Biscuit Sunday

I've tried for some time to find a good biscuit recipe. I like my biscuits buttery flaky and easy to make and I don't cook with shortening. This recipe has never failed me yet and is easy to experiment with. Try it out and let me know if you like it.

2.5 cups of all purpose flour (I like King Arthur)
2.5 teaspoons of baking powder
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) chilled and firm.
3/4 cup of milk
1 egg lightly beaten

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. In a large bowl mix your dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Depending on my mood I use up to one cup of whole wheat flour in this mix, but the recipe is great with all white flour too. Cut the butter up into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Using your hands, break up the butter into pea sized pieces (similar to a pie crust method) and incorporate evenly into the dry mix. It should look like crumbs. Add the milk and stir with a fork, pulling the dough off of the sides of a bowl. The dough is pretty dry at this point. Add the egg and using your hands incorporate it evenly into the dough, pulling up all the dry bits from the bottom of the bowl.

Don't get overzealous in your kneading, just a few folds will do it. The less you worry the dough the better! Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter if you are so inclined, I just use an inverted juice glass. Remember to roll up the dough scraps and keep cutting out more rounds. Biscuits from the second pass will not rise as high as the first so try to be as efficient as possible in your first cutting.
Place them on an ungreased baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Bake until tall and lightly browned 15-20 minutes.



I have no recollection as to where I found this recipe, but props to whomever posted it first!