It’s almost embarrassing to admit, but there are of photos of me making biscuits at 3 years old–and there’s probably a bag of White Lily® in the background. I’ve cooked my entire life, and my mom and my grandma were both great cooks.
When I was younger, living and working in France, I’d have my mother mail me bags of White Lily® from Georgia to France and I used to take some back in my suitcase everytime I came home. But truthfully, I think that country French cooking and country Southern cooking are actually pretty similar. Both put an emphasis on good, simple ingredients and on freshness and regionality. After all, boeuf bourguignon might sound fancy, but it’s just beef stew!
I learned to make biscuits alongside my grandmother. I remember she would let me roll out the scraps and she’d cut out my tiny handprint and let me bake it. There was nothing I loved more than being in the kitchen with her.
It seems like a biscuit should be a biscuit, but there are millions of them out there. I like to say there are as many biscuit recipes as there are grandmothers! And in fact, my buttermilk biscuit recipe is a traditional one, based on the one my grandmother taught me–but it has evolved over the years. She would have used shortening or lard, but I prefer butter. And though my grandmother kneaded and rolled hers a bit more, over time I’ve learned to touch the dough even less. The result is super tender, almost cakey. I like them big, “cathead” style. But it’s not complicated. Biscuits are the bread of my people, it’s that simple. There’s nothing more primal or basic than that.
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Yield
12 Biscuits
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
Total Time
20 min
Ingredients
2 cups White Lily® Enriched Bleached All-Purpose Flour, more for rolling out
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits and chilled
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
Heat the oven to 500°F. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk and mix until just barely combined. It will be a shaggy mass. (Alternatively, you can mix the dough in a food processor: pulse to combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk through feed tube and pulse until just barely combined.)
Turn the rough dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly, using the heel of your hand to compress and push dough away from you, then fold it back over itself. Give dough a small turn and repeat four or five times.
Roll out the dough using a lightly floured rolling pin. Dough should be 1-inch thick. Using a 2 1/4-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds (press cutter straight down without twisting so biscuits will rise evenly when baked).
Place biscuits on prepared sheet. (If biscuits are baked close together, sides will be tender. If biscuits are baked farther apart, sides will be crisp).
Re-roll scraps once. Do not simply roll them into a ball; this will create a knot of gluten strands. Instead, place the pieces one on top of the other in layers, then roll out dough and cut out more rounds. Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool just slightly. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Calories (Calories from Fat ), Total Fat g (Saturated Fat g, Trans Fat g), Cholesterol mg, Sodium mg, Total Carbohydrate g (Dietary Fiber g, Sugars g), Protein g; Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A %, Vitamin C %, Calcium %, Iron %. *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
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