Sunday, June 03, 2007

Buttermilk Biscuits

I find I don’t always quite have enough regular recipes to successfully get through a carton of buttermilk before the expiry date. I’ve been working on that, experimenting with various recipes crossing some off, and adding to my overall buttermilk repertoire. Tony makes incredible buttermilk pancakes, and the berry and buttermilk muffin recipe from my sister is definitely a keeper. This recipe is also worth saving: easy, delicious and pretty. I have not been a successful biscuit maker in the past, but this recipe puts that shameful history behind me. I served them with homemade chicken soup on what I hope is the last cold rainy day of Spring.

Buttermilk Biscuits
1 ½ C all purpose flour
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
rounded ¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ C cold butter, cut into 1 cm cubes
¾ C buttermilk
1 Tbsp milk or cream for brushing biscuits

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda together into a large bowl.
3. Using your fingers, blend butter into dry ingredients until it resembles coarse oatmeal.
4. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until a dough forms.
5. Turn onto a floured surface and knead six times.
6. Roll to a ¾ cm thickness in the shape of a rectangle. Trim if desired.
7. Cut into six equal blocks. For each square of dough, fold one corner over to meet opposite corner like a turnover. Do not crease or press down.
8. Transfer biscuit to an ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Brush each biscuit with milk or cream.
10. Bake until golden, 12-15 minutes.
11. Cool on a wire rack.

3 comments:

Zeb said...

I find that cutting the butter (with a bench scraper) into the dry ingredients until pea sized(or smaller) works best; the bench scraper, unlike your hands, is cool. its also a lot less messy.

Nerine said...

I like my bench scraper. It was a Christmas gift from Cheryl, and the search for which seems to be growing as a family legend. I have a pastry cutter which effectively does the same thing, but fits in a bowl. But I do like the feel of the dough on my hands.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

A tip I discovered on the Food Network said to grate your butter into your dry ingredients. I show my ignorance by not knowing what a bench scraper is, but these scones probably taste as delicious as they look!!!