The weekend before Thanksgiving, my friends and I gather outside New York City with our partners and families for a weekend-long Friendsgiving. I look forward to this weekend each fall, and feel so grateful for this time together with so many people I love.
This biscuit recipe has become highly anticipated and requested for our Thanksgiving feasts, but are truly great year-round. It makes the flakiest biscuits perfect for a Thanksgiving feast or an easy breakfast the morning after. I love to make them the day before for one less thing to do in the morning. Don’t forget to brush the tops with another dose of buttermilk for beautifully crisp and golden brown tops.
If you make these, let me know what you think (and tag @palermobody if you take delicious photos). Buon appetito!
Jess’s Buttermilk Biscuits
MAKES 15
Ingredients
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sugar
4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into small pieces (I use salted butter but you can use unsalted if you prefer)
1½ cups chilled buttermilk, plus more for brushing
Instructions
- Place the baking rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 425°F.
- Cut butter into roughly half-inch cubes and put back in the fridge to keep cold.
- Whisk salt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and 4 cups flour in a large bowl.
- Add butter and work it into the dry ingredients, smashing and flattening the cubes between your fingers, tossing to coat the pieces with flour. Continue until all cubes have been worked into a mixture of flat quarter-size pieces and some smaller pea-size pieces.
- Add 1½ cups buttermilk and stir the mixture with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms. Don’t overwork the dough.
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead twice, three times at most, to incorporate any loose pieces. Pat dough into a 12x8" rectangle.
- Using a large knife, cut the rectangle in half crosswise, then stack one piece on top of the other. Cut the dough in half crosswise again and stack one piece on top of the other. (This process will build the flaky layers into your biscuits.)
- Pat dough out into a 12x8" rectangle again. Cut into 15 even pieces (you should have a grid of 5 on the long sides and 3 on the short sides).
- Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing evenly. If making these the night before, leave them covered in the fridge overnight. If baking right away put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to help chill butter prior to going in the oven.
- Before baking, brush the top of each biscuit lightly with buttermilk and bake, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until golden brown, 20-26 minutes depending on the oven.
