I use a bench scraper to mix, fold, and cut the dough.
5. Why squares? Because it's faster, uses fewer dishes, and round biscuits overwork the dough. Think about it: after you cut out those round biscuits, you have to gather up the scraps and press it out again. And again, and again, until you finally use all of the dough. All of that folding and pressing builds up gluten, and gluten is the difference between fluffy biscuits and dense ones.
6. How big should the squares be? Well that's a question for the ages. I like big biscuits (and I cannot lie), so this amount of dough makes 8 biscuits for me. Most folks would probably cut it into 16.
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Photo Gallery
Sift the dry ingredients together.
Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture.
Rub the butter into the flour mixture.
Add the buttermilk, mix it together, and dump it out.
Flatten it out into a rectangle...
...then fold it in half and flatten it out again.
And again, and again. Three or four times in total.
Finally, press it out one last time and cut into squares.
Bake on parchment paper at 425F for about 15-20 minutes.
Serve with mushroom gravy and fried eggs, or with jam & clotted cream.
CleverBiscuits
Ingredients:
4 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder [1]
1 teaspoon baking soda [1]
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, frozen solid
2 cups cold buttermilk [2]
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F / 220 degrees C.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt together into a large bowl. Using a box cheese grater, grate the stick of frozen butter directly into the flour mixture. [3] Work the butter into the flour with your fingers, flattening it out and rubbing it all together until it's the consistency of I dunno, rolled oats.
Add the buttermilk all at once and mix it for a few seconds until it's moistened but not quite fully mixed. (Don't worry, you finish mixing it on the countertop.) Then turn it out onto a lightly-floured countertop and pat it out into a rectangle. Cut it in half, press it back out into a rectangle, cut it in half, press it back out into a rectangle...you will need to do this about 3 times, maaaaaaybe 4, just until the dough comes together and you've built up a good number of layers.[4] Don't overdo it or your biscuits will be tough.
Finally, pat it out into one last rectangle about an inch thick, and cut it into squares. [5][6] Place each square on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced about an inch or two apart. Brush with butter or bacon fat, and then bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
-----
1. Baking soda and baking powder both lose their punch once it's exposed to air. If your leavening agents were opened more than 3 months ago, you might need to double the amounts listed.
2. I don't usually have buttermilk in the fridge, so I use a substitution that my grandma taught me. Put 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup, and then fill it to the 2-cup mark with milk. Use it in place of the buttermilk.
3. It's easier to grip if you coat the frozen stick of butter with the flour from the bowl first.
4. I use a bench scraper to mix, fold, and cut the dough.
5. Why squares? Because it's faster, uses fewer dishes, and round biscuits overwork the dough. Think about it: after you cut out those round biscuits, you have to gather up the scraps and press it out again. And again, and again, until you finally use all of the dough. All of that folding and pressing builds up gluten, and gluten is the difference between fluffy biscuits and dense ones.
6. How big should the squares be? Well that's a question for the ages. I like big biscuits (and I cannot lie), so this amount of dough makes 8 biscuits for me. Most folks would probably cut it into 16.
-----
Photo Gallery
Sift the dry ingredients together.
Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture.
Rub the butter into the flour mixture.
Add the buttermilk, mix it together, and dump it out.
Flatten it out into a rectangle...
...then fold it in half and flatten it out again.
And again, and again. Three or four times in total.
Finally, press it out one last time and cut into squares.
Bake on parchment paper at 425F for about 15-20 minutes.
Serve with mushroom gravy and fried eggs, or with jam & clotted cream.
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