Making Biscuits

Good biscuits and good cornbread are the hallmark of a good Southern cook.  Biscuits are a versatile bread in that they can be used for any meal.  For breakfast, they are great with sausage gravy or as a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich.  At supper time a hot biscuit with butter works with just about any meal.  They are good eaten cold for lunch either as a side or part of a sandwich.  Of course, they are great with any meal when smeared with jam, jelly, or preserves.


Biscuit making seems to mystify some people so they never try making them.  This is a sad state to be in.  I have a couple of different biscuit recipes I use depending on mood or which ingredients I have in the refrigerator.  The one I make the most are just biscuits the other is a buttermilk biscuit.


Way back in 1999, I belonged to Muzzleloading Rifle email group, the sort of thing that evolved to today's message boards.  One of the discussions turned to quick breads in relation to reenacting the 18th Century and then turned to quick breads in general.  One of the posters stated that he'd always considered it a failing as a Southern man that he could not make a good biscuit.  He then shared a recipe he said he got from the side of a bag of flour.  It only has 2 ingredients.  Even better, these biscuits rise up light and fluffy.

Biscuits hot from the oven.  These were pressed to about 1/2 inch thick.

Biscuits


2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups heavy cream, aka whipping cream


Put the flour in a bowl.  Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and stir to combine.  Start adding the remaining heavy cream and stirring until you get a soft dough.  The dough may be slightly shaggy but not sticky.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface.  Knead 4 - 6 times.  Press or roll out till it is 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.  Cut out biscuits, I like a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, and place on a baking sheet not touching each other.  Bake 10 - 15 minutes at 425F until desired doneness.  I generally go 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and enjoy.

Sausage and Egg Biscuit with Pomegranate.

When cutting biscuits, don't twist the cutter as it may cause the biscuit to rise unevenly.


If you don't keep self-rising flour at the house, never fear, you can make your own.  All it takes is for each cup of all purpose flour you add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt and mix.  This is how I usually do it since we don't keep self-rising flour around except for rare occasions.


Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 cup cold buttermilk

Place the butter in the freezer for 10 - 20 minutes.  Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together to blend and aerate.  Shred the frozen butter into the bowl using a box grater.  Toss with a fork to coat all the butter pieces with flour.  Put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes.  Remove from freezer and use a pastry cutter or two knives to further reduce the size of the butter pieces.  Add the buttermilk and stir until you have a moist shaggy dough.  Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface and flour the top of the dough.  Press or roll the dough out to about 1 inch thick.  Cut out biscuits using a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.  Place the biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet so that they are not touching.  Gather remaining dough into a ball and repeat the process.  You should get 8 - 10 biscuits.  Bake at 425F for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown.

While the biscuits from the first recipe turn out soft and fluffy, the buttermilk biscuits have a nice crust.  The parchment paper will keep them from sticking to the baking sheet as the butter melts and cooks into the bottom of the biscuit and it makes clean up a lot easier.

Both recipes do well with sausage gravy or as sausage and biscuits.  They also do well as an accompaniment to a fried chicken dinner.  I do prefer the buttermilk biscuit to eat as a cold biscuit.

Give these recipes a try and let me know which you prefer.  Remember, making a good biscuit will garner you much praise for the quality of your meal.

Uncle T