Bready or Not: Buttermilk Biscuits
I failed at buttermilk biscuits. For years. This grieved me. This recipe, finally, is the one that has repeatedly produced lofty, flaky, perfect biscuits.
This is an important heritage thing. My dad is from Alabama. He is of the firm belief that every meal should come with a side of bread, and buttermilk biscuits are about as good as it gets.
My husband’s family isn’t much different. Grandpa and Grandma Cato are Arkansas born and bred. We go to visit them, and we are fed an “Arkansas breakfast.” That means enough food to go out into the woods and chop down trees all day and not be hungry until dusk. That breakfast always, always, always includes buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy.
Biscuits. Serious business.
I found this recipe from Bakergirl and have modified it slightly; she in turn got it from Bobby Flay. I wish I could hug this recipe. You have no idea how pleased I am to have a biscuit recipe that works.
A few notes on this:
– I do homemade sour milk for the buttermilk by mixing a tablespoon of lemon juice in with milk (I’ve also done a mix with half & half) and letting it curdle for 15 minutes before using it.
– the recipe also works just fine if you happen to have buttermilk powder.
– it produces more than a single cookie sheet of biscuits.
– they are fabulous to bake and the freeze. It’s always nice to have some stashed in the freezer!
Bready or Not: Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 12 Tablespoons unsalted butter cold, cut into cubes
- 1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk or substitute sour milk
On top:
- 1/4 cup milk brush on tops before baking
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted, to brush on tops after baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450-degrees. Prepare baking sheets by lightly greasing them or using parchment or baking mats.
- Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually cut the butter into the flour mix, using a pastry blender or forks until it resembles coarse meal.
- Add the buttermilk and combine until it just comes together. Don't overwork it! The butter needs to stay in small lumps; that creates the flaky layers.
- Lightly flour about a square foot of counter. Press the dough out to mostly fill the space, with the dough still about 3/4-inch thick. Use a 3-inch round biscuit cutter to punch out shapes and place on baking sheets. Brush a little bit of milk on the tops of the biscuits.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately brush melted butter on the tops.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Buttery Beer Bread
My husband loves beer. He recently decided to start collecting beer growlers from small breweries. I do not like beer. Therefore, he ends up with a sizable amount of artisan beer that needs to be consumed in a short amount of time.
“And this is a problem… how?” he asked.
“Of course. Moderation and all.”
“What? What do you think I could do with beer other than drink it?“
“I could make beer bread!”
He gave me one of those patented husband looks that says you would suggest I use this precious elixir for bread. But that’s exactly what I’ve done twice now, and you know what? He thinks it’s a pretty awesome thing because he loves bread, too.
I have only made this using my Pampered Chef mini loaf pan. I love the size of those loaves! One is perfect for a meal or two, and they freeze fabulously. I just wrap them individually in plastic wrap, defrost in the breadbox, and then warm them with some butter.
My breadbox gets a lot of use. [There’s a joke there that a few select people will get. The rest of you, just nod.]
Recipe modified from Veronica’s Buttery Beer Bread at Jenna’s Everything Blog.
Bready or Not: Buttery Beer Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 Tb baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 12 oz beer
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1/2 stick to 1 stick, melted (make as buttery as desired)
- kosher salt or pretzel salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375-degrees. Prepare your big loaf pan or mini loaf pans by buttering lightly on the bottom (the sides will be well-buttered later on).
- Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Stir in the beer. It may be sticky and need to be incorporated by greased hands.
- Drop the dough into pan(s) and even out the top as much as possible. Melt desired amount of butter and pour over dough.
- Using four mini loaf pans, it will bake for 30-35 minutes. The original recipe stated that a full-size bread pan needs to bake for an hour. Let it cool in the pan for about five minutes, and then because of all the butter, the bread should pop right out.
- OM NOM NOM!
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