A NEW BISCUIT RECIPE, BREAKING ALL THE RULES!

A flaky and delicious biscuit

I went to the grocery store today with the idea that I would get some soft Southern wheat flour to make biscuits. I wanted to do something new and try to create a recipe that was light, but had a good texture. A biscuit that would hold a piece of ham or pork tenderloin, and could be eaten like a sandwich. I had a specific "design", in mind. Well, the store was out of that flour, so I found a Southern biscuit flour.  I've used it before, and thought, why not. So, I grabbed a bag and came home to make the biscuits. And, that I did. 

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees.

I got my big old yellow Pyrex biscuit bowl out and put in 3 cups of flour (Southern Biscuit Flour-this is self rising flour and already has the soda and baking powder in it). I measured by the dip method. I grated a stick of butter into the flour using the large hole side of the grater.  And, I added a half tablespoon of Rapid Rise Yeast, and tossed the mixture together with a big silver serving spoon. It stayed cold. Since this was an experiment, I had to measure, test and write. So, I alternated cold buttermilk and cold heavy cream, until I used 3/4 cups of each. And, I tossed again with the big silver spoon between each installation of buttermilk and cream. I let the mixture rest a little between each mixing (20 seconds) so the liquid could absorb into the flour. Finally, a moist, slightly stiff dough, which I kneaded in the bowl until it came together really nicely. Remember that old saying about not handling the dough too much? Over the years, I have found that you get just the opposite affect, that it does not make the dough tough. And, that's what happened here. 

At this time, I took out a large black cast iron skillet and added 3 tablespoons of President's butter. I put the skillet it in the oven to melt the butter and get VERY hot. 

Now, I am ready to roll some dough, so I put down on the counter-top,  two large pieces of plastic wrap, and sprinkled some flour down. I put the dough on the flour, coated my French rolling pin with flour and rolled the dough out to 1/2-inch thickness. I cut out 10 biscuits using a 2-1/2 inch cutter.  I only had to re-roll the dough once, which gave me 2 1/2 biscuits. I put the biscuits in a stack, then took the hot skillet out of the oven, spread the melted butter around the skillet and dipped the top of each biscuit in the butter and then turned it over so the buttered side was on top. I put the first batch in the oven and baked for about 6 minutes. At that time I checked to see how done and they were almost finished, so I turned the broiler on. My skillet is 3 rungs up from the bottom in my oven, so I watched the biscuits carefully, as the top of the biscuits browned and finished cooking.  I had those 2 1/2 biscuits left over, so I handled them exactly the same way. IT WORKED PERFECTLY! These were by far the best biscuits I've ever made.

The idea was to use some of my raspberry-pecan-herb pork tenderloin from my New Year's Day dinner, and put it between a good biscuit and smear with some horseradish sauce and Bradford Family Molasses.  It was all just perfect.

I have not copied this biscuit recipe from anyone or any recipe, so I hope you can follow my long, drawn out directions and that you are as successful as I was.