Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Cooks Illustrated (January 2006)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Freezer Time: 15 minutes
Roll and Cut Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 15 - 17 minutes

I should be able to speed this up a little bit if I tried this one some more. But, it will never be a super fast recipe.

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

This is my 2nd time with this recipe. I did a little better this time, but I still have room for improvement in my biscuit technique. Although, not perfect, I am so amazed that I can make biscuits that are so flaky.

I have trouble pinching pieces into "nickel-sized" pieces. The pieces start out quarter size, and by the time I have pinched them, they seem more like dime sized. I tried not to get too caught up in the change size comparisons.

This recipe is not simple, like the usual biscuit recipes I make with the food processor, and it does make a bit of mess.











But when you are done you end up with biscuits that are so tall and flaky. They started at 1/2" high but end up almost 2" high when done. They have those nice layers that are fun to pull apart when you are eating them. I used to love to do that when I was little with the Hungry Jack Biscuits my mom would buy.










Ok, so some of them were not so pretty. I am not too experienced at rolling things out, and it showed. I was also not sure about the "invert and transfer rounds to sheet". Turning them upside down revealed my poor rolling and folding job, so I stopped inverting them. Those are the ones that looked better. The inverted ones looked more like this one.











The ugly biscuits still tasted great though. The only problem with this recipe is that they are hard to stop eating. These are really good!

UPDATE: I threw the extra bits of biscuit dough left over after cutting biscuits (you can only reroll the dough one time) onto a pan and froze them. I then stored them in a baggie in the freezer. I cooked them from frozen at 425 for about 15 minutes (I think) and used them for dunking in my tomato soup. They were incredible. I would not say they had the same texture and taste as the biscuits, but they tasted delicious - a little bit like puff pastry actually, just not quite as flaky. I won't waste those extras in the future, knowing this works so well.