Monday, January 13, 2014

Easiest, Best Ever Buttermilk Biscuits


By guest blogger Mindy Holloway




This is what you need for ingredients: 
  • 4 cups self-rising flour, plus more for dusting OR Make Your Own Self-Rising Flour (4 cups all-purpose flour plus 6 tsp. baking powder plus 2 tsp salt)
  • 1 stick cold butter, plus 3 tablespoons melted
  • 2 cups cold buttermilk OR Make Your Own Buttermilk (2 cups milk plus 9 tsp white distilled vinegar)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
This is what you need for tools:
  • A 10 inch cast-iron skillet.  This is critical!  You can get a pre-seasoned pan (make sure you get pre-seasoned so you don't have to season it yourself) at your local hardware store (Yes, I said hardware store) for about $12.  This is my go to pan in my kitchen!  It conducts heat evenly, it goes into the oven and creates a great sear on steaks! Cook casseroles in it too!
  • A big bowl
  • A mixing spoon
  • A box cheese grater
  • A biscuit cutter or a drinking glass
  • A basting brush
  • A whisk (optional)
  • A cutting board (optional)
  • An oven (very necessary)

Place cast-iron skillet into oven to preheatPreheat the oven to 425 degrees F. You want the pan to get very hot, which will make the bottoms of your biscuits golden and crispy.




Next, measure out 4 cups of self-rising flour.  If you do not have self-rising flour, you can make your own very easily with All-Purpose Flour, Salt and Baking Powder.  

To make your own, measure 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 6 teaspoons of baking powder and 2 teaspoons of salt in a large bowl. Mix with a whisk.  A whisk will nicely incorporate all these dry ingredients.  Or just use a spoon and mix well.

Now you have Self-Rising Flour!




Add the 4 cups of self-rising flour to the mixing bowl. 

Using a box grater, grate 1 stick cold butter into the flour.  Make sure you take the butter straight from the refrigerator.  It will not grate well if it gets soft. Grating the butter gets it into the perfect size without having to use a pastry blender or trying to "cut in" the butter with two knives.  Of course you can use these methods, it just takes longer.  DO NOT take a shortcut and melt the butter!  You will not get the same flakey biscuit consistency.





 Gently mix the grated butter into the flour mixture.

Now, for the buttermilk.  You can buy buttermilk in the store where you find the heavy cream or you can make it yourself.  Mix 2 cups of cold milk with 9 teaspoons of white distilled vinegar (or lemon juice if you don't have vinegar).  Mix with a spoon and let it sit for 10 minutes until it curdles.  Yah, I know that seems gross, but that is what buttermilk is: curdled milk!




Next, add the 2 cups of buttermilk to the flour and butter mixture. Quickly mix until it just comes together. This should take about 10-15 stirs.  DO NOT over mix or your biscuits will be tough and not light.  The mixture will form a cohesive ball, but will be pretty sticky.  This is good.





 Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface.  I like to use a cutting board because I can then just put the board in the sink for easy washing.  You can just put the flour on a clean counter if you prefer.  See how much flour I used in the picture!  It is quite a bit!




Place the sticky dough ball on the floured surface.




 Flip the dough ball onto the flour 3 or 4 times until all sides of the dough ball are covered with flour. Do not kneed the dough!






Press the dough ball down to a 1 inch thickness. You can leave it even thicker if you want.






Using a biscuit cutter or a drinking class, cut out 10 biscuits.





Now, carefully remove the skillet from the oven with an oven mitt, and add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and coat the bottom of the pan evenly. 





Place the dough rounds into the hot skillet, right up against each other.




Brush with the tops of the biscuits with 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.



Carefully, place the hot pan and biscuits in the 425 degree oven and bake for 16-18 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are golden brown.


You can add butter, jam, make an egg and biscuit sandwich, strawberry shortcake, biscuits and gravy, or whatever your favorite topping is.  You will just love these thick, light, buttery, crispy bottomed biscuits.  Enjoy!


Holloways Appliance Center serves all of Connecticut including Avon, Canton, West Hartford, Glastonbury, Farmington, Windsor and western Massachusetts.

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