Today I am sharing my biscuit recipe and tutorial. My family loves biscuits. I always try to make Sunday morning breakfast something yummy from the oven (muffins, scones, biscuits, etc.,) and biscuits with homemade jam is requested most often!
The Best Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder (use one without aluminum)
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
Approximately 3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat your oven to 450°F. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour until it resembles course meal. Add the buttermilk and mix Just until combined. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk. Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Gently knead 7-10 times. Cover and allow dough to rest for 5 minutes. Gently pat (do NOT roll with a rolling pin) the dough out until it's about 3/4" thick. Use a round cutter to cut into rounds. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- the biscuits will be a beautiful light golden brown on top and bottom.
The Best Buttermilk Biscuits Tutorial
Skip buttermilk substitutes. Use real buttermilk. The dehydrated kind is good in a pinch but the best results come from buttermilk.
Make sure your baking powder and baking soda (or self-rising flour if that is what your recipe calls for) are fresh!
Preheat your oven. You want the oven to be completely preheated before the biscuits go in.
Prepare your ingredients and equipment in advance so that once you get started, you can work quickly and efficiently: cut your butter in small pieces and put it back in the fridge, measure out the buttermilk, flour the counter, get out the biscuit cutter and baking sheet.
Use very, very cold butter! Work the butter quickly into the flour so that it doesn’t have a chance to even think about melting! Use a pastry cutter and don’t be tempted to use your hot little fingers.
Use a large fork and stir lightly when adding the buttermilk. You just want to get the dough to a point where the flour is all clumped together, not a smooth dough!
Knead lightly 7-10 times. That is all. You aren’t kneading bread dough, you are simply finishing the mixing process with your hands. You do not want to develop gluten.
Pat your dough onto floured surface. Don’t pat out too thin (3/4 - 1 inch thick) and never use a rolling pin.
When cutting biscuits, use a sharp cutter and press straight down and up. Don’t twist! Twisting seals the edges, preventing a high rising biscuit.
If you want soft sided biscuits, place cut biscuits together on the baking sheet so that they are touching. If you prefer your biscuits a bit crunchier on the outside (like I do), spread them out so that they do not touch.
Don’t re-work the scraps. Since it is best to work the dough as little as possible, re-rolling the scraps results in a tough biscuit.
