Buttermilk Biscuits

Baking the perfect biscuit is something that has alluded me.  For the longest time I could never seem to get them just right.  I tried buttermilk, I tried cream.  I tried countless types of flour. Nothing was working.  They all turned out too thin, too tough, too cakey or too crumbly.  I dreamed of tall, rich biscuit breakfast sandwiches piled high with cheese, bacon and egg.  Sweet shortcake biscuits loaded with fresh strawberries and hand-whipped cream.  I'd begun to believe that the ideal flaky, buttery and puffed biscuit was something I just couldn't create.  Thankfully my hope was restored on a recent trip to NYC.  We were staying with friends in Brooklyn and on our last morning we woke up and walked to their Carroll Gardens neighborhood restaurant, Prime Meats.  I ordered the buttermilk biscuit with egg and cheese.  It was perfect. Tall, buttery, flaky and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  I ate half and took half with me to nibble on during our flight home.  Recharged in my quest to make myself a batch of glorious golden biscuits, I came home and tried one last time to get them right.  I guess all I needed was a little inspiration.

Buttermilk Biscuits
makes 6-7 medium sized biscuits
(adapted from this recipe)

1 1/4 cups cake flour (I like Swans Down brand)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 stick of cold butter + 2 Tbsp for brushing
3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Cut the 1/2 stick of cold butter into small chunks, transfer it to a bowl and place in the freezer while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add the cold butter to the dry mixture and using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course bread crumbs. This may take as long as 5 minutes.  Add the cold buttermilk to the flour butter mixture and mix with your hands until the dough comes together into a ball. Sprinkle some flour onto your workspace and knead the dough 2-3 times or just until the dough has come together.  Flatten and mold the dough with your hands until it is approximately 1 inch thick. Using a small round cutter, cut out the biscuits. Be sure not to twist the cutter, only press the cutter down into the dough.  Transfer biscuits to an ungreased baking sheet, arranging the biscuits tightly together.  (This will help them rise). Place pan in the refrigerator and allow them to rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the 2 Tbsp of butter in a small bowl.  Once the 10 minutes is up, brush the biscuit tops with butter.  Place the pan into the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until golden and cooked all the way through.  Transfer biscuits to a wire rack and allow to cool a few minutes before eating.

Be sure to keep working the butter into the flour until it resembles course bread crumbs.  

After cutting the biscuits, snuggle them up on the baking sheet and brush with melted butter.  

Golden, flaky buttery biscuits.

Spread with jam, make a sandwich or eat them plain.  These are perfect in any form.