Buttermilk Biscuits (from Alton Brown)
"Alton Brown Biscuits - one of Alton Brown's best recipes."
Serves | Prep Time | Cook TimeWhy I Love This Recipe
made these on Thanksgiving and they were the best biscuits I've ever had. The trick is to use 3 parts All Purpose flour and 1 part cake flower. It makes a big difference!!
Ingredients You'll Need
2 cups flour (3 parts All Purpose flour and 1 part cake flour)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter (I used butter flavored Crisco)
2 tablespoons shortening (I used regular Crisco)
1 cup buttermilk, chilled
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 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.