Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

“Now, buttermilk biscuits, here we go… sift the flour, roll the dough.  Clap your hands and stomp your feet. Move your butt to the funky beat.” – Sir Mix-A-Lot

After a last minute decision to whip up some biscuits to go alongside a bowl of chili, I was reminded just how easy these little buggers are to make.  The key… mess with them as little as possible.  I like to use my hands to mix the fat into the flour.  Mini Whipped liked it too. She sat on the counter and dug her little toddler hands in to help. We both ended up covered in white dust and giggling uncontrollably.

This Buttermilk Biscuit recipe is from Alton Brown and I wouldn’t alter it a smidgen.  Hot out of the oven, lathered up with butter and honey, these flaky disks will satisfy every carb-craving inch of your body.

Hint: if you don’t have a biscuit cutter (like me) just use a glass to cut the biscuits.  Or, cut out both top and bottom of a can that is the correct size you’ll have an instant biscuit cutter.

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
from Alton Brown, via foodnetwork.com

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don’t want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that’s life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.