The secret to tender buttermilk biscuits is a cold truth
You can't beat hot-from-the oven, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside, buttermilk biscuits.
I like mine slathered with sweet butter and molasses, or stuffed with salty country ham. I am not picky: I like them for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner. This summer, I wanted to serve them with fried chicken at a big picnic and pondered how I could make 100 hot, fresh biscuits with everything else that needed to be done.
I decided to experiment with my simple three-ingredient recipe, freeze the biscuits and bake them from frozen. Not only did they bake beautifully from frozen, they baked better. They were the best biscuits that I had ever made. In fact, some of my friends loaded up on the biscuits and forgot the fried chicken.
These biscuits are so simple that anyone can make them. I use self-rising flour, which means that the leavening (what makes things rise) is already in the flour. I add lard and real buttermilk. Once the biscuits are cut and on the cookie sheet, I brush the tops with melted butter before and after baking.
If you have never made biscuits from scratch before, you need to know that biscuit dough is one of those doughs that "feels right" when you are kneading it or rolling it out. What that means is that when it is soft and tender to the touch, not dry and not sticky or too wet, you will know it. I like the flaky tender crumb of a lard biscuit and the lard is very easy to mix in with the flour. Weather affects the humidity of the flour which is why I suggest beginning with 2 cups of flour and ½ cup of buttermilk and adding more of each if necessary until the dough feels right.
Other than that, there are a few tips to making biscuits whether you are baking them fresh or freezing them for later:
• Keep the fat and buttermilk cold
• Cut lard into a small dice. If using butter, grate with a box grater
• Use a blending fork or two knives to cut the fat into the flour
• Don't over-work or over-mix the dough or it will be tough
• Use a floured biscuit cutter and cut straight down, don't twist the cutter
• Preheat the oven so the biscuits begin to rise immediately
• Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter before and after baking
• Elizabeth Karmel is a barbecue and Southern foods expert. She is the chef and pit master at online retailer CarolinaCueToGo.com and the author of three books, including "Taming the Flame."