Carey's Old Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits
Through much trial and error, I finally came up with this tried and true recipe for old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits, and they are truly awesome when done correctly. They are great with almost any meal and also for breakfast, as in biscuits and gravy, or breakfast sandwiches, etc. It really does make them that much better when you lightly brush the tops with butter when they come right out of the oven.
Through much trial and error, I finally came up with this tried and true recipe for old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits, and they are truly awesome when done correctly. They are great with almost any meal and also for breakfast, as in biscuits and gravy, or breakfast sandwiches, etc. It really does make them that much better when you lightly brush the tops with butter when they come right out of the oven.
- Carbohydrate 30.758536 g
- Cholesterol 25.404 mg
- Fat 9.823276 g
- Fiber 1.22818001793623 g
- Protein 4.8707 g
- Saturated Fat 6.0356298 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (76g)
- Sodium 279.4438 mg
- Sugar 29.5303559820638 g
- Trans Fat 0.779040800000002 g
- Calories 231 calories
Step-by-step
- Blend all dry ingredients together in large bowl by hand.
- Cut in butter until you have small pea size. ( you should be able to make a ball of it firm in your palm and when slightly touched it falls apart ) thats how you know its just right.
- Add in buttermilk a littkle at a time, its possible you may need tio add a tad bit more. , carefully mix this together.. REMEMBER!!! the trick to great biscuits is to play with the dough as little as possible...
- Now turn dough out on a floured surface and carefully roll it out to a quarter to 1/2 inch thick, using biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
- Let rest 10 minutes, place on oven and bake 15- 20 minutes at 375 degrees, or until internal temp is 195 degrees.
- Butter tops when they come out and let cool a bit. enjoy!!
Producing sixty biscuits from a single mixing session requires strict temperature control, as ambient kitchen heat will quickly soften three cups of cold butter before it can be integrated into the flour. Keeping the fat solid is the single most critical factor in achieving flaky layers, because pockets of steam form when the solid butter melts inside a 375-degree oven. Working with fifteen cups of flour also demands a wide, shallow mixing vessel or even dividing the dry ingredients across two bowls to ensure the baking powder and baking soda distribute evenly without creating soapy pockets of unreacted leavening.
When cutting butter into flour manually, stop the process precisely when the mixture resembles small peas that can hold a temporary shape in the palm before collapsing under light pressure. Pouring in the five and a half cups of buttermilk gradually prevents overhydration, which activates excess gluten development and yields tough, rubbery bread rather than tender crumb. Because chemical leaveners react immediately upon contact with the acid in dairy, getting the shaped dough onto the greased cookie sheet and into the heat source without unnecessary delay preserves maximum lift. Letting the cut rounds rest for ten minutes relaxes the gluten network just enough to allow proper expansion during the fifteen to twenty minute baking window.
Scaling this formulation down for a smaller household is straightforward if ratios are maintained accurately, though dividing dry ingredients containing large quantities of leavening agents requires a digital scale to prevent measuring errors. Using fresh buttermilk provides live lactic acid that reacts vigorously with the baking soda, whereas pasteurized or extended-shelf-life alternatives may produce a slightly muted rise due to pasteurization heat altering the serum proteins. Brushing melted butter across the golden crust immediately upon extraction from the oven seals in residual moisture and softens the exterior crust as the temperature drops toward room conditions.
