- Mika Leon
Buttermilk biscuits
Flakey, extra buttery, golden brown biscuits just in time for the holidays! All I want to do this time of year is stuff my face and these biscuits are what I've been craving most. These biscuits remind me of when I was little and I would beg my grandfather to take me to KFC to scarf down half a dozen of biscuits (don't judge me) Omg, that moment when you break one in half and the hot smoke comes out from all the buttery layers of the biscuit....just pure bliss.
On a recent trip to Nashville with my mom I had southern, homemade biscuits and just knew I had to put them on my website for you guys. Being myself, I went to the manager of the restaurant and asked to speak to the chef. To my surprise it was the NICEST little old lady that shared all her secrets with me including the flour she uses. I've been making these biscuits for years now but this white lily flour and technique really took my biscuits to the next level.
The buttermilk I use in my biscuit recipe is homemade. Its only 2 ingredients and is the easiest thing to make, you can find the recipe on my website. I choose to make it with evaporated milk which I feel makes all the difference. Try it out trust meeeee. If you want to use store bought buttermilk thats totally fine too! It's VERY IMPORTANT that your buttermilk is super super cold. If it's not, its going to mess with the temperature of your frozen butter which will mess up the biscuits flakiness. We're going to brushing this buttermilk on the tops of the biscuits as well, which will give you that perfect golden brown top we are looking for.
The most important thing when it comes to making these biscuits is that the ingredients are super cold. From the flour to the butter to the buttermilk, you'll notice the difference in your biscuits texture.
Cant wait for you guys to try these at home!
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of white lily self rising flour (or any other brand of self rising flour)
1 stick of frozen butter
1 cup + 3 tbsp. of ice cold buttermilk
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. melted butter for finishing touch
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 425F.
In a large bowl bring together all your dry ingredients, your flour, salt & baking powder. Now put this in the freezer while we grate our butter.
Now we are going to grate our stick of frozen butter on a box grater as shown in the video. Make sure to place a sheet of parchment paper under the grater to catch every last drop of butter. Add this frozen butter to your dry flour mixture and mix it up with a spatula a few times until its well incorporated.
We are going to make a nice well in the center of this flour mixture and add in our buttermilk to the center of it. Before mixing, add your honey to it as well. Now, we want to give this a nice mix being VERY CAREFUL to not over mix. I say that mixing 15-ish times is enough. You want your batter to be on the stickier and crumbly side.
With your table, hands and rolling pin well floured, pour the dough right onto your table. Bring the dough together so you get every last crumb. Flatten your dough into a 1 inch rectangle. Fold this in half, roll it out and fold it again. Do this about 4-5 times making sure to keep flouring the surface and your hands as needed. This will help you achieve those perfect, flakey layers.
Flatten your dough into your final 1 inch rectangle. Using a biscuit cutter cut 3inch rounds making sure your biscuit cutter is floured and you're just pressing down and NOT twisting (this will mess up the rising of the biscuits, and we want them nice, light & sky high). Keep re-rolling your dough and cutting out circles until you have no more dough left. This should make about 8-10 biscuits.
Butter the bottom of a sheet pan or round skillet and arrange yours biscuits so that they're all TOUCHING EACH OTHER (very important-this helps in the rising process).
Brush the tops of your biscuits with the remaining buttermilk. Place in the center rack of the oven, uncovered and bake at 425F for 12-15min. Until they are golden brown. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush the tops with melted butter.
