Muffins and Biscuits

I love making breads. 

I've always been good at making biscuits. I usually use my Grandma Ashley's biscuit recipe. I've even dared, in the past, to put my Grandma Ashley's biscuit recipe up against other people's biscuits (see my post from September of 2012, The Pioneer Woman vs. Grandma).

I was happy to snag a copy of Heidi Gibson's Muffins and Biscuits from Chronicle Books at last year's BookExpo in New York City. This week, I finally got a chance to try the recipe I've always wanted to try: Ultra-Flaky Biscuits.

The result? Amazing flavor. Light buttery layers. The best biscuits I've ever tasted.

Here's the recipe. 

ULTRA-FLAKY BISCUITS

14 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 3/4 cups flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

1 egg

3/4 c. buttermilk

1. In a large bowl, toss the butter with 1 Tbsp. flour until evenly coated. Put in a small bowl and place in freezer for about 10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.

2. In the same large bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk.

3. Remove the butter from the freezer, add it to the flour mixture, and toss gently with a wooden spoon until the butter is evenly distributed. Cut the butter into the flour with a knife until marble-size chunks of butter are visible.

4. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and toss gently until the dough just starts to clump together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the flour to fully hydrate. 

5. Dust the countertop with flour. Scrape out the dough from the bowl. Coat your hands with flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 3/4 inches thick, with the long side about twice as long as the short side. Starting at one of the short ends, carefully fold the dough into thirds. Turn the dough so the open end is facing you, and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into another 1/2 inch thick rectangle and fold into thirds like the first time. Repeat the turning, rolling, and folding two more times. Wrap in plastic and return to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

7. Use the biscuit cutter dipped in flour between each cut and press straight down without twisting and cut out as many biscuits as possible. Gather the scraps, press them together, and preroll to cut as many additional biscuits as possible. (The biscuits from the second set may not be as pretty as the first, but they will be just as delicious.) 

8. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet. Bake until puffed and golden brown, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, 12 to 15 minutes.

I love all the additional helpful comments the author includes in the recipe. If you are a baker, you really should get the book.

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