Cowboy Biscuits
According to a Cowboy Chef
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter
- 3 1/4 cups Cups All Purpose Flour - Cold
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1½ cups Buttermilk, well shaken
- Sea salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- The layered biscuit effect is created by folding the dough 3 times before portioning out your biscuits, but the secret to its success is chilling the main ingredients. I freeze the butter and flour beforehand and keep the buttermilk in the fridge until just ready to use it.
- Start the process by grating the frozen butter onto a sheet of parchment paper. Put this back into the freezer while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
- Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the other dry ingredients,giving it a good stir to incorporate well. Get the frozen butter out and add it to the dry ingredients. Mix it with your fingertips (or a pair of forks)to coat the butter with the mixed dry ingredients until its completely mixed in the add about *half of the buttermilk and work it into the flour/butter mix using your fingertips, add the the balance and continue to mix until the ‘dough’ comes together in a shaggy irregular shape and all flour mix is incorporated (leaving no floury residue at the bottom of the bowl). Dough will be a little sticky and unsmooth at this point.
- Turn the rough dough out onto a lightly floured surface (I use a large wooden cutting board) and shape the rough dough into a rectangle about 8x12 inches in shape, using your hands. The dough will be 2-3 inches thick. Now give the dough a 3-fold – fold the right 1/3 of the dough to the middle, then fold the left 1/3 of the dough on top of it– making a ‘book fold’. Press the dough down to flatten it and reshape to 8x12 inch rectangle again. Pressing the dough down to about 2-3 inches and reshaping it into the rectangle for the next fold will begin to smooth the dough out. Fold it again into thirds like the first time, press down and reshape into a rectangle, and fold a 3rd time. You may have to use a pastry scraper to peel the dough off the working surface. By this point your dough will be much smoother in texture and is ready to cut into edible shapes. I like to use a large chef’s knife to cut the dough into thirds long ways then make four cuts across the middle to create 15 biscuits.
- Transfer the biscuits to a sheet pan being careful not to pinch/handle the edges of the biscuit dough as that will hinder the rising and layering while baking. Bake for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees and check for color (golden brown). Note: if you pull them a little early and find they are too doughy in the middle, just put them back in the oven for 2-3 more minutes.
Video
Notes
*Note: For a great variation on this recipe, kick it up a notch with this: Before adding the buttermilk, mix in 8 oz of shredded sharp cheese, ½ tsp of cayenne and 1 ½ tsp of garlic powder.