Alton Brown Southern Biscuit Recipes

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS: RELOADED

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450ºF.
• In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Working quickly (so the fats don't melt), use your fingertips to rub the lard and butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
• Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough just begins to come together. It will be very sticky. While it's still in the bowl, fold the dough over on itself two times so that it picks up any remaining flour, and then turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface.
• Dust the top of the dough with flour and, with floured hands, gently fold the dough over itself eight more times, turning one quarter turn between each folding motion. Press dough into a 1-inch-thick round. Cut out biscuits with a floured 2 1/2-inch cutter, being sure to press straight down through the dough without twisting. Flour the cutter between cuts.
• Center biscuits on a baking sheet, shoulder to shoulder, so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible, and continue cutting until you have 8 biscuits total.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees in the oven and continue baking until tall and lightly gold on top, 8 to 12 more minutes.
• Remove the biscuits to a bowl lined with a clean kitchen towel and fold towel over to preserve warmth and steam. Serve with butter and jam, or mustard and thin-cut ham, or sausage patties or just... eat them.

SOUTHERN BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Whisk together the 12 ounces flour, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt in a large mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the butter and shortening into the dry goods until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the middle of this mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Stir with a large spoon until the dough just comes together. Then knead in the bowl until all the flour has been taken up.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, then start folding the dough over on itself, gently kneading for 30 seconds, or until the dough is soft and smooth. Press the dough into a 1-inch thick round. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out biscuits, being sure to push the cutter straight down through the dough to the work surface before twisting to "punch" out the biscuit. Make your cuts as close together as possible to limit waste.
• Place the biscuits on a half sheet pan so they just barely touch. Reroll any scraps and punch out as many biscuits as possible. Use your thumb to create a shallow dimple in the top center of each biscuit and bake until the biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the biscuits out into a kitchen towel-lined basket and cool slightly before serving.

SOUTHERN BISCUITS

Steps:

• 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.