Amanda’s Bodacious Biscuits

June 7th, 2010

This is a guest recipe from my very glamorous and philanthropic friend, Amanda Polk.Who knew the girl could bake such a mean Southern biscuit?!! After a trip home to Kentucky, she vowed to master biscuit-baking and prove that though she is now a “city girl”, she’s still got plenty of Southern soul! She made biscuits for her family every morning for almost a week, and finally nailed it with this recipe. She even took the time to bake an extra batch to bring me some at our lunch today! She told me all her tricks, which I’ve noted in italics. Please don’t think you and skimp and get by with not following these directions to the letter, Ladies. Every bit of this really DOES matter if you aim for a fluffy sky-high Southern biscuit! Good luck and do let me know how it goes!

- Miss A

Ingredients:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour- unsifted- Preferably White Lily brand (which means yes, you need to run to the store and pick some up. Other flour simply won’t do! In the South, you’ll find this flour anywhere, in Washington, you’ll find it at Harris-Teeter!)

* 1 tablespoon baking powder

* 1 tablespoon white sugar

* 1/3 cup butter-very cold

* 1. cup buttermilk-very cold (If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute 1 cup of milk with 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar. Buttermilk gives a better flavor. Again, Ladies, splurge and pick up some buttermilk while you’re at the Harris-Teeter. )

* Crisco

8 Inch Cake Pan

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease baking pan (cake pan or brownie pan is best as the sides help make the biscuits rise according to Amanda, so use one of those) with Crisco.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and sugar.

3. In a food processor, shred butter. Add flour and blending blade. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

4. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead NO MORE THAN 5 times. Pat dough out to 1 inch thick slab. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour.

Per, Amanda, do not twist as you cut the biscuits, as this will seal the sides, which causes them not to rise as high! Make your cuts close together because you can’t take the scraps and piece them together for another biscuit or two. Handling the dough too much keeps them from rising!

Stack one round on top of another (doubling them is the trick), placing biscuits close together onto an greased baking pan with 2 inch sides.

5. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown. You will want to put them high up in the oven to keep the bottom of the pan as far away from the coils as possible, so that the bottom won’t burn, per Amanda.

6. Butter the tops with a small pat of butter and let sit for a minute.