Go, Biscuits!

Hey, that was quick! Bis-quick, in fact.

My Montgomery Biscuits paraphernalia arrived today.

Go, Biscuits!

Since I posted on Saturday, I've received a few requests for the recipe for God's Own Buttermilk Biscuits. I posted it in the comments, but people aren't finding it there and I've mailed out several copies...

So, what the heck. We've had everything else at enrevanche, why not recipes?

When I baked these for her recently, my own sainted mother pronounced these as "the best biscuits she ever ate," and she is no slouch in the kitchen herself, to put it mildly. The recipe is based on the "basic rolled biscuits" recipe from the first edition of Joy of Cooking (Rombauer) with a few minor tweaks.

With no further ado...

GOD'S OWN ROLLED BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Yield: two dozen small (tea-sized) or one dozen large (breakfast-sized) biscuits.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In large bowl, mix:

2 cups all-purpose flour (extra points for using a Southern biscuit flour like Martha White or White Lily, if you can get it - if you get self-rising, obviously, omit the baking powder.)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 (0.5) teaspoon baking soda

1/2 (0.5) teaspoon salt

Cut six tablespoons (three-quarters of a standard stick) of *cold*, good-quality butter into small pieces; drop butter pieces into dry mixture and "cut in" with two butter knives clutched in fist like Wolverine's talons (if you are a kitchen gadget fetishist, you may use a pastry blender) until the flour mixture has the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs.

(Cold butter is specified because you don't want the butter to start melting until the biscuits go into the oven. This will create little air pockets in the biscuits and contribute to the overall delightfully fluffy effect you are trying to achieve. Do not substitute margarine or shortening. Won't work.)

Add 3/4 (0.75) cup of fresh buttermilk, and mix until ingredients are just combined (don't beat it; this is more of a toss/mix thing!)

Transfer dough to a lightly floured board and roll out to approximately 1/2 (0.5) inch thickness. For the authentic experience, cut your biscuits out with a small drinking glass, applying a slight twisting motion as you cut to seal the edges.

Place biscuits, well-spaced, on an ungreased, cheap (not double-layer or insulated--you want the bottoms to brown until they are almost but not quite crunchy) baking sheet and bake at 450 until nicely browned, about 10 minutes.

Serve hot with any of the following:

- Strawberry, peach, or apple preserves
- Fried or grilled sausage patties
- Country ham and redeye gravy

etc.

If you're feeding more than three or four hungry people, you're gonna want to double this recipe (at least.)

Leftover biscuits (ha! - but it does occasionally happen) are delightful the next day split, smeared with a little butter and toasted.