My husband is the family bread baker, turning out burnished, crackling sourdough loaves from our Dutch oven on a weekly basis. But biscuits are my domain. And they’re great to make right now, transforming a few pantry staples into buttery, flaky treats.
They are also pretty easy, as long as you don’t overhandle the dough. Just keep reminding yourself that less is more: Less mixing makes a flakier biscuit.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. To make a small batch (six biscuits), stir together a teaspoon each baking soda, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1 ½ cups flour. (I like a mix of mostly all-purpose with a little spelt or whole wheat mixed in for flavor.)
Cut a cold stick of butter into 1/4-inch slices and add to the bowl. Use a pastry cutter or your fingers to smush the butter into the flour, tossing it and breaking up the butter into pea-sized pieces, and smushing them into disks between your fingers. You want to end up with what looks like a bowl of floury butter flakes (because it is a bowl of floury butter flakes). Don’t overdo it. It should be shaggy.
Now measure out 3/4 cup of some kind of sour milk product. Buttermilk is traditional. I used yogurt thinned with milk when I made these, and in a pinch, you can mix whole or nondairy milk with some lemon juice, too.
Stir in the sour milk, a little at a time, until you get a soft, sticky dough. (You might not have to use all of the milk.) Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead it a few times until it comes together. Pat it into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. If you have some heavy cream or melted butter, you can brush it on top, but don’t worry if you don’t. Fold the dough onto itself so it’s an inch thick, and brush with more melted butter or cream, or plain milk. This helps them brown.
Cut into squares and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake until they are beautifully brown and biscuity, 12 to 18 minutes. Serve hot or warm. I slathered mine with cherry butter (which is just softened butter mixed with some cherry jam), but they are good plain, too.
This is part of a weekday series in which Melissa Clark teaches you how to cook with pantry staples. (Other recipes in the series: Tahini omelet. Cold peanut noodles. Crunchy pantry popcorn. Vegetarian skillet chili. Dried beans. Baked oats. Canned tuna pasta. Any-vegetable soup. Pantry crumb cake.)
