Farmhouse Buttermilk Biscuits

It’s Sunday morning, and I have been up before the dawn. Sipping yet another piping hot cup of freshly pressed Almond Coffee, I’m chatting with Kiddo while searching through my collection of breakfast recipes. This is no ordinary Sunday. It’s football season. That means Green Bay at New England and Sunday dinner wolfed down in front of the big screen TV.

Just for the record, I am NOT a fan of football. I am not a fan of any competition, since I don’t understand the need to compete and the purpose of “winning” at the expense of someone else loosing. I don’t understand the point of any competition unless the end results are that competing brings out our best efforts, and that everyone benefits. I don’t understand is the need to “beat” others. That is not to say I have not ambition. I compete all the time – with myself. This is especially true in the kitchen – always striving to create something better, to be more creative in general. This morning I am looking for a breakfast meal that can be built around Bratwurst Sausage Patties. Like I said, it’s football season and the Green Bay Packers are set to take the field this evening. Hubby believes in the power of Bratwurst – the official food of his beloved Packers. I’ve decided to take no chances. Sausage patties for breakfast just to get that bratwurst mojo going in the right direction.

We stopped at a Grocery Outlet Store just to take a look around. Shopping at a Grocery Outlet Store is always fun. You never know what you might find on the shelves, refrigerated sections or among the frozen foods. Their inventory changes constantly. Basics such as milk, breads and eggs can always be had. Everything else depends upon availability. Their shelves are stocked with surplus items or rejects. (French Fries for example are not long slices of potatoes but rather the stuff left at the bottom of the bags). Some of the canned goods are labeled in foreign languages, and only the pictures on the cans reveal what might be lurking inside. Even name-brand items aren’t necessarily what you might find in other stores. I could be wrong, but it seems some of what is sold are mistakes that can be sold cheaply through an outlet. Soups taste saltier. Once we bought boxed Macaroni and Cheese. Inside were elbow macaroni but no packets of cheese. Hey, what do you want for fifty cents a box? It’s always an adventure. Anyway, as luck would have it, I was able to get a box of the Johnsonville Bratwurst Grillers. Rather than serve them up like a burger, I decided these would make a great side of sausage for breakfast. Bratwurst has a distinct flavor. I needed to build my breakfast around that unique taste. Bratwurst and pancakes or waffles or French Toast simply wasn’t happening – the flavors would not blend well – not when you poured on the syrup. Biscuits – now that’s something you could serve along-side the Bratwurst patties. Yeah, biscuits and scrambled eggs.

I read through my collection of from-scratch biscuit recipes, deciding to combine the basic ingredients of one recipe (with just a little fine-tuning) with the cutting technique of another. One of the steps in making biscuits that I have always found to be a pain is cutting the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is tiny bits about the size of peas. One of my recipes, centuries old Southern recipe has only been changed once – using frozen butter that is grated with a cheese grater. Hey, I’m all in favor of trying a new method. We stock up on butter whenever it’s a good deal, and keep it in the freezer. There are several pounds of butter in the freezer as we speak. Together, we’ll see what the end results produce. Shall we do a little baking?

Farmhouse Buttermilk Biscuits
2-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoon sugar
1 Pinch of Salt
1-1/2 sticks of butter, frozen
3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Note: The night before, place butter into the freezer. Go ahead and freeze 2 sticks rather than open one to cut in half. It isn’t going to affect the butter to freeze it. While I still had to cut the butter into the flour mixture, it was faster and easier to work with grated frozen butter.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place cheese grater into the freezer to get it good and cold. This will help keep the butter cold.

Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl.  Set aside.

Working with 1/2 a stick of frozen butter at a time, grate using a cheese grater into small curls of butter. (Leave remaining butter in freezer until ready to grate). Add the butter to the flour mixture. Quickly cut cold butter into flour mixture using a wire pastry cutter or two knives. Continue to rapidly work in the butter until it is about the size of peas.

Add the buttermilk. Using a fork, stir buttermilk into flour mixture until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overwork or the resulting biscuits will be tough.

Gather the dough together into a ball and working on a lightly floured surface, pat out into a disk that is about 1 inch thick. (It’s okay if the top cracks a little or if the biscuits are a little lumpy.  These are home-baked Farmhouse Biscuits – minor imperfections are part of their charm). With a 2-inch cutter, cut dough into 10 biscuits. You should be able to get about 6 biscuits with first disk, reform and get a few more. Reform dough no more than twice after first cut to avoid over-handling.

Place about an inch apart on a stone baking pan that has been lightly brushed with olive oil.  Bake biscuits on the center rack of the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm with more butter and your favorite jams or honey.

Note – A Pinch: Once upon a time I use to wonder what is a pinch? Is my pinch like your pinch? Then I came across the best addition to my measuring spoon collection – eliminating the pinches and dabs and smidgens – yeah, it has a spoon for that. Truth is, most of the time I don’t use them, I just like the idea of these tiny measuring spoons. Too cute to resist.

Note – Buttermilk: To use regular milk in place of buttermilk, add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to the 3/4 cup of whole milk. Let sit for a few minutes, then chill well before using.