Even though I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that envy is indeed a mortal sin, there are times when I’m deeply envious of my friends in the South. [Cue sound of yet another rainy day in the Puget Sound lowlands.]
As confessed in months prior, while we’ve poked and prodded at folks living in Southern climes at times, I have a profound love for the culinary and fishing traditions of the South.
In fact, if the South were to rise again, secede from the Union and field a new nation ranging from say Louisiana to Florida up to North Carolina, I’d immediately apply to serve dutifully as Montana’s trade envoy to the territory.
And the first thing I’d suggest would be to nominate the humble, flaky, light-as-air Southern Biscuit as their national food. We’d trade a steady supply of Ted Turner’s bison for White Lilly biscuit flour and gumbo to get things started.
Southerners just intrinsically understand the power and goodness of a hot-from-the-oven biscuit. Southern mothers and grandmothers (and even some unusually skilled fathers) have been making biscuits by hand (and from memory) for centuries down there, often for more than one meal a day.
[Cue sound of sniffle and tear being wiped from eye…]
Friend Lilly knows of our diligent interest in a great biscuit and sent this recipe over claiming modestly that there simply isn’t a better biscuit that she’s served in her catering business, ever.
Cream biscuits are something special and the addition of a really nice honey puts these over the top. Slather on some homemade strawberry or raspberry jam and you’ll start humming Sweet Home Alabama and saying yes’mam and y’all for the rest of the day.
May the Southern Biscuit rise again.
4 cups all purpose flour plus more to roll out the dough
2 tsp. kosher salt
Scant 2 tbsp. baking powder
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, chilled, cubed 1/2 inch
1 and 3/4 cups to 2 cups heavy cream (or more)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. good honey
Get ready. Preheat the oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Make a dough. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl; cut the butter in with a pastry cutter / fork / your fingers until the butter is about the size of lentils. Add 1 and 3/4 cup cream and the honey; stir to form a dough. Pending your flour and the humidity, you’ll most likely need to add more cream. (No dry spots in the dough.)
Roll it out. Knead the dough a few times in the bowl to get it to stick together (more cream may be needed) and transfer to a floured surface. Roll out to 3/4” thickness and cut using a 3 inch biscuit cutter (make ‘em big); reform and roll until all the dough is used.
Bake a biscuit. If you invert your biscuits onto the baking sheet they’ll rise up and not out; place on the parchment, brush with cream and bake until golden (15 minutes or so for us).
Serve ‘em hot with more butter and honey or some of your homemade strawberry or raspberry jam from last fall.
Enjoy.
