Friday, June 8, 2012

Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe


BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Recipe from chef, Scott Peacock (Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Gaorgia) courtesy of The New York Times

Making your own baking powder by combining fresh cream of tartar and baking soda will produce biscuits with the most lift. Don’t be afraid of the hot oven temperature either as this will allow the heat to get on the biscuits quickly and sufficiently brown their tops. When forming the dough, mix in the buttermilk until the mixture just holds together. The last thing you want to do in this recipe is overwork the dough and ruin the biscuits' flaky, buttery texture.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
5 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed lard or unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
2 cups chilled cultured buttermilk, plus more as needed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

METHOD:

Place a rack in the upper-middle position of the oven and preheat to 500°.
Make your own baking powder by sifting together the cream of tartar and baking soda.
In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, baking powder and salt. Add the lard or butter and quickly work the pieces into the flour with a pastry cutter or the tips of your fingers. The pieces should be coarsely blended and resemble large peas.
Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in the buttermilk. Quickly mix the ingredients until the mixture just comes together and forms a shaggy mass. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of buttermilk if the mixture seems dry.
Immediately turn the dough out onto to a generously floured surface and quickly knead the dough about ten times until a ball forms. Gently flatted the dough and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough out a thickness of 3/4 inch.
With a fork that has been dipped in flour, pierce the dough at half inch intervals before using a fluted, 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter to stamp out the biscuits. When you have run out of room to stamp out more biscuits, carefully reform the dough and press out as many as you can.
Arrange the biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake until golden, about 10-12 minutes.
Remove from the oven a brush the tops with the melted butter. Serve warm with butter, honey and/or jam.
Makes about 10-12 large biscuits

No matter what you like to put on your biscuits, rest assured that if you follow this recipe, you will be rewarded with outstanding results. Photo and original inspiration from here.

5 comments:

Bonnie said...

Oh there is nothing better than a warm biscuit with butter and jam. (I really wouldn't mind it with a side of gravy either...I can dream.) Enjoy!

The Queen Vee said...

Have you made these Rosemary? I think I'm going to try this recipe later in the month when my youngest son and family come for a visit.

Anonymous said...

OH, BOY. THESE LOOK YUMMY.
THANKS, ROSEMARY.
LINDA

Recycled Cottage & Garden said...

Not to knock buttermilk, but in case you don't have any, just add 1 tblspn vinegar to 1 cup milk and let it clabber. Works the same.

Garden, Home and Party said...

Rosemary,
You first. I am a terrible baker...I'm an okay cook but for some reason, every time I've attempted biscuits they have resembled hockey pucks. This looks delicious, let me know how they turn out.
Karen :-)