Enter The Biscuits
Turkey Day is upon us. I would probably rail against this American tradition, considering it celebrates a not so shining time in American history, because of how badly the Native Americans were treated…if it weren’t for the fact that I like cooking for friends and family so much. And I guess this is why I’ve always done Friends Giving instead. For decades now, any and all stray peoples not welcome within their own families or who had no family, had an open door at my house. It’s kind of a middle finger to tradition, but in a very heart warming way.
Over the years, this has morphed into my larger chosen family. While there’s still the direct turkey donations to families that I know need one, turkey donations to soup kitchens, and whatever else I can get done in the way of charity, my table has gotten chosen family heavy and stray people light. And it’s kind of nagging at me a little bit. But a lot has changed….I’m married now. I, myself, am no longer a stray. And since we’ve been married, this time of year has brought me to a time of reflection on how grateful I am to have had a second chance for love. Because I thought I had my shot and that time was long over. Ok, I am literally sapping out right now as I type this. Discussion change!
I really need to get over myself. And I really need to fix my longing for strays at this time of year, so I’ll work on how to deal with that. In the meantime, I had a biscuit revelation. Before marrying Hubs, my house in the Willamette Valley had no air conditioning. Most homes in Oregon don’t. I know! Shocking, right?! Anyway, I had been making my biscuits by hand blending the butter chunks into the flour and they just weren’t as good as when I made them in my hometown….the land of central air….because the butter wouldn’t stay frozen. The other day, I threw my butter chunks and flour into the food processor. The butter stayed hard, yet reduced in size and the outcome was perfect. I also changed up the buttermilk. I used the 2% fat Bulgarian instead of the lowfat 1%.
So if you’re going to make biscuits on Turkey Day, these are the ones you want….my gramma’s biscuits. I can hear her right now making her noises of approval with a mouthful of biscuit with way too much butter on it. She would close her eyes while chewing slowly and do this faint head nod thing while sitting with her feet tucked under her crosswise on the couch. It’s like she was constantly meditating. With a plate of food. You can see where I get it from.
My Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 sticks frozen butter cut into sugar cube sized chunks
- 1 3/4 cups Bulgarian buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400. Pulse all the dry ingredients together in a food processor. Scatter the butter evenly on top and pulse again until the flour looks crumbly. This only take a few seconds.
- Pour the butter flour mixture into a bowl and add the buttermilk. I use a fork to bring the dough together, which happens within just a few minutes. Then, use your hands to finish melding the buttermilk and flour mix. Resist the urge to over work it. You just want to flip and knead it until there are no more dry pockets and no more wet pockets. The dough should look craggy.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and dust a rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough out to about an inch thick. Cut rounds out using a biscuit cutter or the rim of a drinking glass. I used to use a mason jar because they came in two sizes.
- Place the cut biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until they are light golden brown on top. I give the biscuits a scant spray of canola oil over the top before putting them in the oven...very scant...one quick pass. Gather up the leftover dough, mash it together quickly, roll it out and cut more biscuits until you have no more dough left, being careful not to over work the dough. Serve warm!
