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Hot Crusty Buttermilk Biscuits

Source of Recipe

From "The Gift of Southern Cooking" by Edna Lewis


Recipe Introduction

"Here are the secrets to a great biscuit: soft Southern flour such as White Lily; Homemade Baking Powder (recipe follows); good, fresh, very cold lard; good, fresh, very cold buttermilk - and a very hot oven. Work the fat into the flour with your fingers; stir together and knead the dough as little as possible; don't twist the biscuit cutter when stamping out biscuits; and, finally, place them on the baking sheet as close together as you can without touching."

List of Ingredients

• 5 cups sifted White Lily flour (measured after sifting)
• 1 Tbsp plus ½ teaspoon Homemade Baking Powder (recipe follows)
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• ½ cup (¼ pound) packed lard, chilled
• 1¼ cups buttermilk
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted


Recipe

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Put the flour, homemade baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl, and whisk well to blend thoroughly. Add the lard, and, working quickly, coat it in flour and rub between your fingertips until approximately half the lard is finely blended and the other half remains in large pieces, about ½ inch in size. Pour in the buttermilk, and stir quickly just until the dough is blended and begins to mass.

Turn the dough immediately out onto a floured surface, and with floured hands knead briskly eight to ten times, until it becomes cohesive.

Gently flatten the dough with your hands to a disk of even thinness, then, using a floured rolling pin, roll it out to a uniform thickness of ½ inch. With a dinner fork dipped in flour, pierce the dough completely through at ½-inch intervals. Lightly flour a 2½- or 3-inch biscuit cutter and stamp out rounds, without twisting the cutter in the dough. Cut the biscuits from the dough as close together as you can, for maximum yield. Transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet, placing them so that they just barely kiss. Don't reroll the scraps. Just arrange them around the edge of the sheet, and bake them - cook's treat.

Put the baking sheet immediately on the center rack of the preheated oven. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, checking after 6 minutes or so, and turning the pan if needed for even baking. When the biscuits are golden brown, remove from the oven and brush the tops with the melted butter.

Makes about fifteen 2½-inch biscuits.


Homemade Baking Powder:

• ¼ cup cream of tartar
• 2 Tbsp baking soda

Sift the ingredients together 3 times, and transfer to a clean, tight-sealing jar. Store at room temperature, away from sunlight, for up to 6 weeks.