This easy biscuit recipe is a must-have on your dinner table!
By: RecipeLion.com Test Kitchen
5 Comments
Secret Recipe Buttermilk Biscuits
By: RecipeLion.com Test Kitchen
Secret Recipe Buttermilk Biscuits are going to become one of your new favorite Thanksgiving recipes because they're just so simple! Every Thanksgiving table needs biscuits to make the meal complete, and these might just be the best around. This easy biscuit recipe only uses 6 ingredients, and the secret is all in how you distribute the butter throughout each one. The biscuits will be super moist and delicious and the best part is, they'll go great with all the other dishes on your table this year. Whether you like butter or jam on your rolls, these are the perfect vessel.
Makes16
Chilling Time20 min
Cooking Time12 min
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl and cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until butter is the size of peas.
Add buttermilk and mix lightly but thoroughly. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If it is, add a little more flour.
Dump out onto counter and gentle pat together.
Pat the dough to 1/2-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut with a biscuit cutter or drinking glass.
Transfer biscuits to a greased baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes.
I think my most favorite fast food biscuit is at Bojangles and I have one located in walking distance from me so when I get the urge, I don't have far to go to get one. However, I would really love to make my own. Now that I am retired I can really hone my bread making techniques. This is a great recipe to start with.
In my eyes, my Grandmother was the biscuit queen. When my sons were 5 and 7, we moved in with her and they were introduced to biscuits. The youngest one would sneak them off the table to have for later because he loved them so much. I could never make them as well as she did even after she showed me like zillion times.
In other countries, I believe their biscuits are more like a cookie...is this recipe in reference to that because I've always wanted to know how they made their version although I never understood why they were called biscuits instead of cookies. I'm thinking with the distribution of the butter, these are going to be really flaky or kinda like shortbread maybe? Hmmmm
I don't think the biscuits look very good,really thin and overdone on the bottom.I think I would make them thicker like KFC used to do.Am going to try them and see how they turn out.
A biscuit that you don't knead, but it is not a drop biscuit? I am used to one or the other, but not nothing. The buttermilk with the baking soda will give the biscuits a nice rise. Homemade biscuits are so much better than the ones that come in those cardboard containers that you bust open. They are also more filling.
For flaky layers, use cold butter. When you cut in the butter, you have coarse crumbs of butter coated with flour. When the biscuit bakes, the butter will melt, releasing steam and creating pockets of air. This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside.
A non-fluffy, flat biscuit can be caused by a few things: too much liquid in the dough (resist the urge to add more buttermilk to make the dough come together and use the heat of your hands and a bit more kneading instead). Over-mixing the dough can cause flat biscuits.
There are many theories about why Southern biscuits are different (ahem, better) than other biscuits—richer buttermilk, more butter, better grandmothers—but the real difference is more fundamental. Southern biscuits are different because of the flour most Southerners use. My grandmother swore by White Lily flour.
The butter version rises the highest — look at those flaky layers! The shortening biscuit is slightly shorter and a bit drier, too. Butter contains a bit of water, which helps create steam and gives baked goods a boost.
Whenever you're working with buttery doughs like biscuits, pie crust, shortbread, and the like, you're constantly reminded to chill the dough frequently, as well as chill the dough before baking time. Baking biscuits directly from frozen also keeps the biscuits from spreading and flattening out.
As it turns out, adding hard-boiled egg yolks to your biscuit dough is a way to ward off an overworked, tough dough that can be the downfall of a butter-based pastry. When the trick is employed, the pastry shatters and then dissolves in your mouth quickly, tasting like a knob of flaky butter.
The extra fat in the heavy cream is helpful because buttermilk in stores is often “low-fat” buttermilk. Buttermilk. The buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the biscuit and helps hydrate the dough just enough to create a nice structure for our biscuits.
Conclusion: More baking powder makes the biscuit rise more (imagine that!). About 1 tablespoon of baking powder per 2 cups of flour seems to be about the right amount, but even halving or doubling this amount should not ruin your biscuits.
As the names might suggest, regular biscuits do not contain buttermilk, while these do. Regular biscuits are typically prepared with milk or water instead. Buttermilk adds a nice tang to the biscuit flavor and helps them rise better.
The closest British equivalent to those buttery miracles is a scone, which ain't too bad either. Both baked goodies use flour, fat, liquid and a leavening agent.
Yes, you can substitute sour cream! Thin it with milk or water to get the right consistency. For each cup of buttermilk needed, use 3/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup liquid. Editor's Tip: Sour cream has a higher fat content, so this will result in richer-tasting foods.
*Substitute buttermilk, light cream, or heavy cream for the whole milk, if you prefer; use enough of whatever liquid you choose to bring the dough together readily, without you having to work it too much. The higher-fat liquid you use, the more tender and richer-tasting your biscuits will be.
High-fat butter, such as Kerrygold Butter, is best. The rich fat from the butter releases water when the biscuits are baking which is what contributes to the beautiful layers and flakiness that we love about biscuits.
Choosing between shortening and lard comes down to personal preference. Both create a flaky, tender crust, are semi-solid, and are 100% fat. Swap one for the other in recipes. If you want to add additional flavor to the dish, lard is the right choice.
Fat is also important because it adds tenderness to the dough; full-fat buttermilk and European-style butter can help with texture, but "full-fat" is the critical point — sour cream, olive oil, and nut milks can all be used to create successful biscuits, provided they have a high-fat content.
Sugar and Salt: Add flavor. We don't add a lot of sugar (just 1 tablespoon). Cold Butter: I love using European-style salted butter, like Kerrygold or Plugra, since they make our biscuits tender and delicious. If you don't have European salted butter, plain butter works (salted or unsalted).
The two keys to success in making the best biscuits are handling the dough as little as possible as well as using very cold solid fat (butter, shortening, or lard) and cold liquid. When the biscuits hit the oven, the cold liquid will start to evaporate creating steam which will help our biscuits get very tall.
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Introduction: My name is Cheryll Lueilwitz, I am a sparkling, clean, super, lucky, joyous, outstanding, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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