Poppin’ Powder Biscuits

Yield: 8-10 biscuits

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2 ¼ cups flour

 

¼ cup corn starch

 

2 teaspoons baking powder

 

½ teaspoon baking soda

 

1 ¼ teaspoons coarse pickling salt

 

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, grated and frozen

 

¾ cup + 2 buttermilk

 

1 large egg

 

2 Tablespoons cold water

 

Dusting flour

 

 

 

Accompaniments:

 

Butter

 

Jam

 

Honey

 

Molasses

 

Maple syrup

 

Sausage rounds

 

Bacon

 

Ham

 

Speckling gravy

 

Brown gravy

 

Fried egg

 

Egg salad

 

Chicken salad

 

Trimmings 

 

Whipped cream with fruit (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, sliced macerated peaches, &/or sliced strawberries)

 

 

 

Process:

 

Place a rolling pin, preferably marble, in the ice box overnight.

 

The biscuits can be made in a muffin tin or flat on a baking sheet. To make biscuits in a muffin tin, butter the inside of 10 muffin cups. To make flat biscuits, cover a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.

 

Sift the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, twice.

 

Use a fork or opposing dinner knife blades* to cut the frozen butter into the flour until the butter is evenly dispersed throughout the flour.

 

Use a fork to stir in the buttermilk, just until the flour mixture is moistened.

 

Flour your hands and gather the dough into a ball. If the dough will not gather, add a tablespoon of milk, one at a time, until the dough works. Do not overwork the dough or the result will be tough biscuits.

 

On a lightly floured surface, gently roll the dough out to 1/2” thick, using, sparingly, flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking.

 

Cut the dough into thirds and stack the three sections on top of each other.

 

Roll the dough out again to about 1” thick.

 

Cut off 1/3 cup measures of the dough, roll into a ball and place in the buttered muffin cups or for flat biscuits, cut each biscuit with a 2 1/4″ biscuit cutter and place on the prepared parchment paper.  Gather the scraps, shape into a sheet and cut additional biscuits.  

 

Freeze the biscuits for 30 minutes.

 

While the biscuits are chilling, position a rack in the top third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

 

Whisk together the egg and cold water until frothy in a bowl.

 

At the end of the 30 minutes, use a pastry brush to lightly cover the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash.

 

Bake the biscuits until golden brown on top, about 15 minutes.  Biscuits are done when the center is cooked through and no longer a soft dough.

 

Cool biscuits for 5 minutes.

 

Serve in a covered bread basket with any desired accompaniments.

 

 

 

*Pastry cutters/blenders were not invented until the early 1900s.