One or two Bisquits

Perfect at breakfast for two.

I tried for many years to find a good biscuit recipe and failed. This is based on a recipe from Huntley Dent's "The Feast of Santa Fe." I'm not sure why a cookbook of New Mexican cooking has a biscuit recipe. We did fiddle with the recipe for several years before it got to here.

Part of the trick to good biscuits is to treat the dough as it it's breakable. Touch it gently. Coddle it a bit. Pat. Don't knead. (Also expect your biscuits to get better as you practice.)



Set oven to 425 degrees F and stir the following together in a mixing bowl. (Total elapsed time, start to eating, about 15 minutes.)

• 1/2 c flour (Note: later you will put another 1/2 cup on the countertop)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt (= 1 pinch)
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp sugar

Add

• 1 Tbsp butter - Pinch into flour mixture to incorporate it fully. 

Pour in slowly, stirring gently but continuously.

• 1/4 c buttermilk (or so)

Try not to mash it down but use a folding motion to keep it light.


If you haven't already, pile another 1/2 c of flour on the countertop. Pour out the dough on top. Pat down gently. Maybe fold over semi kneading without mashing to incorporate a bit of flour if it's too wet. Then lit it sit for 2 minutes.


Pat flat to about 1" to 1 1/2" thick and either pat into one round biscuit or cut into two biscuits with a table knife. If they are sort of round, the corners don't overcook. Put on thin greased cookie sheet or just a piece of foil greased.


Cook for about 8-11  minutes until slightly brown at 425 degrees.


This recipe works in multiples up to four.Just double, triple or 4X the quantities and follow the same procedure.

• You can use milk with a little lemon juice if you have no buttermilk.
• You can use plain milk if you leave out the baking soda but it's not as tasty.
• Don't use cream in place of buttermilk. They are too crumbly.

Option -- The following ingredient list makes 28 biscuits. This is just enough to fill my large cookie sheet completely. It's a lot of work to pinch in the butter so I use a food processor. You have to do it in two halves as most food processors won't hold 6 cups. Put half of the ingredients in at a time. Mix the dry ingredients. Pulse the food processor to mix. Add the butter. Pulse the food processor a few times to mix it all in. Transfer to a big, old bowl. Repeat and add the buttermilk.

• 6 c flour
• 2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 c butter (or shortening) - 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 2 c buttermilk (+ 1 1/2 cup as needed to get consistency right)

You need about 2 cups of flour on the cabinet top for this number of biscuits. Pour out the dough and fold one or two times but DO NOT KNEAD. Pat gently to 1 1/2 thickness and use a table knife to cut into squares between 1 and 2 inches on a side. Gently round the corners as you transfer them to a cookie sheet. for cooking. Usually you will need the edges to touch to fit them on one sheet. That works pretty well.

Cook 12 to 15 minutes for this quantity.