Name: Tremendous Buttermilk Biscuits
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 33 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tbsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1 tbsp granulated sugar; 1 tsp kosher salt; 10 tbsp unsalted butter, very cold; 1 cup cold buttermilk; 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (for brushing); a pinch flaky salt (optional, for topping)

Tremendous Buttermilk Biscuits

Prep

15m

Cook

18m

Total

33m

Bigly says

Listen. We are doing biscuits. Tremendous biscuits. Buttermilk biscuits — flaky, tall, buttery, the kind of biscuit that when you tear it open the steam comes out and you actually have to step BACK because the steam is so impressive, the steam is doing its job, the steam is putting on a SHOW. I've had more biscuits than any person alive. The Scottish had biscuits. The Southerners perfected biscuits. They've been making this since before the printing press. Older than France. Older than Italy. Look it up. I had people look it up. They came back and said, 'Bigly, you were right about the biscuits,' and I said, 'I know.'

The biscuit situation in America is, in my professional opinion, MIXED. There are great biscuits. There are also DISASTERS. You go to a chain restaurant, they hand you a biscuit, it's a hockey puck. It's a paperweight. You could break a WINDOW with that biscuit, you could use it as a wheel chock, you could enter it into evidence in a trial — but you cannot eat it. Sad. Truly sad. And the so-called bakers on TV — the ones in matching aprons, the ones with the big smiles — they tell you to MELT the butter, they tell you to STIR the dough, and the result is a biscuit that doesn't even know it's a biscuit. A confused little dense brick. A loaf, basically. A bread that gave up. If your chef tells you to melt the butter, find a new chef. Period.

These biscuits are DIFFERENT. These biscuits have LAYERS. You pull them apart and they peel like the pages of a book — and yes, I hear myself, but stay with me, it's flaky and it's layered and it's GOOD — and that's because of the cold butter and the folding. The folding. Many people don't know about the folding. The folding is the SECRET, and we're just giving it to you, right here, no nonsense, just the folding. That's the kind of operation we run. Take my word for it.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour(plus more for dusting)
1 tbspbaking powder
1/2 tspbaking soda
1 tbspgranulated sugar
1 tspkosher salt
10 tbspunsalted butter, very cold(freezer cold, not fridge cold, FREEZER)
1 cupcold buttermilk(real buttermilk only)
2 tbspunsalted butter, melted (for brushing)
a pinchflaky salt (optional, for topping)

Steps

1
Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3
Grate the cold butter on the large holes of a box grater directly into the flour. Toss with your fingers to coat the butter shreds — work fast so the butter stays cold.
4
Make a well in the center, pour in the cold buttermilk, and stir with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms. There should be dry bits — that's fine.
5
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rough 1-inch-thick rectangle. Fold it in thirds like a letter, then pat back into a rectangle. Repeat the fold-and-pat 3 more times total. This is what builds the layers.
6
Pat the dough out one final time to about 1-inch thick. Cut with a sharp 2 1/2-inch round cutter, pressing straight down — do not twist (twisting seals the layers).
7
Place biscuits on the baking sheet so they just barely touch — touching biscuits rise taller. Re-pat scraps and cut again; the second batch will be slightly less pretty but still good.
8
Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with flaky salt if using.
9
Bake 16-20 minutes, until the tops are deeply golden and the biscuits are tall and dry-sounding when tapped.
10
Brush again with any remaining melted butter and serve immediately, while the steam still does its dramatic thing.

One more thing

You tear one of these open while it's still hot, you slide a pat of cold butter inside, the butter melts immediately, you add a drizzle of honey or a smear of jam, and you understand — really understand, for the first time — what breakfast was supposed to be all along. The diner can't do this. The drive-thru can't do this. Only you, in your kitchen, with cold butter and the folding. The folding wins. The folding always wins. It's a beautiful thing.

★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★

Ask Bigly about Tremendous Buttermilk Biscuits.

Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

Tremendous Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

Steps

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