My Best Buttermilk Biscuits
"Adapted from Peter Reinhart. My sister loves buttermilk biscuits, and this method of letter-folding the dough (like in puff pastry) ensures perfectly flaky layers every time. It’s an extra step, but it is SO worth it!"
photo by YummySmellsca
- Ready In:
- 44mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Yields:
-
10 biscuits
- Serves:
- 10
ingredients
- 5 ounces all-purpose flour, plus some for shaping
- 3 ounces kamut flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon raw sugar
- 2 ounces well chilled butter, cubed
- 3⁄4 cup well-chilled buttermilk, plus extra for brushing
directions
- Heat the oven to 500°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
- Whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the butter cubes and, using your fingers, break them up into the flour until the mixture is filled with pea-sized bits (you should have definite “butter” pieces). Don’t work the butter too hard, it will melt the butter.
- Add the buttermilk and stir until all or most of the flour is absorbed by the buttermilk and the dough forms a coarse, slightly sticky lump.
- Turn out the dough on a well-floured surface.
- With floured hands, press the dough into a ½”-thick rectangle.
- Starting from the shorter ends, letter-fold the dough. Rotate 90°.
- Press out again into a ½”-thick rectangle and repeat the letter-folding (again from the “new” short ends).
- Turn dough 90°, press out and fold one more time. You will have folded a total of three times.
- Press out into a ¾”-thick rectangle.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the rectangle into 10 even pieces. Do not “saw” the dough. If using a glass or biscuit cutter, don’t twist down – it seals all the edges.
- If you are using a cutter, you’ll be able to re-press the scraps about two more times with similar flakiness.
- Place biscuits on the sheet, brush with buttermilk and place in the oven.
- Immediately drop the temperature to 450°F and bake 8 minutes.
- Rotate the pan 180° and bake a further 6 minutes.
- Immediately place biscuits on a wire rack to cool.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Montessori teacher, nutritionist and pastry chef: baking is my passion, but teaching the value of good food to whole families is close to my heart too! I have a passion for re-instilling the love of good-quality, home-made and mostly healthy food into the hearts and kitchens of children and their families today. I believe that any ?homemade? food, even when labelled as naughty, is a more wholesome treat than pre-packaged, cookie-cutter junk.</p>
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