A little background on me and biscuits. I have tried and failed at making them, so many times. I have tried the simplest recipes out there on Pinterest, and failed. They always turn out hard and with none of the flaky layers the recipes promised. I DREAMED of "whipping up" a batch of fluffy and buttery biscuits....the kind you find in random hipster restaurants (because they don't generally cut corners, and believe everything should be artisanal or homemade), the kind that are pillowy soft and make the whole house smell amazing........but I had resigned myself to a life of canned biscuits...and despite all of my other kitchen wins, one of the simplest things to make is the one thing I can't. *sigh*......
..........until today. I wanted to make biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Sunday....it's a family favorite, and easy enough to get together....but what about the biscuits? I suppose I could just let the Doughboy do the work for me.....he does solid enough work. But I put a lot of love into my gravy....so why not just TRY to make them from scratch? Could this be the time I succeed?? How long have I wanted homemade biscuits and never given them another try? Enough is enough. I didn't even buy a can of biscuits as backup. I dusted off my Betty Crocker cookbook and got to it. Cutting the cold butter into the sifted flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder....trying so hard to not touch the dough as it was forming, for fear I may melt the buttuh. Rolling them out, ever so gently....so as to not overwork the dough....layering and re-rolling it gently......
And they turned out pretty close to perfect! I was certain they wouldn't turn out well, and I put a bit more buttermilk in mine than Betty does, but other than that, it was a solid recipe! They rose up, nice and high. They were buttery and flaky....and held up to the beautiful sausage gravy perfectly. For it being something that has caused me actual anxiety, I can't wait to try them again! Practice makes perfect!
Buttermilk Biscuits
- 2 cups flour
- 1.5 tbsp Baking Powder (make sure it isn't expired...it loses it's leavening power if it gets too old)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, COLD
- 1 cup buttermilk (adjusted to the amount I put in)
Sift all the dry ingredients into large bowl, quickly cube up butter and start working it into the dry mix with a pastry cutter. Use care to not handle the butter with your hands too much, as you want the butter to work into the dry mix, not melt into the dry mix. The butter pieces in the dough are what give you the little air pockets in your biscuits that give you the fluffy and flaky quality in you finished biscuit.
Once butter is cut into the dry mix (you are looking for pea sized pieces of butter), add the buttermilk all at once, and mix together with a spoon. When dough is formed into a ball, turn out onto lightly floured clean counter and begin to roll it out....gently as to not overwork the dough.
Now.....Preheat oven to 425. Cut dough into third rectangles and layer them one on to of the other, and quickly and lightly roll again. Repeat cutting and layering process once more, and this time, just use rolling pin to roll over it once. Cut yo biscuits y'all. I used a biscuit cutter about 1 3/4" in diameter.....and through repeating the cutting, layering and rolling a couple more times, I was able to get 8 biscuits from this size batch.
I brushed the tops with melted buttuh, and baked in the preheated oven at 425 for 10 minutes, but ovens vary, so i would check them at 8 minutes, just in case.
Boom. That is it. I had no idea that they could be made that way at home...and I am so glad I was wrong. This morning, I smothered them in homemade sausage gravy, but I would wager they would be pretty great with just some tasty raspberry jam too.
Good Gawd Gravy:
- 1 package of pork country sausage, bulk
- 2-2.5 cups milk
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup flour
- chives, chopped small
- salt and pepper to taste
Brown sausage in a saute pan. Once all sausage is browned off, and flour to pan and stir to coat the sausage with it. (I always add a pinch of salt and some turns of black pepper from our pepper mill at this step....always season at every step!)
Cook flour and sausage mixture over medium high heat to get the raw flour taste out a little....about 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add 1 cup of milk and onion powder, and stir constantly so you don't get lumps in your gravy. It will thicken up on you quickly, so once you feel it start to thicken up, add another cup of milk and continue stirring.
If mixture is still too thick, I add the last 1/2 cup of milk. *IF GRAVY IS STILL TO THICK, ADD 1/4 CUP AT A TIME OF MILK, TO THIN IT) When it is the desired consistency, reduce heat and add salt and pepper to taste, and chives.
Split the biscuits....pour on the gravy.....and dig in!
Finished product was super yummy!!!