Bird-Head Buttermilk Biscuits
As far as biscuit recipes go this one may well end up at the top of the list. Brothers Matt and Ted Lee, cookbook authors and contributors to The New York Times, are a terrific source of recipes of Southern specialties and staples (Boiled Peanuts, Red Velvet Cake) as influenced by their childhood in South Carolina. Bring a little bit of their inspired Southern charm to your dining table this holiday season with these Bird-Head Buttermilk Biscuits. Just make sure there is nothing impeding the way of guests hands (flying arms) between the basket of biscuits and plates. Eat alone or dab up a bit of gravy with, and of course continue to enjoy leftovers (if there are any) the next day as wedged into these delightful bits of bread and butter.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour or 2 cups sifted bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for your work surface and hands
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into several pieces
2 Tbsp cold lard or vegetable shortening, cut into several pieces
3/4 cup cold whole or lowfat buttermilk (preferably whole)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400.
In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly with a fork. Transfer to a food processor fitted with chopping blade. Add the butter and lard and pulse the mixture in 2-second increments until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces, about 5 pulses. (If you don’t have a food processor, cut the fats into the dry ingredients in a bowl by mashing with a fork, a whisk, or a pastry blender; it will take about 3 minutes.)
Transfer the mixture back to the bowl, pour the buttermilk over it, and mix with the fork for about 1 minute, until the dough just comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured board, knead with floured fingers once or twice, and pat it into a rectangle about 6 x 10 inches and 1 inch thick.
Fold the rightmost third of the rectangle over the center third and fold the left third on top. Turn the dough a quarter turn, pat it into a 6-x-10-inch rectangle, and fold it upon itself in thirds again. Repeat one more time, then pat the dough into a 6-x-10-inch rectangle about 1 inch thick.
Using a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter (or an upside-down shot glass), cut the biscuits from the dough and place them about 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops just begin to brown.
Serve the biscuits warm, with butter, eggs and bacon, or with artichoke relish and a sliver of country ham.
