My Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits 
(Photo by Amy Bradt)

These buttermilk biscuits from Southern Living are bona fide!  Soft and flaky, they are great with creamy sausage gravy, or with just plain butter and jam.

Recipe by: Amy Bradt                                                                           Yield: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), frozen

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup chilled buttermilk
Parchment paper
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 475°. Grate frozen butter using large holes of a box grater. Toss together grated butter and flour in a medium bowl. Chill 10 minutes.

Make a well in center of mixture. Add buttermilk, and stir 15 times. Dough will be sticky.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly sprinkle flour over top of dough. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle (about 9 x 5 inches). Fold dough in half so short ends meet. Repeat rolling and folding process 4 more times.

Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2-inch floured round cutter, reshaping scraps and flouring as needed.

Place dough rounds on a parchment paper-lined jelly-roll pan. Bake at 475° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with melted butter.

Notes

For Crunchy-Bottomed Biscuits: Warm a cast-iron skillet in the oven, and spread a bit of butter in the skillet before adding the biscuits. The bottoms will end up crunchy and golden brown and provide a sturdy base that holds up to a smothering of sausage gravy.
For Pickle Biscuits: Stir 4 Tbsp. drained dill pickle relish into buttermilk before adding to flour mixture. Split baked biscuits, and top with ham and mustard for the World's Best Ham Sandwich.