Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients:
| 1¼ | cups butter, very cold |
| 3½ | cups all-purpose flour (White Lily recommended) |
| 2 | tablespoons sugar |
| 2 | teaspoons salt |
| 1 | tablespoon baking powder |
| ½ | teaspoon baking soda |
| 1 | cup cold whole buttermilk |
| 1 | egg, beaten (optional) |
| flaked sea salt (optional) | |
Grate butter and chill until very cold. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in grated butter until coated and crumbly. Pour in buttermilk and stir until mixture holds together in a shaggy dough. Don’t overwork the dough.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rectangle, wrap, and chill for 15 minutes. Cut dough into even quarters, stack them, and pat down into a rectangle again. Chill for another 10 minutes. Repeat the quarter, stack, pat, and chill process.
Preheat oven to 425° F. Cut and stack the fourths once more, and roll out dough to 1‑inch thick. Cut rounds using a 3‑inch cutter dipped in flour. (Re-roll scraps to cut additional biscuits, but these won’t have the same loft as the first cuts.)
Place biscuits on a baking sheet with at least an inch between. Freeze about 10 minutes until cold. For the best finish on stand-alone biscuits, brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake at 425° F until tops are a light golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.