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buttermilk biscuits from serious eats
(recipe, Hank Sawtelle)
Introduction
Buttermilk Biscuits
- makes 16 to 20 biscuits -
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (270g)
- 2¼ tsp. cornstarch (18g)
- 1 Tbsp. sugar (14g)
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder (14g)
- 1¾ tsp. salt (5g)
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- 1 stick or ½ cup unsalted butter, cold (112g)
- 2 Tbsp. cream cheese, cold (56g)
- ½ to ¾ cup buttermilk, cold
Steps
- 1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a non-stick baking mat, or grease liberally with softened butter, and set aside.
- 2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of the dry ingredients. Pulse a few times to evenly distribute.
- 3. Add butter and pulse until butter is finely dispersed throughout dry ingredients, yielded a mixture with the texture of fine couscous.
- 4. Add cream cheese and pulse to distribute, leaving a few small, pea-sized pieces of cheese in tact. Turn mixture into a mixing bowl.
- 5. Drizzle in about a ⅓ cup of the buttermilk and toss gently with your hands to evenly distribute. Add more milk a tablespoon or so at a time until dough is just moist enough to come together without any dry crumbly bits.
- 6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Dust the surface of the dough lightly with more flour and pat the dough out to about ¾-inch thick.
- 7. Fold the dough back over on itself in thirds, like a business letter, and pat out to about ¾-inch thick again, flouring the surface lightly as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- 8. Fold the dough back over on itself in thirds again, then pat it out to a final thickness of about ½ inch.
- 9. Using a lightly floured 2¼-inch round cutter, cut the dough into rounds and place on prepared baking sheet, at least an inch apart. Scraps may be gently packed together, patted out to ½-inch thickness once more and cut.
- 10. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until biscuits are well-risen, pale golden on top and a deeper brown on their bottoms. Biscuits are best served within about 6 hours of baking, though a few minutes in the oven or a few seconds in the microwave will revive slightly older biscuits if eaten shortly thereafter.