Southern-style Biscuits
I grew up in Maryland – the state of Old Bay, crabs, the Orioles, the best state flag, and not knowing whether you should call yourself northern or southern. Since I left for college, though, I can more assuredly say that I've been in the South. I was in Virginia for a while, then in Alabama, and now I'm back in Virginia. Throughout this time, I've grown to love and appreciate a lot of Southern cuisine, some of which I've had a hard time recreating in my own kitchen. Sweet tea may be pretty easy, but biscuits are more of a challenge. Enter Paula Deen!
In honor of 241 years of the United States' independence, I wanted to post about a classic American food this week: homemade biscuits, best consumed smothered with butter! Biscuits are a classic Southern food that can be served alongside any meal or feature in the main dish themselves (like with biscuits and gravy, or even eggs benedict – yes, I love breakfast foods).
I've opted for a non-buttermilk biscuit recipe mainly because I never have buttermilk on hand. Like I mentioned before, I wasn't raised on southern food, so I don't feel the absolute need to make buttermilk biscuits. I'm sure one day down the road I'll give them a try, but in the meantime I have a recipe that works! (Side note: There are easy buttermilk substitutes, but in a recipe like this with so few ingredients, I'd rather not have to substitute one.)
Keep in mind with these, as with any other recipe you'll find for biscuits, you'll need to do a little folding of the dough to get those flaky layers. I'm still working on perfecting this, so not all my biscuits look as picturesque as the ones above. About half of mine weren't so pretty. Practice makes perfect, though, so just keep making biscuits until you've got them perfected and you've doubled your weight from all the butter consumption. No regrets!
SOUTHERN-STYLE BISCUITS (from Paula Deen)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 cup flour, plus a little extra to flour a cutting board
1 T baking powder
1 t sugar
1 t salt
8 T butter, cold
~3/4 cup milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 F. Cube your butter into smaller pieces. Use a tiny bit to grease a cast iron skillet pan, and set the pan aside for now.
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut the cubed butter into the dry mixture. Then push this dough mixture to the outsides of the bowl and clear a well in the center. Slowly add milk into the well, and knead dough as you go. You may need just under 3/4 c, so be sure to add the milk a little at a time – I didn't need the full amount. Fold the dough over as you knead to help form the layers of the biscuit.
Lightly flour your countertop or a cutting board, and press out the finished dough. The thickness will depend on your preferences – just make sure it's as uniform as you can get it, and keep in mind that baking the biscuit will about double the height. Cut biscuits out of the dough using either a biscuit cutter or a greased cup or knife. Arrange the biscuits in the buttered skillet you prepared earlier.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. I recommend serving with honey (because I have a vicious sweet tooth), and feel free to spread more butter over them if you'd like!
Happy Eating,
Natalie