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 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 1/2 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:
PRAISE THE LARD BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Servings: 15
Start to finish: 30 minutes (Inactive time: 15 minutes)
2 1/4 cups self-rising flour, divided
1/4 cup cold (1 stick) lard (or cold butter that you grate with a box grater in a pinch)
1/2-3/4 cup real buttermilk
1 stick salted butter, melted
(Chef’s Note: If making in advance to freeze, follow recipe up until you brush tops with melted butter. Place on a piece of parchment on a tray and place in freezer without any wrap. Let freeze; when biscuits are completely frozen, slide parchment paper and biscuits into a heavy-duty freezer bag. If bag is too small, fold the piece of parchment paper and place in bag with frozen biscuits. That way, you will have the parchment to bake them on in the bag. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425 F and bake until tops are brown and biscuits are done, about 15-17 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven.)
Nutrition information per serving: 149 calories; 89 calories from fat; 10 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 20 mg cholesterol; 256 mg sodium; 13 g carbohydrate; 0 g fiber; 0 g sugar; 2 g protein.
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