Fast Breads

Fast Breads



BUTTER DROP BISCUITS

Easy, foolproof, soft, and tender is what I am always looking for in a biscuit, and these fit the bill. They were literally dropped on my doorstep, or actually in my mailbox. Joe Yonan, food editor of the Washington Post, put together a biscuit story that included Terry Yonan Beasley’s (Joe’s sister) fluffy Southern biscuits. The soft dough is dropped into a pan of melted butter, and the result is a tender, butter-coated biscuit. Joe included them in his book The Fearless Chef, but generously let me share them here.

Ingredients

* 6 tbsp unsalted butter

* 1½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

* ¼ cup cake flour

* 1 tbsp granulated sugar

* 2 tsp baking powder

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 tsp kosher salt ¼ cup cold shortening, cut into pieces

* 1 cup cold buttermilk, any fat content

Yield

Makes 6 biscuits

Mixing Time

5 minutes

Baking

475°F for about 12 minutes

METHOD Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 475°F. In a heavy, 9-in ovenproof frying pan, melt the butter over low heat. Set aside. Sift both flours, the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Scatter the shortening over the top. Using your thumb and fingertips, two table knives, or a pastry blender, work the shortening into the flour mixture until flour-coated pea-sized pieces form. There will still be some loose flour. Make a well in the center, pour the buttermilk into the well, and use a large spoon to mix the buttermilk into the dry ingredients to form a soft dough. Using a ¼-cup capacity ice cream scoop or the large spoon, drop 6 rounded scoops of dough into the prepared pan, spacing them about ½ in apart (drop 5 biscuits in a circle around the edge of the pan and 1 biscuit in the middle). Using the large spoon, carefully turn over each biscuit to coat both sides with butter.

Bake until the tops are golden, about 12 minutes. Serve warm, directly from the pan. The biscuits can be baked up to 3 hours ahead and left in the pan, covered loosely with aluminum foil. To serve, preheat the oven to 275°F and reheat the covered biscuits until warm, about 10 minutes.

© 2010 by Elinor Klivans