BUTTERMILK BISCUIT BLISS

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the stick of butter in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Whisk to combine.

Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater.  Sprinkle the grated butter over the flour mixture and toss with your fingers so the butter is evenly distributed throughout the flour (not in clumps).  Add one cup of the cold buttermilk to the bowl and mix with a fork until just barely combined and the dough begins to form clumps – do not over mix.

Dust your countertop and your fingers with flour and dump the dough, including the crumbling parts, onto the counter.  There will be wet and dry parts to the dough which is fine.  Press everything together with your hands into a rectangle that is approximately ½” thick all over, pushing the crumbly parts into the rectangle.  Fold the rectangle in half (on top of itself), pushing everything together again, creating a square.  Dust with flour if the dough is sticky.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough back into a ½” thick rectangle (push any escape pieces of dough back into the rectangle with your hands).  Repeat this process, folding the dough in half, and then rolling it back into a ½” thick rectangle. Do this 6 times – this is creating layers for a flaky biscuit!   Move quickly and do not overwork or heat the dough with your hands. After the last fold, roll the dough into a 1” thick rectangle and cut as many biscuits as possible (this will vary depending the size of your biscuit cutter).  When you cut the biscuits, just push the cutter down quickly in one motion.  Do not twist the cutter, as you push down into the dough, which will ruin the layering of the dough and its ability to rise.  Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.  The biscuits must be touching each other  on the parchment (important).

Take the excess scraps and form into another 1” thick piece of dough and continue, until you have cut as many biscuits as possible.  Place any leftover scraps on the baking sheet (these won’t be pretty, but they will still be yummy!).

Brush the tops of the biscuits with the remaining buttermilk and bake for 10 minutes.  Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and brush the tops of the biscuits.  Bake for another 4-6 minutes until biscuits are lightly browned.

Serve warm with butter and jam!