We are southerners, both born and raised in Tennessee and now living in Georgia. Biscuits are a southern staple and a staple in our home.
Scratch made biscuits are so easy to make!
Thanks to our milk cows, we have an abundance of butter to slather on hot biscuits as well as fresh buttermilk – a byproduct of that butter making – complete with globs of butter to make (the best) biscuits with.
I always tell people who ask about making butter “Don’t toss the buttermilk! Use it to make biscuits!” Cream is pricey – when you make butter and then use the buttermilk for biscuits – there is no waste! Plus, biscuits are a wonderful comfort food and a delicious way to eat that fresh butter.
Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup lard *
2/3-3/4 cup buttermilk **
1. Preheat oven to 500°
2. Mix flour, salt and baking powder; add lard. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (I use a pastry blender for this – if you don’t have one – cut as well as you can with either a fork or butter knife!)
3. Gently blend in milk with a fork until the dough leaves the side of the bowl.
4. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently and then roll until 1/4 inch thick. Cut biscuits.
5. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
Yield 6-8 biscuits.
I always double, sometimes even triple this recipe for our family.
*Lard is not a pantry staple for most people. I have successfully made this recipe using both coconut oil and butter in place of the lard.
**If you don’t have buttermilk, milk works just fine. The biscuits are still delicious! I have never substituted the buttermilk with a non-dairy milk so I cannot confidently say those milks make a good substitute – experiment at your own risk.
***If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, you can create one with a tin/steel can. For many years, an 8 ounce can (think mushrooms or tomato sauce size) was my biscuit cutter until I finally bought a real one.
