Almost as much as I love eating biscuits, I love making them. In fact, any recipe that calls for cutting butter into dry ingredients makes me smile. It must be the baker in me.
Anyhow, I considered myself a fairly good biscuit maker until one weekend my brother (who is a professional chef) came down and baked the most fabulous biscuits ever. Huh?! What was his secret? Well, he added an egg to the dough. I was a little skeptical because never in all my biscuit making have I added an egg. He said the egg creates a biscuit that is little more cakey. And it does. It creates a biscuit that is both flaky AND cakey, and very tender. Yum. And if you use a farm fresh egg, the biscuits are a beautiful, buttery yellow color.
(the biscuits before baking)
So, this is my favorite biscuit recipe---- my version of Jason's Biscuits. They are high rising, tender, and very, very yummy. They aren't my usual healthy fare, but they are a great treat when the occasion warrants the best biscuits ever (biscuits and gravy, biscuits with freezer jam, biscuits with lemon curd, biscuits with eggs.... mmmmm. You get the idea).
Here are my tips for making great biscuits:
- I cut in butter using my fingers because I believe I can control the size and consistency that way. I work quickly, though, so my fingers don't melt the butter.
- I keep the dough cool. If it's very hot out, I chill the dry ingredients with the butter cut in before adding the buttermilk mixture. In fact, you can cut in the butter and leave this mixture in the refrigerator and whip up a batch of biscuits in no time just by adding the liquids to this mix when the biscuit need arises.
- I use a fork to mix in the liquids and I don't mix too much. It should just come together before you pour the mixture onto a work surface and knead it together once or twice.
- I lightly press the dough into a rectangle (don't push it down too hard) and I keep the dough fairly thick. I like my biscuits tall.
- I use a metal biscuit cutter to cut the shapes. You can use such things as a glass or a can but I believe that a thin, straight cutting edge doesn't press the edges of the biscuit down and allows the biscuit to rise better.
- Don't bake them too long or they will dry out. They should be tinged light brown and be slightly firm when pressed, but not too much so.
Jason's Biscuits
Ingredients:
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
5 T. butter
1 egg
approx. 1 C. buttermilk (see method)
Method: Preheat oven to 450-degrees.
Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter until pieces are the size of peas. Crack egg into a measuring pitcher and fill with enough buttermilk to measure one cup. Whisk to mix the egg in. Add this mix to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until it just comes together. Pour onto work surface and knead once or twice. Lightly press the dough into a rectangle approximately 2-inches thick. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Reshape any remaining dough. I get nine biscuits out of this recipe.
Place biscuits on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 9-12 minutes, until just a little brown tinged.
Makes 9 tall biscuits.
